2007 Spaceward Games
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[edit] SPACEWARD GAMES 2007 OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIRST STEPS OF A NEWBORN GIANT
Farmington, UT; OCTOBER 23, 2007 - The official results for the 2007 Spaceward games were released today by the Spaceward Foundation.
[edit] Power Beaming Challenge
Team USST from the University of Saskatchewan was the best performer, moving their laser-powered 25 kg climber [55 lb] at an average speed of 1.8 m/s [6 ft/sec] over a 94 m run. This corresponds to over 400 Watts of mechanical power maintained for almost a minute. They did this 4 times within 40 minutes.
Team USST had the most technologically advanced system, based on high-power laser diode system.
Team Kansas City Space Pirates demonstrated the fastest short climb, moving at over 3.5 m/s using directly reflected sunlight. They were later damaged by a wind gust and never regained their full power. Their full length run was 1 minute, 15 seconds, corresponding to an average speed of 1.25 m/s.
Team Lasermotive from Seattle entered a laser-based system comparable in potential to the USST entry, but did not get the system working in time.
[edit] Tether Strength Challenge
Team Astroaranea retained their title as the maker of the strongest tether.
Team delta-X from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated a 2 gram pure Carbon Nanotube tether.
None of the teams reached the threshold necessary to win the prize money, and both prize purses for 2008 are now set at $900,000.
[edit] QUOTES
Clayton Ruzkowski, USST team leader: "I am very proud of how our team preformed at this years competition. We set three competition records and broke one world record. Our technology has barely scratched the surface in terms of what we can achieve. We expect to be able to exceed this year's power levels by far next year."
Spaceward's CEO Ben Shelef, on USST: "This is what we came here to see. Team USST has built and operated a technologically complete system that incorporated in it all the basic components of a full Space Elevator power beaming system. We can't wait to see".
Brian Turner, KCSP team captain: "You never know if it's all going to come together until it does� The Kansas City Space Pirates are now officially the most powerful team under the Sun."
Spaceward's CEO Ben Shelef, on KCSP: "This was a gorgeous climb, with everything working like clockwork for start to finish. The pirates are now analyzing post-climb data, but they seem to be strong contenders at the finals".
Jordin Kare, Lasermotive team leader: ""LaserMotive was, of course, very disappointed that we failed to qualify or run at the 2007 Space Elevator Games. We believe we had the technology to win, and believe we will do so next year".
[edit] BACKGROUND
The Space Elevator games concentrate on two far-reaching technology concepts that will enable NASA to enhance its space program power beaming for wireless power transfer, and Nano-materials such as Carbon Nanotubes for strong structures.
Ken Davidian, program manager for Centennial Challenges: "I am excited and impressed with the evolution and level of technical maturity demonstrated by the teams in both the Tether and Beam Power Challenges. Over the past 24 months, individual teams started from scratch, have grown continually, have coalesced into communities, and are on the verge of accomplishing substantial achievements worthy of a Centennial Challenges prize."
Dr. Bradley C Edwards, the leading Space Elevator researcher and science advisor to the games: "The Space Elevator games, with their emphasis on strong tethers and power beaming, represent the road to building the Space Elevator. We hope their cumulative effect on the engineering community will enable further effort in this direction."
The Space Elevator is a revolutionary Earth-to-Space transportation system proposed in 1960 by Yuri Artsutanov and enhanced in 2000 by Dr. Bradley Edwards, then at Los Alamos National Labs. The system is comprised of a stationary cable rotating in unison with the Earth, with one end anchored to the surface of the planet and the other end in space. Electric cars then travel up and down the cable, carrying cargo and people.
For more information on the competitions, visit: http://www.spaceward.org, email ted@spaceward.org, or call (630) 240-4797.
Press resources are located at http://www.spaceward.org/press.html
The Spaceward Foundation is a public-funds non-profit organization dedicated to furthering space science and technology in the public mindshare and in educational curriculums. We believe that expanding mankind's habitat is essential to its survival, and that the most effective way to induce long-term change is through education.
Ted Semon Spaceward Foundation, Mountain View, CA ted@spaceward.org (630) 240-4797
