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Successful mast-based launch of the V3 kite

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Title
Successful mast-based launch of the V3 kite
Subtitle
Animated sequence of photos taken on 2 August 2012 from the ground
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15
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License
CC Attribution 4.0 International:
You are free to use, adapt and copy, distribute and transmit the work or content in adapted or unchanged form for any legal purpose as long as the work is attributed to the author in the manner specified by the author or licensor.
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Production Year2012
Production PlaceFormer naval airfield Valkenburg, Leiden, Netherlands

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Abstract
The animated photo sequence shows a successful launch of the TU Delft V3 kite from an upside- down hanging position on 2 August 2012 at the former airfield Valkenburg, Leiden, Netherlands. At 10 s into the sequence, the tether suddenly disengages from the mast head and is then rapidly pulled by the accelerating kite into a straight line to the ground station. This sudden straigthening yanks the entire kite assembly (wing, bridle line system and kite control unit) around. In contrast to the previous flight, this perturbation does not lead to a breaking of the weak link, but instead, the kite accelerates further and, while reeling out the tether, dives first towards the ground, before climbing to higher altitude. This launch attempt was also covered by two different GoPro video cameras, one positioned on the ground, next to the launch mast, the other one taped to the leading edge tube of the kite, looking down at the kite control unit. The 58 photos capturing this launch were shot with a Nikon D40X. The photos were assembled into a video using the precise time information available for each photo from its metadata. Because the absolute time of the camera was running 2:21 min ahead of the correct time, this was taken into account when setting the creation date of the generated video file, using the time 19:26:29.50. Accordingly, the tether disengages from the mast head at time 19:26:39.50.
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