Prospects for a space elevator rise

Correction — November 14, 2009

This article contradicts NASA. The prize money was $900,000 and of the three teams, the Seattle team won and managed to climb the entire length, missing out the extra money only due to being unable to reach the required speed. The remaining money can still be claimed at a future competition, beating this team, but they were very much the winners of this contest. There was no Alaskan team, but there was a Canadian one.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

During a NASA competition, a group of researchers managed to create a robot, powered by a ground based laser, to climb a cable 1 kilometer high dangling from a helicopter.

The contest winners will receive US$2 million for inventing a functioning robot which climbs to the set height in a reasonable amount of time.

The competition took place in the Mojave desert at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, and teams from Missouri, Alaska, and Seattle competed for the prize. It was held to further the research on technology capable of making the 22,000 mile journey into outer space.

The laws of physics are playing against the researchers. The cost of implementing a project where these laws could be handled and orbit achieved is very high: an estimated $22 Billion. Although a working space elevator is a futuristic idea, the projects used in the research today could potentially create such an elevator.

A team from Seattle was announced as the second place winner, winning $990,000 in prize money. They did not earn the full $2 million because they were unable to achieve the required speeds. Despite their research, none of the teams were able to get their robots to the top.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

"LaserMotive Wins $900,000 from NASA in Space Elevator Games" — NASA, November 9, 2009
John Antczak. "Seattle team wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Games" — Associated Press, November 7, 2009
Doug Gross. "Can scientists make a space elevator?" — CNN, November 5, 2009
John Antczak. "Success in 'space elevator' competition" — Associated Press, November 4, 2009

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.