Topic: Soaring VariDrogue Formations
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April 30, 2020, post by Dave Santos
Soaring VariDrogue Formations

Imagine a varidrogue with a tiny payload mass at its bridlepoint, and a super-low sink rate. It could soar upwards in updrafts, and even control its climb rate. The problem would be downdrafts that carry the canopy down. Fortunately, a wind field is an equilibrium of lift and sink volumes. If enough varidrogues are strung like beads on long lines, at all times part of the line could be lifting, while the rest of the line cycles downward before again entering lift.

A drogue-ring could operate with a cumulus cell; part of the ring rising inside the cloud, while part exits higher up to cycle down again. When local wind along a varidrogue snake is wrong, the canopies would feather completely. When a convection cell dies, the formation would ideally already have new lift identified. Upwind navigation would be a challenge. Perpetual drifting would be the thing.

This is a new class of aircraft with novel properties. A plausible way to fly in the upper bounds of gas-giant planets. As graphene-strength materials come available, this sort of flying system will become ever more capable. The ITCZ could someday seethe with quasi-jellyfish varidrogues in semiconductive trains or 3D lattices.

Soaring VariDrogue Formations