Seattle Team Wins $900,000 In NASA-Backed 'Space Elevator' Competition In Mojave Desert

Seattle Team Wins $900,000 In NASA-Backed 'Space Elevator' Competition In Mojave Desert

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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]

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.

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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.