Dawn is breaking here – dawn in the desert is truly beautiful.  I spent 8 years living and working in Saudi Arabia and one of my favorite things there was to go camping in the desert and wake up to to the sunrises.  But it’s still bloody cold.

New development; As I wrote last night, Centaurus Aerospace showed up at the last minute and were hoping to compete.  However, their microwave source is not working so they’ve teamed up with Punkworks, the other microwave team.  Kevin Estrabillo from Punkworks tells me that the new combined team, known as “Punktaurus” will split the prize money 50-50 with Centaurus Aerospace if they win.

Several teams are here already and there is some jockeying going on as to who will go first, how much time they’ll be allowed on the tether, etc.

Bryan Laubscher (back to the camera), Ben Shelef (in the truck) and Dr. Bradley Edwards getting things ready for this morning’s competition.