Seattle Team Wins $900,000 In NASA-Backed 'Space Elevator' Competition In Mojave Desert
www.orlandosentinel.com
Photovoltaic panels, which convert laser light into electrical
energy similar to solar panels, are seen on the bottom of the LaserMotive entry in the $2 million Space Elevator Games at the NASA Dryden Flight
Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. In a the test of the concept, robotic machines powered by laser beams will
try to climb a cable suspended from a helicopter, on a course 900 meters (2,953 feet) high.
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[edit on (11/7/09) by AllSeeingI]
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LaserMotive: LaserMotive is commercializing laser power beaming to transmit electricity without
wires for applications where wires are either cost prohibitive or physically impractical. As our first project, we are a Seattle-based team competing
for $2,000,000 in prize money at this year’s annual NASA-sponsored Power Beaming competition, part of the Elevator:2010 Space Elevator Games. Teams
entering the Power Beaming Challenge must power a vehicle 1 kilometer (nearly 3,300 feet) straight up a ribbon using only energy beamed to the vehicle
from the ground.
www.orlandosentinel.com
(visit the link for the full news article)
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Space Elevator:
A space elevator is a proposed structure designed to transport material from a celestial body's surface into space. Many variants have been
proposed, all of which involve traveling along a fixed structure instead of using rocket powered space launch. The concept most often refers to a
structure that reaches from the surface of the Earth on or near the Equator to geostationary orbit (GSO) and a counter-mass beyond.
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