Space Elevator Challenge

MattSparkes writes "For the second year in a row, no team has won the $200,000 prize in the Space Elevator Challenge at the Wirefly X Prize Cup. Three teams were disqualified before the contest even started. Another competition at the event has been held up by confusion. Incredibly, it seems the organisers of the competition are not sure whether the ribbon used was 50 or 60 metres long, and whether any team completed the climb fast enough to win."

Comments

How could you do this now?

[CRCulver]

Don't all depictions of space elevators, like that in Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars involve enormous amount of strong carbon, like carbon nanotubes or diamond? Where would small teams be able to acquire such amounts of a material that's not even mass-produced yet?

Like the Apollo program, maybe this is one area where strong government funding is vital.

Dupe dupey dupe dupe

[Novotny]

I preferred the 'Canadians Vie for Space Elevator Victory' title this piece was given further down the page.

Re:Dupe dupey dupe dupe

[Raynor]

Actually this is a half dupe, since the main contest here is the fiber strength not the elevator. It is a secondary note.

I am a homosexual Negro and I approve this message

[Anonymous Coward]

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Re:How do they work?

[Maddog Batty]

Just Google it

Its not all that difficult...

Pixel and Texel design constraints

[rbanffy]

I don't know if anyone noticed that, but the Pixel vehicle seems somewhat unstable with its single engine.

You can see it here http://media.armadilloaerospace.com/2006_09_23/Pix elQualification.wmv, later in the hover, when it starts to oscilate the engine thrust vector in order to stabilize the craft. The oscilation seems to be increasing, but it's hard to tell since the hover itself is too short.

I know they _are_ rocket scientists and, no doubt, know about this. But it seems to be a major obstacle to achieve the 180-second hover goal.

I wonder what can be done to improve it without compromising the single-engine simplicity.

Re:How do they work?

[endemoniada]

Thankyou for your insightful explanation.

I just wanted a short, to the point, explanation of how it worked, and that's what I got. Google and Wikipedia in all honor, but when you REALLY want something explained, you post a Slashdot comment! :)

Nuts to your Space Elevator

[techpawn]

I want a Wanka-vator!