Pull me up, Scotty. At least one team has qualified for part
of a $2 million prize up for grabs in this year's Space Elevator Games, a
NASA-sponsored contest to build machines that can climb a cable in the sky – precursors
for a futuristic transit system to space.
On Wednesday, an entry by the Washington state-based team LaserMotive
climbed a 3,000-foot (900-meter) tether suspended by a helicopter at a speed of
about 8 mph (13 kph). The feat was the best performance
yet of a miniature space elevator prototype, though still a long shot away
from what would be needed to carry humans to Earth orbit, as proponents
envision.
The competition, called the Power Beaming Challenge, is being held this week at NASA's Dryden Flight
Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert. It requires competitors to beam power from a remote source to propell their vehicles upward.
Space
elevators were first popularized in the 1970s by the science fiction novels
of Arthur C. Clarke, as a means to reach space without using a rocket. Instead,
a ship could climb along a fixed structure, like a beam or cable, suspended in
space by a permanent geostationary satellite 22,000 miles (35,000 km) above
Earth. The sticking points are the need for a super-strong, yet light, material
for the tether, and a good way to anchor the other end securely. Not to mention
the vehicle to climb it.
That's where the Space Elevator Games come in. Today offers
a second chance for more climbers to compete, and any team that can power their
entrant for an average speed of 11 mph (18 kph) will qualify for a portion of
the total $2 million prize purse on offer. The competition is sponsored by the
Spaceward Foundation and NASA's Centennial
Challenges program aimed to spur development in space exploration.
An attempt by the Kansas City Space Pirates on Wednesday
fell short of the speed requirement. The climber from USST (University of
Saskatchewan Space Design Team) is slated to compete today.
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