2nd Annual JSETEC Competition announced

From August 6th-8th, the Japan Space Elevator Association (JSEA) will host it’s second annual JSETEC (Japan Space Elevator Technical & Engineering Competition) event.  I blogged about the inaugural event, held in 2009, here and here.  It was a great success and I’m sure this year’s event will be to.

This year’s event will be held at the same place the 2009 event was held at; Japan University’s Futuwa Field.  Last year, the tether was 150 meters long and this year they’ve doubled it to 300 meters.

The goals of the competition are as follows:

  • To support technical experimentation and activities geared toward building a Space Elevator Climber model for a vertical belt tether based on the Edwards’ Space elevator plan.
  • To support technical experimentation and activities geared toward developing a vertical rope tether climber which could be used for a stratospheric platform which is considered a milestone in the path toward realization of the Space Elevator.
  • Provide accurate factual information about potential plans for aSpace Elevator to the any interested parties.

There is still time (though not much) to sign up for this competition – entrance is closed on June 25th.  I’d love to go to this, but will be unable to this year – maybe next year…

Mr. Devin Jacobson of the JSEA sent me a 26 page pdf file containing information about the Japan Space Elevator Association, the 2009 competition (including details of the various climbers that were entered) and the 2010 competition.  It is a very interesting, very informative document and I highly recommend you read it.

Some of the highlights:

  • As of March 31st of this year, JSEA had 470 members.  That’s very impressive…
  • If you look at the diagram and explanation of the Tether ‘racecourse’, you’ll see similarities and differences to the ‘racecourse’ that the Spaceward Foundation has set up for it’s own Space Elevator Games.
  • The 2009 competition was held on a 150 meter tether.  This year’s competition will be held on a 300 meter tether.  Next year, they plan on using a 600 meter tether.  But, unlike the Space Elevator Games, they plan on holding the tether aloft with balloons, not a helicopter.  It will be very interesting to see how successful they are.  I know that Ben Shelef (from the Spaceward Foundation) looked at using balloons and decided that they were not practical for the kilometer long racecourse he had setup.  He also moved from the ‘seatbelt tether’ (as he had used in previous year’s competitions) to a steel cable.

It is really interesting to see the various approaches here, both in the climbers and the setup of the racecourse itself.

Please take a look at the pdf describing JSEA, and the 2009 and 2010 competitions – you’ll be glad you did.

I’ll be posting the results of the competition once it is completed.

Good luck and congratulations to JSEA!

And many thanks to Devin Jacobson for sending me this information so I could post it on the blog…

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