Pulling Power from the Sky: The Story of Makani [Feature Film]
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2020
- "Pulling Power From the Sky: The Story of Makani" chronicles the thirteen-year quest of an eclectic band of scientists, artists, sailors, pilots, and engineers as they team up to design and build kites that can efficiently harness energy from the wind. Created by members of the Makani team, and featuring beautiful footage from test sites in Hawai’i, California, and Norway, this film provides an intimate portrait of the team and spirit.
For more information about Makani, please see The Energy Kite, available at x.company/projects/makani - Наука та технологія
The only failure in life is to not try. To try and fail isn't failure, it's learning. Hats off to the team!
Disagree; if you try and fail and you waste other peoples money then Houston, our superannuation accounts have a problem. Especially when an investment manager chooses the risk for you.
@@Ralph_Baric_PhD_C2019 GOOGLE I have to agree with jack. I knew the final result when I was 5years old My kite crashed when the wind died when the wind changed it flew into the trees or power line if I flew it to high the tether broke or the power of the wind broke it. conclusion kites are for fun not work. and mom did not buy me another one if I broke mine.
Wrong, in this regard the main failure in life is being duped into believing that humankind is responsible for any changes in climate, when historically it’s been, and will continue to be, in a state of constant flux.
These idiots fooling around with kites isn’t going to do a jot of good.
I despair at the level of lunacy going on in the world today, it simply beggars belief.
We have tons of cheap energy, trashing it for very expensive alternatives will be mankind’s demise.
@@clivehorridge coal guzzlers instead of petrol guzzlers. That is what we are to believe. Just imagine the shifting of all transport energy to solar/wind. Its not going to happen.
So then you have to ask for what other reasons.
When you look up world meters, known economical viable reserves of crude run out by 2068.
Now ask yourself the COP 26 goal of 2050.
That leaves 18 years lee way.
But the world is not leaving coal, yes it may have reached its peak of new development but with more than 100 years of current use still in the ground and no viable alternative (because the colored haired kids and germany refuse to keep nuclear as an option) means that all that energy used for transport must be shifted to electricity.
So we want to increase electricity demand by a third to one half whilst at the moment 70-80% is still generated from coal.
There's gold in them there hills.
And only the Jews got rich selling you shovels.
Now think of the hardest thing to ween off crude. Airplane travel. That avgas is pretty hard to match. And there are a class of people that want to keep flying. And they are going to want you to keep subsidizing its costs as it gets more expensive due to the availability of crude.
So ground transport run on coal is the beginnings of the rationing of that valuable crude.
And yes, the more you look into climate variance of the last 2-300 K years, taking nto account the LGM, the younger dryass, melt water pulses etc, increased CO2, decreased ocean ability to neutralize via fresh water river damming. You start to see a picture.
Volcanology, planet wobble, and impactors (meteors asteroids) seem to be the triple threats that bring about accelerated climate variance.
We serve these whims.
Adapt or die.
I really enjoyed the footage & work your teammates put together, it seemed as if it was an exciting time spent building and launching a kite that seemed operational.(Bravo)
I am a 70 year old watching this, I feel confident the world is in good hands with this team at play. 👍 🙏 thanks
You know they pretty much ripped everyone off, for nothing right?
I'm a 70 year old that has the background in electronics and aerodynamics to understand what they did and why, and I feel confident that _very few_ people understand what they did or why it was important. Which means the world is NOT in _good hands._
I am right behind you in age and the more I see on UA-cam especially in the comments make me feel confident the the world will be on the hands of a bunch of knuckleheads. But when we die I have no idea where they will live.
With 13 years and millions of dollars spent, this must be the record for the most elaborate and expensive documentary ever made. 😄
I wasn’t aware that wind/power technology had gone in this direction. Awesome!
Other than being disappointed in the absence of an explanation of how electrical power would be conducted to the ground, the amount of power generated, and the many technical aspects of the project, the film was entertaining and held my attention throughout.
Really? It's tethered.. a tether would make a great roadway for those helpful little electrons.
You’re listening comprehension isn’t very good because they explained it all what do you mean how are they going to get it to the Ground silly it’s tied to the ground
For the Team the last 13 Years where not lost....this was the Engineering life I was longing for.
Eventually when “Global Warming” has gotten every other president elected over the past 20 years and nothing has happened yet maybe they can turn a profit on this by allowing rides on their kites 🪁 😃
*were
A lot of money and wasted time (time we don’t have according to the documentary). Your statement belies the notion you really believe the urgency. It’s not about giving you ‘the experience’. Is it?
@@tanner882 "nothing has happened"
You aren't paying attention...
@@Studio23Media things haven’t changed since the late 90’s. All the tech we have now we had then, things have been nipped and tucked to appear “New” but nothing is.
To put so much heart and soul covering such a technical subject and present it with absolute clarity and candid moments, is an accomplishment on its own. Congratulations, this is a top notch documentary. I remember Makani's early days and always wondered what happened to them. Thanks for this. Beautifully documented for future generations.
Yay... everyone gets a trophy. Yes, documented like the Hindenburg and other dumb ideas.
Beautifully documented epic failure. May future generations learn something ( I doubt it though ). If they has spent a fraction of that time reading about the *climate scam* fake alarmism, they could have saved themselves 13y of wasted effort and done something more meaningful with their considerable skills and money. This insanity is wasting a generation and killing all our futures.
Ha ha. what these people learned individually, will impact all our futures
This was not a failure by any stretch. What they achieved in 13 years and the jump start of the new tech is monumental. Well done to all involved. Without folks like you, humanity fails. Chalk this one up as a HUGE win. We haven’t seen the last of this type of idea and tech.
I have been watching Makani since 2010. Every time a new video was released, my spirit was lifted. I am sad to see Makani to fold. In the mean time I am happy Makani is sharing with the public the knowledge gained during the long and exciting journey.
Good job Makani. Your spirit lives on. You will inspire generations after you.
What kind of knowledge are they sharing and to what end? Do you really feel that this kind of BS projects can succeed?
@@chinmoy1955 it's really just showing that this is a possibility for the future
@@chinmoy1955 what's BS standing for?
@@heavyweather Bull Shit
@@chinmoy1955 you've not followed the development. The better high altitude technologies are winning now. Like Skysails Power where the generator stays on the ground and the system archives 6000 full load hours/a.
That's without a heavy concrete foundation, blades, tower and accompanied transport troubles. Comes in a container and is set up in a day.
Fantastic movie, very recognisable from our work at Kitemill. Thanks for sharing!
There are so many accomplishments here, but I'm most impressed how they're doing all this while raising children. Can't imagine how it's possible.
Thanks to everyone on the team at Makani for making this data available to all. Success is measured in many different ways. Success could be measured purely on the basis of experimentation and in the accumulation of research in this field. Good job to all!
I like your positive vibes you create with our almost poetic words that were uplifting and positive.
Yes. If we stop questioning and testing the obvious (our even if it's a "what if") our "goals for man kind" will never happen.
Great stuff! Only the music makes it annoying!
This brings to mind the quote from Thomas Edison: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
Thank you Makani Team! You've each moved on to the next big thing, but during your time together you were an inspiring collection of pioneers, visionaries, designers, science geeks, engineers, programmers, builders, fabricators, pilots, and at the end, seafarers. Corwin would be proud of your contribution to renewable energy and the technology that makes it happen.
N,
It entertained them for a time.. but a project that was a waste of money from the start.
@D go build them then
@@spencerdw1 yes. Delusional students spending other people's money for their own enjoyment.
As a sport kite flyer I found the whole film absolutely mesmerizing! I love putting my 5 meter foils into endless figure-8 loops while it drags me down the beach/field...wotta workout! lol.
No... I don't agree with you.
@@Reth_Hard wot cha talkin'bout ,willis?
@@OscarRuiz-gj3mp
You are wrong, admit it!
@@Reth_Hard wrong about having fun? Wrong about kiting a 5 meter foil being a workout? Do you even english?
@@Argosh wtf is he talking about?
Unbelievably inspiring - Thank you for sharing this journey with us!
The exploration of new and better solutions will be noticed and recognized. The sharing of knowledge and experience is selfless. I hope some day, people will make this master piece of invention financially viable. It takes decades to commercialize solar panels and wind mills. The kite will be there surely though slowly. Thank you for sharing your exciting journey.
Lol
I had goosebumps at least 10 times throughout the video and almost cried when the last crash happened.
This is the kind of work I want to do, the kind of engineering I want to do, this is why I love engineering.
Thanks for sharing this great story, very recognizable journey towards an operational airborne wind energy system. Pity Makani couldn't continue this story but it will always be recognized as a great pioneer of our technology.
It's a pile of shit mate .the whole idea was stupid from the begining .
If NASA can drive around on the moon and Mars… and, moreover fly over Mars, Makani WILL succeed!
@@georgej.robinson4316 If NASA is able to put men on the moon, you sure should be able to lick your own elbow... what a nonsense argument
@@tristancraven3685 YeahNO. I can see YOU aren't a sailplane pilot...
I'm sorry, this statement will come off cocky as heck here on UA-cam where we all should applaud/commend great efforts, cheer for one another, and simply root for trying (right?). However, as an engineer involved in the tech community, I had huge conceptual doubts about this project from the start. I predicted what a massive waste of funding and resources it would likely turn out to be, and needless to say, unfortunately all of my predictions turned out to be right in line with my initial sarcasms about the project. It was one of the biggest wastes of resources I've seen in years. It was as if they chose a group of some inexperienced children just wanting to toy with investment money to create, well, a giant toy for them to play with on other people's wallets, regardless of the results. No engineer that I know had any actual expectations for these "kites" to do anything worthwhile--especially on the big current stage of current wind harnessing designs existing. The whole project came off as a practical joke, on a giant scale. It's ok to have ideas, concepts, etc., but when those concepts depict immediate modes of likely problems and failures, good scientists know when to cut the project and change course. These guys just didn't care, they wanted to be correct, refusing to admit defeat, when defeat was inevitable. What energy committee would honestly get together and believe there would be huge-scale operations of these things deployed across great areas of landscapes (I.E. deployed in large numbers) and expect a successful deployment on such a scale that there wouldn't be more unit downtime, crashes, and maintenance of these devices to overcome the costs to keep the others running and consistently deploying? This was an engineering nightmare in its full glory from the get-go, and I hope many learned to watch what they throw investment money at in the future. The failures taught more about hideous designs than the small amounts of up-time taught about ever trying such a disaster again. As I said before, I am sorry to have to be so honest and blunt about this project, but a nightmare project it truly was. It never had the slightest chance at defeating the common wind generators for up-time and low maintenance abilities, it should have been shut down long before it ever reached such scales of failure. Some folks just aren't cut out for the work they do; they operate on internal bias to try and force the unobtainable. Unfortunately, this group of folks fell into that category. Never knowing when to simply pull out and start a new path to a new project. Fortunately for some, we got to learn that bad ideas on large scales can still exist that allude the general public into buying into hocus pocus and sleight of hands, only to be fooled and used in the long-run for their lack of knowledge on the subjects at play. I hope many of you view future projects with a much finer toothed comb before crossing fingers and emptying wallets towards donations. This is a project that to a degree has really angered and upset many fellow engineers including myself as something that amounted to nearly a prank on the ones who really are making great strides in the fields of renewable energy sources, only at the cost of their much harder work, devotion, and common-sense attitudes about what to do when failure is inevitably on the horizon due to bad initial ideas. I hope these "kite junkies" picked up a lot of what never to repeat in the future when real world engineering is on the front-line. Sometimes, better ideas simply already exist in implementation, and a good scientist will quickly recognize such fact. But, we are all human with emotional flaws sometimes tied to our work, and great failures are often great learning lessons in disguise to those too young to realize how much of our work is fundamentally flawed by such evolutionary traits. To that I say, God speed humanity; don't give up forever, just allow good and bad experiences to keep shaping our brains and thought processes, continuously evolving our future endeavors for the advancement of this great race found here on planet Earth. 😉 After All, we're only a few hundred thousand years into our discoveries--a blink of time on the cosmic scale. Imagine humanity after a few hundred thousand more years building upon our discoveries. Eventually, we won't be chasing the wind, we will be creating it. I find great pleasure imagining that distant future for us--no matter how many times humanity may have to reboot through that lengthy process. We will get there, one day, we will get there.
Very cool project. Not sure why approached in this manor as there is in fact already a kite and prop generating system. A fellow in Orange county CA designed it and built at least two models And one of the two is for sale right now. It does not use the cross wind you folks are going for but then it does not need to. A faster than the wind wind turbin car has already proved you do NOT have to use cross wind other than that picked up by the prop pitch. sailboats certainly can and do go faster than the wind driving them in many situations but you can harness that power with far less sophistication. But this is one cool and brilliant undertaking for cleaner energy. So glad you did this. very glad you shared it.
Reminds me of how SpaceX is designing and building Starship. Fly, crash, learn, fix, repeat. Very cool!
Probably the most extreme overengineering I have ever seen. Done for a problem that has been solved decades ago with wind turbines. Flabbergasted!
Try thousands of years- think sailboats and windmills grinding flour. Stuff like this pisses me off,what a ridiculous waste of time,money,fossil fuels etc- I would love to know the carbon footprint this monstrosity left in its wake....
This project went far beyond What I thought it would accomplish. I am very impressed with what they was able to do with this "Power generating Kite". My hats off to the team involved in putting this together. However It is hard to imagine something this complex surviving long enough in wind gust etc to be able to make a profit in producing electricity. Still extremely impressive.
And how much power did it generate?
@Chinmoy Mitra exactly no specs at all.
My heart broke a little at the end. Let's hope this plants the seeds for other projects that bear greater fruit for mankind
I can't believe the investors/engineers on this team thought that this idea could actually power millions of homes.
It had no hope for scaling up, or solving any real world problems.
Even if the system worked perfectly as intended, one kite would only be able to power 300 homes at peak efficiency, and you'd have to space them pretty far apart so they dont collide.
Wow what a great film of a great story! Amazing thank you for sharing. As a wind turbine technician I look at these guys with envy and hope, and inspiration. The path to clean accessible power for everyone is forged by the dreams and commitment of pioneers like them. Just like their kite, their dreams took off, and will doubtless inspire others to follow in their footsteps. Thank you Makini
There are others. twitter.com/awesystems
I will be 75 yrs old in a few weeks time and after watching this video with keen interest I have to say that what I have seen and what this group of people have acheived is commendable to the highest degree! What is a tragedy is that are so few with the means to help this project move forward to become globally viable!
it's very expensive
Commendable however the project went way off scope. Simple, cheap electricity........this is not that. There are so many complex factors that mean this isn't viable...I like the concept but I cant see it happening. The simple rise and fall system with the surf kites still seems a system 'on scope'.
Also as a noise consultant I think would have a hard time getting this through planning...A craft that sounds like a dive bomber....Id have people complaining within a 5 miles radius....
@@jdickson242 I think they were a bit ahead of some techonological advances. We see now AI driving cars and flying drones, and that AI is/will no longer be that expensive. I think with a push of AI and also some input from aeronautical engineers this could be taken up by an aeronautical company.
@@jdickson242 You are thinking too conventionally. Only 1/4 or so of all present energy use is in the form of electric power. How might things be re-arranged if we had just as much energy, but it was electric power, far offshore? Hmm? Anyway, on the wide open seas, there is nobody around to notice the noise.
@@YodaWhat 😄
the idea of an energy kites has been haunting me ever since i was a kid. had a whole notebook of drawings of them, so it deeply touched me to see my childhood dreams pushed into reality by a team of true heros.
Reality is harsh in wind energy though as I learned lateron. Particularly going offshore is a different animal, just the corrosion is a whole battlefield of its own.
And so is wear, tear and vibrations on the tether.
Whatever goes out there for commercial purpose must work without maintanance for long periods of time in any kind of storm, ice and extreme uv.
Tough stuff.
There are a group of people out there that have the burning desire and passion to convert an idea into a goal that is driven by the need to solve a problem plaguing humanity. These men and women of Makani are no exception. To them on behalf of the world I say Thank you thank thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. May you all be successful in your endeavors.
I think the technical term is "uneffingbelievable". Awesome story - credit to the whole team for achieving what you did.
Whatever! They spent 13 years and didn't produce a final working product. Maybe because the project kept going bigger and more complex for greater power generation. I see it every time.
"The gravity light", imo, was/is a far greater success which continues bringing benefit to individual people. What produced this failure were the investors, unlike the gravity light which stopped and got what it had developed out into the world. Google was never interested in developing a product that can be sold and will benefit the people's power needs. It was interested in getting a product that it will own and sell the power generated to the grid who then sells that power to the people. What they started with was derailed by the deep pockets they accepted money from early on. Just my opinion. Cheers.
@@sailingsolar I think you're right. A small project that could bring power to one town or village might have had traction.
@@sailingsolar Depends what you call a final product, product design tends to keep renewing and keep being improved.
@@sailingsolar Never heard of that one - I just tripped over this in my feed.
This also isn't a zero-sum game: this team's accomplishments didn't lessen "the gravity light's" accomplishments, did it?
Even though they didnt finish with a final product, their research and product development will still help future endeavours on the subject. This is first and foremost a film about the story of the company as a whole, not just the tech or that they "didnt deliver". They certainly delivered; if this was a university doing the research and publishing papers on it, it would (imo) be highly praised by the scientific society. Maybe even Siemens would dip their toe into it. That remaims to be seen.
(I just finished this video when writing this. Havent read more on the subject if there has been further development by other teams after Mekani)
Longest video I have ever watched on UA-cam and honestly enjoyed every second of it....
how could they posssibly not know this was going to fail when they completely abandoned the original premise of the kite design - simplicity.
It is people like you, who serve, who strive and do not yield, that will get the rest of where we need to be. Thank you for what you have done and the knowledge you have left behind.
Failure are the pillars of success my best wishes to you all god’s blessings for whole team and their family
Great job in advancing an untapped sector on renewable energy. These engineering efforts are not wasted, future companies are generations will learn from this and make renewables more viable in the coming years. Kudos to the team
someone forward this to trump for a trump narration of its process ala his "shjjj... shjjj..." cancerous windmill explanation. maybe both hands going in circles with a "shj. shj. shj. shj." maybe the noise causes 8 types of cancer this time.
@@MrDarchangelomni Better: Attach him firmly to a blade of a regular giant machine and let it spin for a few weeks.
@@YodaWhat why? Do you wish people tortured? Do you believe it justified? What must one do to deserve such treatment? Would you personally execute and complete your previously written/described assault, if given legal opportunity? Or do you just like to talk out your starfish on the internet..
@@philip2774 "He" isn't "people". "He" has killed hundreds of thousands of people. "He" is also a traitor, having committed High Treason. But none of the Parties will mete out appropriate punishment, fearing their own _just desserts._
@@YodaWhat Wow, someone drank the Kool-aid
Kate and Andrea, I am sure I have just watched a film that deserves a "Best Documentary Film" nomination for an Oscar. I hope the film is possibly able to bring Makani back to Norway next year by getting you the funding you need. The technology is just so beautiful when compared to conventional wind tech. It seems like a great solution to off-shore wind generation and sure is a lot nicer to look at. What a great story ... I just wish it had a happier ending ... maybe someday it will.
Having flown RC gliders and electrics for a number of years I toyed with the idea of making an RC kite/glider. When I saw the crash at China Lake where the "kite" got slack line then suddenly pulled away breaking the wing I was astonished the designers hadn't built breakaway couplers into the two tethers attached to the wings. Then it would just be either a powered or dead stick glide to the ground. I noticed the pilot was using an RC style control box. It might have helped also if they had built in a ton more flexibility into the wings, have you ever seen how much flex jumbo jet airliners have in their wings, incredible. That would have saved maybe two of the first crashes, tether break and wing break. Maybe even simple dihedral in the wings would help stabilize the "kite" and control the "aircraft". Anyway, just idle thinking. Loved the video. It would have been interesting to get some real world data about how this process could stack up against the current crop of energy production. Also, real world longevity in this system. Like what will happen to the bouy and the kite when a hurricane comes a callin'?
You should apply for a spot on the team.
Thanks everyone! This is amazing! I can't wait for the next story on youtube!
Thank you so much for your enduring efforts, Makani! Your pioneer work won't be forgotten! Take a look at Skysails Power !
Sky Sails did not piggyback off their tech. They understood what simplicity meant from the get-go and are now a profitable going concern.
@@benwatkins7032 Well, they have also tried and failed before. Their technology was originally meant to power large scale maritime cargo ships for reducing carbon emissions of the biggest pulluters. But they came up with the solution right at the time of the crises of this entire industry. Hundreds of cargo ships, if not thousands, have been scrapped, while barely the biggest companies have survived. Noone was ready for paying a new technology. Sky Sails went bankrupt and was bought out and has continued with the mobile energy generation solution.
@@benwatkins7032 But yes. Simplicity is crucial sometimes. Amazing technology Makani has developed with such a giant powered kite. Unfortunately extremely difficult to be proven stabile in a long time autonomous flight mode even enduring very high wind gusts like at places with the best wind resources have to face. And the cost and safety risks are sadly high in case of loss of control.
And how many million birds has it killed?
@@maxwaters1461 😂
Wonderful film! I was so engaged the entire time! Thank you for documenting Makani’s achievements and for depicting the humanity of the workers, including their selfless desire to share this important technology with the world! Bravo!
how old are you,3?., this is a total waste of time & money. 13 yrs,& they achieved what,.nothing.. free energy is available,, but its free,. so you cant have it..
It's a wonderful film for audiences that have heads full of slop.
A noble enterprise. Thank you for sharing this film. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
For me, this is a wonderful documentary and worthy of a thank you to the many people who have visions, can emas funding and people to keep exploring options that will move us away from this climate situation.
The failure of this project with millions of dollars spent over 13 years is in fact it’s greatest value, as the next person takes what was learned and gets another step closer to the solution.
Why are you still living with your parents..
If you want to move away from this climate situation just get in your car and move. Easy.
Really really cool but really really impractical, but someone had to prove that and what a great job they did.
Why impractical? There are container ships and oil ships right now that use figure 8 kites to give the ship extra power to reduce transport cost
@@royaldecreeforthechurchofm8409 Motored ship going against the wind may use more energy with a kite dragging behind.
They are putting them up offshore now too. They work just fine
@@ALTINSEA1 yea
@@royaldecreeforthechurchofm8409 yeah I'd imagine it's hugely popular... not.
I can’t believe someone founded it for 13 years. At least some people had good income for that period .
You need to edit your post if you mean "funded". Yeah, they were milking that tit for all it was worth. And some of them deserve contempt- the broad running the lathe wearing a _long sleeve sweatshirt,_ for instance. But overall, I'd say it was pretty damned impressive.
Just watched the film, great to see people trying to make a difference to the world's power production. It's a shame that things didn't work out as planned, but with just a few changes to the design the results would have been a lot different. If a company has decided to go ahead with a similar kind of product then maybe with certain areas of improvement then they might be able to create a sustainable product, if they have the amount of financial help that will be required.
Something so simple in the beginning ended with something so complex I love it.
Great job, Kate and Andrea! What a moving story of Makani's journey.
What a woke joke of a project, spanking all that money! Seriously, the waste is criminal. It’s numptys like you the feed the BS projects like this. This is a typical feel good factor going way too far before some has the balls to pulls the hand break on. This project should have never got off the ground. Pun intended!
@@jimchambers8810 Yes Jim, as they lost taxpayer funding all this proof they accumulated couldn't attract a single private investor and none of those so-called engineers or researchers were willing to dig into their own pockets.
A beautiful story of an outside of the box idea that came together at the right time with the right people for the magic to happen. It is hard to say what may come of the ideas generated from this effort. Makani's impact on the world is far from over.
It wasn't outside the box at all. This is an OLD concept. What is NEW are the electronics and control techniques.
44:00 So you say bladed wind generators are awful... and you build a tower just like that of a wind generator. This video is full of delight!
I fly model airplanes for like 25 yrs. Every time a plane dives down like the makani during the rotation gives me the butterfly in my stomach feeling of "please recover please recover "
This is more of an NPR feel good documentary. Embrace and celebrate.
Not reality.
I appreciate their youthful exuberance but some of the statements were hard to swallow. This idea appears to offer no better than the 30% effectiveness of wind and solar. Powering 30 homes with one unit is shooting a BB gun at a bear. 3 cents a kw hour? He’s dreaming.. so many problems not addressed. I’m sure it was a fun project but a terrible waste of money.
@@spencerdw1 I agree its an liberal arts major, they admitted its a dream. They have zero understanding of thermodynamics laws (laws of physics). Its a total waste of government money.
Embrace and celebrate failure? For a project that was doomed from the start? .... from the perspective of any engineer with good sense This is a comical joke, full of irony. As a lifelong Californian I can tell you for sure I have not met a more arrogant culture anywhere in the world, and I have traveled a lot.
Thank you Makani for sharing your story and all the rest. I hope that those that will continue to research on Airborne Wind Energy can now build on the shoulders of giants and make it work!
This deserves a lot more than 1.5M views.
Ex-Navy here! The North Atlantic can get REALLY angry😁 That’s so cool you guys are there. I’m also Norwegian. My family hails from Kristiansand and also part from Vostrosk Sweden
Thank you so much for documenting this over 13 years and sharing it with us! Inspiring.
My grandfather back when he was a schoolboy in the early 1900's would fly a kite while he was in the classroom and at the end of the school day his kite was still flying! Before school he would look for a tree that had a branch that would flex yet be strong enough. He taught me this and I tried it out when I was a kid and it worked! This was on the coast in Gloucester, Ma.
WOW! Soaring outside the box of "established" ideas. This can inspire anyone to question current tech ideas and let their minds invent without limits.
I can fully understand that feeling. You did anazing work and soul connections that will remain in your hearts as long as they beat. Beautiful work to admire and the level of persistivity you don't see every day. thank you for this video.
Keep setting goals and meeting them.
What a great milestone for the spirit of engineering and team work.
Hey, I also Amit I Singh sometime's
Hey, don't make fun of someone's name
@@meteorfive6 If the guy had really really thin skin and was severely injured by that guys goofy sense of humor that appears as though it was not insulting in the slightest, he would be able to speak for himself.
Here is the long boring story, but maybe you suffer from a short attention span and are unable to read fast nor install a browser plugin for reading aloud selected portions of text?
If it was me, I'd tell you to chillax, remain calm, and stop trying to inflate a hurt feelings and emotions thing into any kind of huge victimhood conflict that could elevate into more serious conflict or physical injury as seems always to be the plan with cultural Marxism enthusiasts that fail to realize that Marxism was tried many times and no one competent was able to pull it off because the revolutionaries murdered everyone competent in those societies. 200 plus million people were murdered due to Marxist dialectic materialism prompted by the removal of religion so that humans were NOT made in the image of some deity so cold be summarily murdered for political power gain, etc, IE., that immorality could rain free of any constraints of a higher power.
As well, the axioms, presuppositions, conclusions, policies, ideology, are deliberately biased by viewing everything through a distorted lens.
Also each person is an individual not merely a clone of everyone in their various group memberships so that they think in ways that can be different especially if they are divergent from their socially engineered Prussian education system that intends that cookie cutter copies are made so that everyone has predictable consumer behaviors that can be swayed by advertising to buy the latest fad thing, or adopt the latest fad ideology, or whatever else.
Leftism likes to blame all woes of individuals who made their own life choices on other innocent, uninvolved parties.
Recall Jacobinism was the precursor to Marxism.
It drove the French revolution that saw mostly trouble making based mostly on envy of those who had higher levels of competence who were able to make and save some money to have any.
It was using Hebrew Israelite Biblical "sins of the father" kind of punishment of death on those trying to make a happy life, etc, even though Jacobins were atheistic and supposedly shunned religious stuff.
"THE IMPERIAL FRENCH CAUSE" "IN DEFENSE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE" Fascifist
Turns out the Jacobins were funded by their supposed enemies--an extremely wealthy banking dynasty who eventually funded internationally the forces of many countries to oppose Napoleon Bonaparte who determined who was at the actual root of trouble making turmoil.
Instead, if you are talented, then go out and start a business.
You'll soon learn that the oppressed versus oppressor narrative is utterly a false one unless you get backers with unlimited deep pockets that would support you in the high burn rate years until you gained some kind of monopoly market share or whatever, that is just not going to happen typically.
I was at one time a lefty too. It usually is very unhelpful to issue criticism upon comedians who were attempting to be amusing rather than hurtful.
Having thin skin is a sure way to elevate minor issues into huge trouble making that could cause revolutions, and wars over simple misunderstandings or poor senses of humor.
Life is too short to have it wasted being thin skinned, stirring up trouble and trouble making.
In high school bullies there would punch me in the face, break my nose, having it bleeding--real physical injury--I just turned around and walked away from the fools and did not say anything. That is real tolerance of someone who is being deliberately annoying and violent.
Everyone taught in schools to be SJWs is NOT a good plan so that the long march through the institutions of society of the Frankfurt school and Antonio Gramsci cultural hegemony are doing their task to make the world a much worse place due to making young naive propaganda unquestioning into domestic enemies of everyone else who is innocent and just trying to live their lives free from real tyrannical fascism.
See kgb defector yuri bezmenov cultural subversion
Learned a new thing a few hours ago from very nice older black female university lecturer about slavery about the way Eastern Europeans from slavic countries (from where the word slave was derived) sold many of their children into slavery even prior to 500 BC. That is a very long history of slavery, if you ask me.
See ua-cam.com/video/8iZDapgQdFo/v-deo.html Why White People are Called Caucasian (Illustrated)
Skip the long introduction by the old man there, then watch and listen to the older black lady scholar from Princeton University all the way until the end.
Some people have cited news that these same peoples are still victims of slavery by having the young females tricked into thinking that they have been offered a well paying office job in Western Europe only to find themselves in the sex industry in brothels, turning many tricks per day, etc. The system of enslavement is being run by ethnic mafia kinds of dudes. This is true injustice rather than just a poor sense of humor. Some have said that this form of human trafficking has been facilitated by nefarious members of the elite people who run most of the countries around the world.
ua-cam.com/video/bpBX-32mkL0/v-deo.html Chief Counsel Robert David Steele. ITNJ.org Seating
Hearings on international human trafficking, pedophilia rings, organized crime sex enslavement, etc.
Thanks UA-cam for the recommendation. Excellent work. I had no idea this was a thing.
You are obviously not Dutch. Ten years ago there was a similar Dutch project. This video looks very very familiar. I hope they succeed to conquer the entire world. Google Wubbo Ockels + Laddermill.
Enerkite in Germany - but the kites are much smaller.
This is a great concept, build kite with motors to get it in the air, turn motors of after kite is flying by itself, and use motors in a regen fashion to power a city, it's great.
I intend to show this to every high school student I counsel to inspire her or him to peruse an engineering career. There is no more rewarding way to live and work. Thank you for sharing this beautifully illustrated video.
You said her or him, it's actually him or her. Him alway's comes first.
@@patman0250 My condolences to your wife...
@@solarmande7280 Phh! I ain't got no ball and chain buddy. Keep them jars away from my nuts.
Great work Makani team. Hope it could have continued.
Wow, amazing! Thanks for sharing such an incredible project.
Amazing, I feel inspired by the story of Makani and what you have all put forward to get so far. I hope to see more.
It is dead. There won't be anything anymore. You can just watch the last 5 minutes of the video.
Extraordinary human effort and innovation. The world is blessed with the intellectual power and dedication of from these people that came together for a higher purpose. At a human level, Makani was not a failure by any measure, but a standard all humans must aspire to save the earth and its countless inhabitants.
I watch every engineering documentary I can find, and this has been by far the most impressive. It goes to show the real efforts required for breakthrough in science and engineering. Congratulations on such an amazing effort.
That’s sad...
You must not have watched very many.
This was a TERRIBLE example, and all they engineered was a shit drone attached to what is essentially a winch, to try and create energy.
REAL Engineers have been down this road long ago. There’s a reason we went with huge wind turbines in valleys.
The choice of music was so perfect. The way you cut this was amazing! You tell a powerful story about something so profound and wonderful for humanity, and you did with such beautiful artistry to make the nerdy science approachable.
I totally agree. I felt exactly the same! Perhaps you said it in fewer words!
Indeed a powerful story. Alphabet probably wanted something a little more for their millions of dollars though than a powerful story and a far too complicated design.
@@benwatkins7032 The should have sought crowd funding and we all would have helped!
Yeah, reminds me of that Truman meets his father scene in Truman Show, audience manipulation technics never change, yet people keep falling for them just the same.
So sorry to hear that the project was shut down. I think this technology could be used to power ocean liners. They use tremendous amounts of energy. Instead they could be battery powered when entering and exiting ports, then send out a kite while at sea to power the entire ship and charge the batteries. Eco friendly cruses... what a concept!
pendant 13 ans vous m'avez fait rêver... merci
This project is incredible. The amount of resources required to get this to where it is, is mind boggling.
"Mind-bottling" Ron Burgundy
So inspiring to see all your process and perseverance. Beautifully shot!
Thank You for All that you are doing for World Peace and for our Planet...
Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. La Paz.. Namaste ..
🙏🏻 😊 🌈 ✌ ☮️ ❤️ 💐 🕊
It's a good starting point for a new team to tackle when new material and aeronautical control technology is available to them.
As an engineer for over 36 years and an avid kite flyer and builder, these people anger me.
They took a simple and elegant Idea and turned it into a needlessly and complicated monster.
On top of that they wasted well over a decade and a significant amount of money on a dubious project.
I am sharing this with the young engineers I know, as a cautionary tale.
@tad landwehr: I'm curious, what kind of engineer you are. Have you ever created a kite, that's starting, flying and landing autonomously, producing some 600kW of electric power at the same time? I don't think so, so shut up and watch again what it takes to do so. Also I'm sure, everyone will appreciate it, if you come up with a better solution.
Incredible film, and absolutely love the vision to thoroughly document the whole process over 13 years. The shot of the kite flying offshore with the generic wind turbine in the background perfectly captured. It's just a shame that offshore couldn't be pushed further. I remember being so excited seeing that you guys had achieved offshore, but unfortunate to know that was also the beginning of the end
what would you say if found out this is all a big joke?
jahjah_light - I know, right! I can’t believe people are buying this BS! “Let’s make a windmill as complicated as an airplane, and get $150M or so of funding!” ($15M before X bought them). Never produced a MVP (Minimum Viable Product). I’m guessing they pulled a dummy load to be able to say they “pulled power from the sky”, since their tether seems much too small to be carrying power....a better name would be “throwing money at the Sky”.
I want to know who the mastermind behind the stewardship of this farce was. Absolute Legend. “Hey look man do you want to change the world? Just cut me a cheque, I’m like the dude!” Like wow. 13 years of guzzling cool aid and spanking all that dosh, whilst kids in Africa read at night with bloody candle. What a bunch of over educated self-entitled tossers. Now they all have jobs with the likes of BP. Hahahahaha
@@slfriend The tether conducts electric power both ways, at high voltage, much like the electric grid. That eliminates the need for heavy wires. If you knew the first thing about electric power, you would not shoot off your mouth/finger in ignorance.
@@YodaWhat Yes, the tether conducts high voltage, so what? What's the outcome of all that BS? Millions pilfered for the sake of fun time! Right from the beginning of the video I could tell that it was a dead project, just a means of fooling the sponsors. How could a technology giant like google bite the hook? Unbelievable!
Mad respects for such a dedication of Makani team. I hope someone else picks up where Makani left - and make it happen.
They need to sell the idea to the defense department. It would be perfect for autonomous rechargeable drones
What a fantastic story. Inspirational. Thankyou.
This is amazing thing in the world , I love it . THANK YOU for Sharing.
I didn't think I would watch such a long video but it enthralled me to the end. I loved the determination of the team and watching young engineers growing older alongside the project as it evolved.
An unbelievable effort of engineering on the basis of a thoroughly unhinged idea.
Way to go guys are are great keep it up can’t wait to see these things go in to service
The idea seems horrible, complex, with a high probability of failture and possibly more expensive than a wind turbine. But the fact is that you tell the story so eagerly that it will turn out well that I was very excited throughout the documentary.
Great story :) Makani was always the kite energy company to watch out for while working in this sector.
Thank you for inspiring me to continue with my project your journey was very inspirational I wish you all much success in the near future with your wind kite.
Wow what a story of reinvention
A hard line to take
With so many variables!
Unexpected and expected outcomes
Great bunch of clever individuals trying to solve cheap green energy from harnessing nature's invisible touch
Hats off to the team and to your boss and friend who died unexpectedly!
who got this off the ground in the 1st place
Thanks for sharing this story
Makes me wish I was a part of it
Recommended watch
One of the best content I've ever watched. I hope I'll be able to work in such a great company like yours was. Started out with a few friends and ended up like a big company. I love humanity!
this is bs.. regardless of what power it is,,you will still have to pay for it. unlike nikola teslas power tower. based on the ancient pyramid power generators,, tru, power from the sky.. not this bs..
@@phantomwalker8251 for real?
@@phantomwalker8251 Holy shit dude, thanks for enlightening me! No shot you have to pay for power and anyways I wasn't talking about that. I was commenting the cinematography and the fact that young people gathered and made a company with a dream of improving our world. Yeah okay, they didn't make a multi-million company, but at least they made a lot of research and progress, collected a lot of data, make lifelong friendships and created this beautiful piece of video content for others to see what is like working in such a company.
@@phantomwalker8251 nah. If tesla succeeded we would have NO internet. There wouldn't be able to be a chip in anything it would fry.
@@phantomwalker8251 this from the numb nuts that doesn't know the difference between , and . ..but sure will listen to those physics plans you got there big boy.
This is great, thank you for filming and editing all of this over so many years!
Amazingly,t hat's all they have accomplished... 13 years of wasted time and money
@@duanesalstrand7361 You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. The amount of knowledge and experience that was gained from such a massive and long-running project probably wouldn't even fit into a masters degree. Look up the papers they published for a small taste.
Even if this project didn't work out as intended, the lessons learned here are already being used by others in the scientific community. This is proof that the science works!
@@DaniDipp Science does work but it doesn't take 13 years and tons of cash to understand the lessons you say were learned. Really? 13 years to figure out that
@@DaniDipp I agree, science does work. But it doesn't take a scientist to understand that a kite isn't going to solve any energy needs. Any educated mech engineer can tell you that you didn't need top spend that kind of wasted time and money to "learn" what these people wasted their time on. Too invested in a bad idea from the get go to make it a worthwhile endeavor. Road to hell is paved with good intentions and this is the epitome of that. It's desirable to try new things, it's foolish to not understand that you don't need to spend 13 years and tons of money on something that won't solve the stated objective...and the science already exists, engineering wise, they did't break any new ground.
@@duanesalstrand7361 From how you write, it's very clear that you DON'T understand how the scientific process works and have no capacity to do research before opening your mouth. That's quite unfortunate but luckily for me, it's not my duty to teach you :D
So get your of my replies and go troll someone else, please and thank you 👋
Fascinating story and achievement, beautifully told.
Normally I wouldn't have watched this video.
But I have been reinvested in the human spirit. Thx.
Has to be the most over engineered system I have ever seen, whee!
about the same thing and it does the same thing that a wind turbine does LOL I guess you got to give these kids something to do who wants to work a 9 to 5:00...
@@thats_my_comment sorry, but you must have ADHD, having missed the entire mention of the proposed advantages of such a kite, namely, that the higher you go, the faster and more consistent the winds are.
You, sir, are a dunce.
It kept them employed and earning and I suspect they are more accountancy types than engineer. I would like to know the cause of the original leader's cause of death. The most important event in this video and it was glossed over. Suspicious?
@@unsucks9337 Employed yes, earning is debatable.
@@unsucks9337 iLluMinATi OmG I added this conspiracy to my database of global tragedies that are likely perpetrated by the UN and their team of alien overlords
Amazing engineering..While watching this i was thinking about what challenges Spacex had to overcome to nail drone landing, where they had to wait for a paying customer launches to try out their attempt to land.
No matter what a specific volume of wind crosses the blades in relation to the blades surface area wether it's stationary or mobile it only contacts the same column
I respect their effort and hard working. But why not keep the kite stay in the same position?
So awesome too see people get together to transform out future! So cool!
Bravos Makani team, this was truly inspiring. Absolutely loved the team!
engineers are good at solving problems, but not necessarily good at realizing when an idea is really crazy
The tail fin operated in the turbulent flow “shadow region” of the horizontal stabilizer, risking lost yaw authority in flight. Because I’d that some high performing glider use T shape configuration at the tail end.
I wish they had tried sideways figure 8 (∞) crosswind flight pattern, it would have made the kite climb more stable and potentially reduce or eliminate the tether from coiling.
Also wish they would have been able to test a design with a big balloon that would bob in the wind, also on a tether like their kite. The ground station would need a variable spring, to allow harnessing during slow and strong wings. A permanent magnet in the ground station shaft would harness the bobbing of the balloon, surrounded by a coil. This would reduce the risks of the hard landings the kites experienced. If expensive lighter than air gasses are not available, the tether could provide energy to heat the balloon's air supply.
The "rotating drum" will probably be the ultimate design to harvesting wind energy. Think of the sheath of leather on a drum face, how it is tensioned radially around the diameter. Next, imagine the sheath is a giant sail, in the shape of giant turbine blades. Around the sail is a frame with a generator track. The sail can be extremely light, yet having a huge area, which is able to move a giant armature around the track. The cost will be competitive with current blade designs but the area and energy output much greater.
@Jack Wilde either you explained it horribly or it's stupid as far as being a power generator.
Sails to replace expensive, heavy manufacturing inte sive windblades is a brilliant idea.
It'll need more replacing and maintenance as sails are less durable, but it could be a lot cheaper and cover a lot more area.
A couple things to eat h out for is super strong winds completely destroying the sails when it is too wide. Simply have a mechanism to fold them in in those cases, or maybe not completely fold them in, but the ability to adjust the size, like a light switch dimmer or potentiometer. A spectrum instead of binary open/closed.
Replacement should be made to be low labor. Having to climb all the way up each time is how it'll get expensive. Gotta find a way to make it minimal labor.l and low risk labor.
The way this project took shape is amazing. We can now see how an idea can become very big if we want to.
Its better to try and fail and learn from it, than never try and learn nothing. A great efford and I am sure some one will pick up where you left some day.
Held me captive through out .. what a brilliant journey, to get to the final product, kudos to every one