Nasa Star 2 Power Kite

A bit of a look at the Nasa Star 2 kite from Born-Kite.de. Slightly higher aspect than a NPW 5, the Nasa Star 2 is a three line kite - the third line giving the ability to depower the kite - either subtly or completely simply by incrementally pulling on the third line. I haven't flown Nasa's before, so this is a new experience for me. The Nasa Star 2 delivers solid power at quite slow speeds and the power remains very steady even in gusty conditions...well, at least compared to a foil it does! Very responsive to turning input. The kite is one of the most stable kites I've ever flown. It's very light weight, being a single skin (so it will fly in quite light winds), there's no cells to burst or spars to break. It may not have the same wide wind window that something like an Ozone Method has, but I had no problems getting up and down my track in the buggy. Excellent build quality and excellent value. Being my first Nasa wing, I haven't quite worked out proper landing/launch techniques but I didn't have any problems in that dept. Made by Born-kite.de who answered all my emails in a friendly and prompt manner. This one is the 4m, but I reckon I'll have a few more of these before too long! Like it a lot

[@hercion]

looks like a perfect wing for gusty conditions !

[@simonsmith3309]

Well flown

[@grmoski]

Very well made video. Thanks!

[@quedecree]

@hercion It sure is! I simply could not believe how well it evened out the gusts and kept making power. I'm sure some of my foils would have fallen out of the sky in the same wind. It's gonna be awesome in a constant sea-breeze. Probably not as fast as a foil, but you can't have everything!

[@quedecree]

No problems. Tie the third 'depower' line to it's transport loop then separate the bottom two bridles on each side - they become your brake lines. Providing you keep a little tension on them, it flies fine on handles.

[@quedecree]

@yosser38 Lol! yes, it's all in German. I actually typed a whole bunch of it into Word so I could copy and paste it to Google Translate - sorta worked! Steffen Born replied very promptly to my emails and always answered any questions - while English isn't his first language, I was able to follow his replies....mostly!! I tried to track down the original article that reviewed the Nasa Star 2 but was unable. Shall order a few more myself in the next week or two.

[@quedecree]

@quedecree Also - Born-Kite will make you any size up to 12.5m and custom colors too.

[@quedecree]

@yosser38 Yes. I'll be getting the 7m for low wind days also. (I would take a guess at between 4-10 knots will be in the ballpark. I think Hercion may have a video of the Nasa Star 1 flying in 2 knots?) The 4m reacts to steering input a little sooner than my beamers....at least that's my excuse for landing in the top of a tree when I wasn't looking. (shhhh.....don't tell anyone I did that).

[@eliseucunha]

nice field!

[@quedecree]

@HearsallKiteCrowd Thanks for the info. I think Susan (Kitemaker4) on PKF makes them also. I'll keep them both in mind. Cheers.

[@user-vr4ed3gi7w]

I'm having trouble with my kite I attached the winder to the flying lines as it was colour coded but now I have an elastic band and 2 wrist straps left and I have no idea where or how to put them I'm in desperate need of help

[@DRNpowerkiters]

Hi, Have been looking into these kites, me and a friend are looking to purchase a 4mtr and a 5.5mtr. I noticed in a previous comment that born kites offer alternative colours, i mention this as i would prefer the 4mtr in red rather than yellow. Do you know if there are additional charges for this? What are these like for static flying? Excellent review video by the way :) Cheers. Neil - DRN Powerkiters

[@user-eb1bd1hh9t]

very interesting !! never try it in real life . is it this type of kite beter than foil tipe? there is the plus and minus is this type of kites ?

[@quedecree]

On the plus side is better light wind ability. Won't collapse and fall back into the middle of the window like a foil can. Extremely stable, very direct steering and easy to fly. Handles gusty winds more easily than a foil. Pulls like a tank. Won't break if you fly them nose first hard into the ground. On the minus side, won't go upwind as well as a medium aspect foil, top speed is slower and there's a lot of side pull on the harness when you're really powered up.

[@quedecree]

I'm not sure about the custom colors and charges but if you shoot Steffen (orcaman111) an email he will be able to let you know. I find them excellent for static flying - they are certainly slower through the air than something like an Ozone Method and their window is not as wide but they track like their on rails and pull like a truck. You can fly them in lighter winds than a foil as they are a single skin and hence much lighter kite. The 2.5m is pretty zippy to static fly and pulls hard too

[@monsterfpvbristol3756]

must of missed the wind speed on the video, how windy was it on that day? looks rock solid!

[@quedecree]

Probably somewhere around the 12 knot mark. I can buggy with the 4m from about 10 knots up to 20 knots. Although I'm usually putting up the 3.2m around 15 knots. Great kite - I'll be grabbing the 4m Nasa Star 3 a little later this year. (I have both the NS2 and NS3 in the 3.2m size and the NS3 is just a fraction better).

[@RossPotts]

Is this a sled, or does it have parafoil in it?

[@quedecree]

Neither, it's a variant of the NPW wing or Rogallo wing. All single skin with profile maintained by lots of bridles. Sleds are a lot more simple in design and generally use two or three keels to hold their shape and are nearly always single line.

[@RossPotts]

+quedecree interesting. thanks for the info!

[@quedecree]

No problems. There's a few reviews and info at extremekites.com.au - free to sign up and lots of stuff on different kites and how we use them.

[@usmanzamagaming]

Masihuzzaman