Claim: Kites in a MAWES need to be able to: CLAMP onto the tether and LATCH onto the previous kite + a discussion on how to do this + a first mention of stackable kites + a concept for automatic launch of a soft kite train

I don’t see that. The velocity of the kites stays the same so the energy transferred should stay the same. One rotation does take longer, but there is more energy transferred in that one rotation also, equal to how much longer the rotation takes. You just do need longer arms, a taller tower, and a bigger gear ratio to the generator.

The work = force * distance in the two is the same, over the same time period. Only there are more friction losses from the gearbox with the bigger radius.

In return, a rotation takes longer, so your control software and your actuators have more time to do things. You could decrease the size of your actuators. You’d need less blade twist and both wingtips are flying at a more equal speed and generating more equal lift. You have more time to react to things, say to the shaft becoming over twisted, which takes longer, allowing you to risk operating closer to the limit. With the higher lambda you could also fly higher, in smoother and stronger winds, and further away from possible ground collisions.

Say you want to fly at a flying diameter of 9 vs 3 times kite wingspan, that gives you 3 times as much time to do anything, so you can use actuators that are 3 times smaller for example. Or take more time to do your calculations, and so on.