This project is divided into two challenges: Power Beaming and Tether Strength. The Space Elevator vision will not only further space exploration and knowledge, but has the potential to shape the existential future of the human race for centuries to come. Elevator:2010 is designed to address the “social engineering” of the Space Elevator. Taking their cue from the X-prize, solar car races, and various other competitive ventures, Elevator:2010 uses engineering competitions as a tool to capture mind-share in academia, space enthusiast community, and the general public. Prize money is provided by NASA’s Centennial Challenges program – a total of $4,000,000 over 5 years!
The Power Beaming challenge will continue to influence public perception of the Space Elevator project by demonstrating progressively more accurate (and more impressive!) prototypes of the Space Elevator system. By participating, you get the opportunity to partner in writing this unique chapter of history. In this challenge, the Spaceward Foundation provides the race track, in the form of a vertically-suspended tether, and the competing teams provide Space Elevator prototypes, featuring climbers that have to scale the tether using only power that is transferred to them from the ground using beamed power.
The Tether Strength challenge is the single most difficult task in building the Space Elevator — developing a material that is both strong enough and light enough to support the 60,000 mile long tether. Compared to the best commercially available tether, the challenge needs a material that is almost 25 times better – about as great a leap as from wood to metal. In order to encourage CNT laboratories to pay more attention to the Space Elevator we have posted an open dare to industry and academia: We will award the teams that can come up with the best Space Elevator tether sample, provided that they can beat the best commercial tether on the market by a factor of 2.
Project owners + coordinators:
The Spaceward Foundation
posted on Nov 30, 2008:
why make a space elevator 60,000 miles long?.
would it not be better to make a 2 stage lift.the first stage could be a maglev enabled tube for the first 100 mile with a floating platform at the top. this could be supported along its entire length with hydrogen filled balloons or rings round the tube, bit like how they salvage heavy objects from under the sea, the whole thing could be kept in place with solar powered propellers and a computer network, same technology for stabilizing deep sea drilling platforms, this would be much cheaper, we already have the technology it would be environmentally friendly and the power for it could be produced from renewable green energy.
posted on Apr 25, 2009:
Why 60,000 miles? stable low earth orbits can be achieved at a small fraction of that distance.
how fast will the elevator climb?
posted on Apr 25, 2009:
Because the “top” of the elevator has to be at a stable geosynchronous orbit (42,000 miles). The cable itself has to extend past this (60,000 miles is a decent ball park) to allow a counterweight at the top. You can’t take a space elevator to low Earth orbit, the physics doesn’t work.
Remarkably enough Wikipedia’s article is, at least at time of writing, fairly good, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator for more details.
posted on Apr 25, 2009:
I don’t think it is possible or will ever happen, primarily due to funding.
posted on Apr 25, 2009:
The center of mass of the space elevator has to be in geosynchronous orbit in order for the elevator to remain orbiting above a fixed point on the planet.
posted on Apr 25, 2009:
will the big mac make it to gso
will man harness the energy of the hurricane
will man fall to earth
will I invent anti-gravity plates
posted on Oct 31, 2009:
thanks. good information.
posted on Jun 29, 2010:
hopefully, we would be shifting more and more towards green energy in the future.”: