No Winner in Space Elevator Competition

Teams vying for the $500,000 grand prize in the Space Elevator competition this past weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah, were stymied by the weather and equipment failures, causing the event to be rolled over an additional day from its initial 3-day run of October 19-21.

The competition is divided into two parts, a climbing competition and a tether competition.

In the climbing competition, a robotic climber must be able to climb a 100 meter long rope at a speed of two meters per second, using either solar power or a ground-based power system, but the robot must be a stand-alone unit. Three of the four teams opted for solar panels, while the fourth decided to go with a ground-based laser.

In the tether competition there were only two entrants, and for the first time one of the entries included a two meter long tether made from carbon nanotubes. There was no winner in the competition, which is a test of the submitted entry against a rope made of conventional materials with no weight restrictions, versus the entrant tether can weigh no more than 2 grams.

Four teams made it to the climbing finals out of eight entrants. Teams from the Kansas City Space Pirates, the University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team, University of British Colombia's Snowstar, and the Technology Tycoons from Westmont High School.

Teams were hampered by strong winds in completing the climb. Everything from dust blocking the laser, to solar panels blowing loose plagued the entrants, and as of Sunday none of the entries had been able to achieve the speed goal, although several were able to get to the top of the cable. In an all-hands meeting on Sunday, the competitors and sponsors agreed to roll over the event for an additional day.