Elevator:2010
Encyclopedia
Elevator:2010 is a competition with monetary
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
prizes similar to the Ansari X Prize
Ansari X Prize
The Ansari X Prize was a space competition in which the X Prize Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks...
, but with the purpose of developing space elevator
Space elevator
A space elevator, also known as a geostationary orbital tether or a beanstalk, is a proposed non-rocket spacelaunch structure...
and space elevator-related technologies. Elevator:2010 organizes annual competitions for climbers, ribbons and power-beaming systems, and is operated by a partnership between Spaceward Foundation and the NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Centennial Challenges
Centennial Challenges
The Centennial Challenges are NASA space competition prize contests for non-government-funded technological achievements by American teams.-Current Challenges:...
.
History
On March 23, 2005 NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Centennial Challenges
Centennial Challenges
The Centennial Challenges are NASA space competition prize contests for non-government-funded technological achievements by American teams.-Current Challenges:...
program announced a partnership with the Spaceward Foundation regarding Elevator:2010, to raise the amounts of monetary prizes and to get more teams involved in the competitions.
There are two (out of the currently seven) competitions of the NASA Centennial Challenges
Centennial Challenges
The Centennial Challenges are NASA space competition prize contests for non-government-funded technological achievements by American teams.-Current Challenges:...
which fall under the Elevator:2010 banner: The Tether Challenge and the Beam Power Challenge. These are also the two original competitions.
Tether Challenge
This competition presents the challenge of constructing super-strong tethers, a crucial component of a space elevatorSpace elevator
A space elevator, also known as a geostationary orbital tether or a beanstalk, is a proposed non-rocket spacelaunch structure...
. The 2005 contest was to award US$50,000 to the team which constructed the strongest tether
Tether
A tether is a cord, fixture, or signal that anchors something movable to a reference point which may be fixed or moving. There are a number of applications for tethers: balloons, kites, tethered wind-energy conversion systems, anchors, tethered water-flow energy conversion systems, towing, animal...
, with contests in future years requiring that each winner outperform that of the previous year by 50%. No competing tether surpassed the commercial off-the-shelf
Commercial off-the-shelf
In the United States, Commercially available Off-The-Shelf is a Federal Acquisition Regulation term defining a nondevelopmental item of supply that is both commercial and sold in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace, and that can be procured or utilized under government contract...
baseline and the prize was increased to $200,000 in 2006.
Of the four teams competing, three were disqualified for not following length rules—one of these cases by a fraction of a millimeter. Ultimately, the house-tether won against the remaining team. The unchallenged house-tether was stronger than the machine used to test the tether itself: it began to fail at 1600 pound-forces (7,117.2 N), forcing the test to be called off.
Contest organizers have placed the next year's prize money at $2,000,000 USD for this competition.
Beam Power Challenge
The Beam Power Challenge is a competition to build a wirelessly-powered ribbon-climbing robot. The contest involves having the robot raise a specified payload to a specific height within a limited period of time. The first competition in 2005 would have awarded , US$20,000, and US$10,000 to the three best-performing teams meeting the minimum benchmark of 1 m/s. However no team met the minimum standard in 2005.In 2006 the prize for first place increased to $150,000 with the goal of climbing 50 meters in under 1 minute. It was held October 20–21, 2006 at the Las Cruces International Airport
Las Cruces International Airport
Las Cruces International Airport is an international airport located 8 miles west of the city center of Las Cruces, New Mexico, on a Mesa overlooking the Mesilla Valley. The airport was the major hub for Zia Airlines in the 1970s and early 1980s. There have been no scheduled passenger flights to...
at the Wirefly X PRIZE Cup. 13 teams entered the competition. Only one team, University of Saskatchewan
University of Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded in 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the...
, was able to climb the tether in under 1 minute, reaching the top in .
The Challenge had $500,000 in prize money for the 2007 competition.
At the 2009 Challenge, on November 6, 2009, LaserMotive
LaserMotive
LaserMotive is a U.S. engineering firm developing technologies for efficiently transmitting power via lasers, a form of wireless energy transfer.-History:LaserMotive was founded in 2006 by physicists Tom Nugent and Jordin Kare.-Technology:...
successfully used lasers to drive a abbr=on 4.8 device up a abbr=on 900 cable suspended from a helicopter. Energy is transmitted to the climber using a high-power infrared beam. LaserMotive's entry, which was the only climber to top the cable, reached an average speed of 13 km/h (8.1 mph) and earned a $900,000 prize. This marked both a performance record, and the first award of a cash prize at the Challenge.
LaserMotive won the prize for the Level 1 power beaming prize in 2009 with the achievement of 2 m/s climber speed over a sub-kilometer climb. The Level 2 power beaming prize, for a 5 m/s climb, remains available for future competitions.
Future competitions
After LaserMotive claimed the prize for the Level 1 power beaming prize in 2009, the Space Elevator games being conducted by Elevator:2010 has a prize purse for future competitions of , for both the Power Beaming (Climber) Competition and the Tether Strength Competition.See also
- KC Space PiratesKC Space PiratesThe KC Space Pirates is a team that competed in the 2006, 2007, and 2009 Space Elevator Games beamed energy climber competition and is planning to enter in the Elevator:2010 climber competition. The team is affiliated with, but is not sponsored by the KC Robotics SocietyThe competition is put on by...
- LightcraftLightcraftA lightcraft is a space- or air-vehicle driven by laser propulsion. Laser propulsion is currently in early stages of development. Lightcraft use an external source of laser or maser energy to provide power for producing thrust. The laser/maser energy is focused to a high intensity in order to...
- Space elevator constructionSpace elevator constructionThe construction of a space elevator is considered to be a large project. Like other historical large projects it entails technical risk: some advances in engineering, manufacture and physical technology are required...
- Space elevator economicsSpace elevator economicsSpace elevator economics compares the cost of sending a payload into Earth orbit via a space elevator with the cost of doing so with alternatives, like rockets.-Costs of current systems :...
- Space elevator safetySpace elevator safetyThere are risks associated with never-before-done technologies like the construction and operation of a space elevator. A space elevator would present a navigational hazard, both to aircraft and spacecraft. Aircraft could be dealt with by means of simple air-traffic control restrictions...
- Lunar space elevatorLunar space elevatorA lunar space elevator is a proposed cable running from the surface of the Moon into space.It is similar in concept to the better known Earth space elevator idea...
- Space elevators in fictionSpace elevators in fictionThis is a list of occurrences of space elevators in fiction. Some depictions were made before the space elevator concept became fully established.-Novels and Fairy tales:* 2061: Odyssey Three, novel by Arthur C. Clarke...
- Space fountainSpace fountainA space fountain is a proposed form of space elevator that does not require the structure to be in geostationary orbit, and does not rely on tensile strength for support. In contrast to the original space elevator design , a space fountain is a tremendously tall tower extending up from the ground...
- Launch loopLaunch loopA launch loop or Lofstrom loop is a proposed system for launching objects into space orbit using a moving cable-like system attached to the earth at two ends and suspended above the atmosphere in the middle...
- Space gunSpace gunA space gun is a method of launching an object into outer space using a large gun, or cannon. It provides a method of non-rocket spacelaunch.In the HARP Project a U.S...
- Tether propulsion
- Non-rocket spacelaunchNon-rocket spacelaunchNon-rocket space launch is a launch into space where some or all needed speed and altitude is provided by non-rocket means, rather than simply using conventional chemical rockets from the ground. A number of alternatives to rockets have been proposed...
- Space elevator challenge (Japanese)