LaserMotive Wins $900,000 In Power Beaming Challenge

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:11:00 GMT

Congratulations go out to Jordin Kare, Tom Nugent, and the rest of the LaserMotive team for claiming a $900,000 prize in the Power Beaming Challenge of the Space Elevator Games. In order to claim this prize, their climber, which was powered by lasers, had to climb to the top of a 1 kilometer long cable at a speed between 2 and 5 meters per second (their climber averaged about 3.9 meters per second).

There are two sides to the Space Elevator Games: the Power Beaming Challenge and the Tether Challenge. The purpose of the Power Beaming Challenge is to build the fastest robotic climber to reach the top of a cable, with all energy received via beamed power (in the past they allowed solar reflectors and spotlights, but this year all power was supplied by lasers). The purpose of the Tether Challenge is to build the strongest tether, one capable of beating the "reference" tether. Tethers must be closed loops 2 meters in length and weigh less than 2 grams, with a breaking force in excess of 1.5 tons.

In each category, NASA has made availabe up to $2 million in prize money. LaserMotive is the first team to claim a share of either prize.

When you combine an ultra-strong, lightweight tether with a laser-powered robotic climber, you have the ingredients necessary for an elevator to space. For their $4 million in prize money, NASA has inspired multiple teams to compete in each of these competitions, which is advancing progress toward a space elevator. Construction of a space elevator would greatly enhance our ability to Get There From Here.

Congratulations again to LaserMotive, and to all of the teams which have competed in the Space Elevator Games! Also congratulations to the Spaceward Foundation who organizes these games for NASA.

Geo-Synchronous Earth Orbit (GEO)

LaserMotive Wins $900,000 In Power Beaming Challenge