Using Measured Aerodynamic Coefficients to Predict Pitch Equilibrium of Kites

The authors would like to acknowledge support for this project from several organizations and collaborators. The wind tunnel experiments were all conducted at Swarthmore College with assistance from Professor Carr Everbach and undergraduate student Josh Vandervelde. The Aerovee kite was designed by Geoff Bland at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and by Doug Stout of Falcon Aero Designs LLC as disclosed via NASA New Technology Reporting System as "Aerovee - a design for studies of kite aerodynamics and optimization of flight performance." Several Drexel students, including Henry Flynn and Galo Barros, collaborated on some wind tunnel experiments. All of these collaborators helped evaluate aspects of this project and provide advice. Funding from NASA supported this project through the AEROKATS and ROVER Educational Network via grant 80NSSC22K1108 and from the NASA GSFC Internal Research and Development (IRAD) project (G. Bland/PI).