Updates from USST

The Climber/Power-Beaming team from USST has been very busy as of late, but they were kind enough to reply to a “status request” email I sent out a while ago.  I received this reply to my questions from Patrick Allen, USST team member:

We are getting the last of last year’s competition out of the way and starting towards the new one. We are actually having our elections for the new executive this Monday. Hopefully it will start the ball rolling and get us on our way to another successful year.

[Space Elevator Blog – SEB] – Why did USST decide to use Dilas equipment in the 2007 Space Elevator Games?
[Patrick Allen – USST] – We went with Dilas in the 2007 competition because it had the required wave length for the cells that we had available and also that it could be prepared in the short amount of time we had left before the competition.

[SEB] – What factors will be most important to you and USST in deciding what power source you’ll be using in this year’s Games?
[USST] – For this year’s games the most important factors in deciding what power source will be the ability to focus the source to 1km, how easy it is to control, and the wave length of the power source.

[SEB] – Will USST be attending the Photonics West show and will USST be “interviewing” with Trumpf for possible use of their equipment?
[USST] – We will not be able to make it to the Photonic West show due to our busy school schedules.

[SEB] – What are USST’s goals for this year’s competition?
[USST] – Our goals for this year is obviously do the best we can, but we are hoping that will include winning the competition. We also hope to have our design finished before the competition to make the competition run smoother.

Thank you Patrick!