Perhaps a parasail (or Rogallo rescue parachute) cluster would be a practical solution for a scalable AWES by adding multiple unities, and maximizing the space.
About parachute cluster:
Question:
They seem so nicely separated in pictures. But from a physics standpoint, the aerodynamic force seems like it should be upward, and that would tend to mush all the chutes together. That would seem quite dangerous, by decreasing the area or making them crumple.
Is there anything about the design of the parachutes and tethers that prevents this? Is there something about the aerodynamics that keeps this from happening? Or is some bumping just not a big deal?
An interesting answer to this question:
It’s just the aerodynamics. There is high pressure where the air spills out the side that tends to push them apart more than the forces that you mention that pulls them together.
Good thing too. A giant parachute with the same drag would take too long to open.
Clustering is very commonly used for cargo.
Perhaps that could apply for a parasail cluster which would be a tilted parachute cluster with both drag and lift. By the same reel-out and reel-in phases would be achieved faster with numerous smaller unities.
A parachute cluster on https://www.nianet.org/short-courses/2021-h-g-heinrich-parachute-systems/ :
A 19,000-kilogram test of a cluster of eight G-16 parachutes. Credit: U.S. Army
Another source on http://mae-nas.eng.usu.edu/MAE_6530_Web/New_Course/launch_design/Parachute.pdf page 47:
Parachute Clusters
Total drag area of a parachute system can
be increased by clustering parachutes
Advantages
• Easier to fabricate smaller canopies
• Drag area can be adjusted by adding
or deleting canopies
• Redundancy
• Increased stability
• Shorter inflation time/distance
Disadvantages
• Slight loss of CD0 (~5% for a
three-canopy cluster)
• Problems with asynchronous inflation
• Heavier than a single canopy system
A loss of CD of 5% is not too much.
On the other hand, synchronizing the reel-out and reel-in phases would be difficult.
A minority of parasails would remain constantly open to lift the whole during the reel-in depower phase.