China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

The world's largest 5,000-sqm power-generating kite completed its first flight test on Wednesday in Alxa Left Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, marking a milestone in the country's development of high-altitude wind power, according to the kite's developer, China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited.

The kite achieved full in-air deployment and retraction during the testing.

The trial tested a land-based high-altitude wind power generation system that uses kites to capture wind energy, then pulls the generators on the ground to produce electricity.

High-altitude power generation technology enables capturing wind energy from altitudes above 300 meters and turning it into electricity using kites as its core equipment.

"We have completed the first deployment test of the world's largest [power-generation] kite and successfully finished data collection, providing a scientific basis for the design of the kite assembly, which will lay the foundation for deploying a complete set of equipment and for setting standards," said Cao Lun, chief director of the kite-opening test.

At high altitudes, the wind blows faster, stronger, and more consistently. High-altitude wind, as an uncharted territory in new energy, bears great potential for further development.

"We will conduct multi-kite flight tests and plan to launch power generation trials at the end of next year," said Huo Shaolei, senior technical expert at China Power Engineering Consulting Group Limited.

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

Pakistani warplanes struck several locations across Afghanistan on Thursday night and Friday, killing at least six people, including a woman and a child, and wounding more than a dozen others, local officials said.

The strikes hit a fuel depot near the country's Kandahar Airport, areas in the capital Kabul, and the eastern Nangarhar Province.

A Pakistani security source said the strikes targeted hideouts belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In Kabul's 21st police district, one of the areas hit, a market was left in ruins. Several cars were destroyed, and windows of buildings in the market and nearby areas were shattered. A crater caused by the Pakistani airstrikes was also visible.

"This is my car. I had parked it here, and it was the only way I could bring food to my family's table. It was my sole source of income and my only means of employment. Now my car is in this condition, and I have no other way to provide for my family," said Mohamad Ghulam, a taxi driver.

The airstrikes destroyed a house, killing four members of a single family. More than a dozen other households in the area reported their homes either fully or partially destroyed.

One of the victims was 22-year-old Hedayatullah, who had just been married. He was killed alongside his pregnant wife, as well as his brother and sister.

"Hedayatullah got married nine months ago. His brother was 18 years old. He himself was 22 years old, he also had a 12-year-old sister, and his wife was about 19 years old and was pregnant," said Ghulam Sakhi, a relative of the victims.

"This neighbor of ours was a family of five. Their mother was not present at the moment of the bombardment, but the rest of them lost their lives. It was Hedayatuallah's family. From my own family, two of my daughters, my sister-in-law, my brother, and two nieces got injured," said Mohamad Homayoun, a survivor.

In the past weeks, scores of people from both sides have been killed or injured in the conflict between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, according to officials from the two countries.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has called for an immediate halt to cross-border clashes, warning that the escalating violence is driving a surge in civilian casualties and deepening a humanitarian crisis.

At least 6 killed, more than a dozen wounded in Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan: officials