The Space Elevator Games, a part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges program, which awards monetary prizes in the attempt to spur new technologies, saw three teams participating this year. In order to win the $1.1 million prize, the teams must propel their vehicle 1 km into the sky at an average of at least 5 m/s, while to get hands on the second prize of $900,000 a team will have to cover the 1km mark at an average of 2m/s.
All three teams use a strong laser or power beam to send energy to a solar panel on the elevator platform, giving it enough juice to climb a 1km cable. The Seattle-based team LaserMotive is leading the fourth annual Space Elevator Games at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. The LaserMotive on the first day managed to send their robotic lift, powered by laser beams, up a kilometer (1093-yard)-high cable suspended from a helicopter in 4:01 minutes, while on the second day they took only 3:48 minutes.
The second team, the Kansas City Space Pirates, managed to get their machine to 850 m at 8:00 on the first day. While the second day of the competition was not too lucky for the team as they still failed short of reaching the top. The third team, the University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team, known as USST, faced a series of problems and was not able to run at all. Therefore, they will get to try once again today.
Via: Telegraph/News/Discovery
