I’ve heard from several more teams (Space Elevator Team at UT, Recens, Team Rambo I / Team Telsa, Queens Space Elevator Racing Team, Lone Star and MIT) that they are NOT competing this year in the Climber / Power-Beaming competition (MIT will still be competing in the Tether competition).

So, this is what I know so far:

Teams definitely in:

#230 – McGill  Space Elevator Team (possibly in conjunction with Punkworks – more on this later) – Searchlights or Microwave

#234 – Kansas City Space Pirates – Solar

#235 – LaserMotive – Laser

#241 – USST – Laser

#253 – UBC Snowstar – Solar

Teams definitely out:

#222 – Starlifters

#226 – MIT Space Elevator Team (again Climber / Power-Beaming only – Tether team will play)

#228 – Team Telsa

#236 – Andromeda Connection

#239 – M Climber

#240 – Lone Star

#242 – Queens Space Elevator Racing Team

#244 – Recens

#245 – Space Elevator Team at UT (University of Tennessee)

Teams I have not heard from:

#221 – Space Invaders

#225 – Team Zero G

#237 – University of Alberta Space Elevator Racing Team

#238 – Uplifting Experience

#243 – Lite Won (Technology Tycoons) – Last year’s second best finisher

#246 – University of Idaho Engineering

#249 – E-T-C (I’m pretty sure they’re playing but haven’t heard from them definitively yet – they might be in transit from Japan)

#250 – Centaurus

I’m disappointed, of course, that not all of the teams can make it, but I’m especially disappointed that neither of the two European entries (Team Telsa and Recens) will be here.  Recens was cursed with tremendously bad luck last year and the Space Elevator Gods should have put this situation aright.  I guess it was not to be.

I’m fairly sure that at least 3-4 entrants from the “Don’t know” list will be playing too, but I won’t move them to the “Definitely in” list until I’m “Definitely sure” 🙂

Both teams listed for the Tether competition (Astroaranaea and MIT) WILL be there.

As I get more replies or information from other sources, I will update this list.

I just received this email from Brian Baca, of the University of Michigan’s MClimber team:

I’m afraid that MClimber will not be ready to compete this year. As usual there are a lot of last minute issues, but we do not have enough time to sort them out along with our classwork and midterms. The team is looking to compete next year, but nothing is official yet.

Major bummer – they did so well in last year’s competition and I was really looking forward to seeing how they were going to do this year.

Let’s hope for their return next year and, as I wrote in my last post, perhaps we’ll see them in both the Climber / Power-Beaming competition and the Tether competition.

In the last few days, two of the teams which had entered the Climber / Power-Beaming event at this year’s Space Elevator Games have announced they will not be competing this year.  Donald Longerbeam’s Starlifters dropped out, citing financial issues, while just today, Michael Harvey and the Andromeda Connection threw in the towel, citing problems in getting solar cells capable of handling their MOLPSol “laser”.

This winnowing out is a normal process; it occurred in both the 2005 and 2006 Space Elevator Games – not every attempt to build and power a Climber is successful.  And it gets harder each year as the requirements continue to become more stringent.

But not to worry; there are several teams who have already demonstrated their teams capabilities and will be competing.  This year’s events will be, by far, the most competitive in the history of the Space Elevator Games.  We’ll be seeing teams using, for the first time, both laser and microwave propulsion systems and we’ll see how quickly this technology is advancing.

But I must say that I hope that the Starlifters will continue to attend our weekly chat session – they were always so cheerful and upbeat and just a joy to be around 🙂

I received this today from Brian Turner, fearless leader of the Kansas City Space Pirates:

“Well we leave in two weeks! The short time is currently our biggest problem. We have a second trailer so we should have plenty of room. I am attaching a photo of my driveway to give an idea of how much the project has overflowed my garage. Fortunately I live in the county and we can have a bunch of weird stuff all over the lawn. The neighbors are all rooting for us too. Sometimes they stop and ask what is going on.

This weekend I need to get several hundred holes drilled in the mirror frames. So those of you that are local, now is the time that we could use some help. Call me at 816-716-7077. The process is simple and I am planning on having a supervisor for those of you that have not drilled that many holes. Bring a cordless drill if you have one and a 3/16″ bit.

I also am including a photo of what happens on a windy day when we left a mirror tied to something too small.

Cheers
Brian Turner”

(Click on the photos for larger versions)

Only three more weeks until October 19th and the start of the Space Elevator Games.

If you don’t know what these are, you can find all about them at the Elevator2010 website.

If you want to see a glimpse of the future of transport to and from space, you should plan on attending.  I’ll be live-blogging the games (assuming that the Verizon EVDO service works there 🙂 ) and posting summaries each night.  But it’s no substitute for actually being there, especially if you live in the Salt Lake City area.

Only three more weeks…

The latest from Brian Turner, fearless leader of the Kansas City Space Pirates:

“Well it’s now less than one month to the competition. We are down to the heavy work of getting ready. If it was still August I would be ecstatic. As it is, I feel quite pressured by time. But all systems are progressing well and we are not expecting any surprises. All of the custom electronics showed up on schedule and that was the last of the potential show-stoppers.

Every test for the last month has been as expected or better. We also will have cool Space Pirate collateral. Including flags, t-shirts, tattoos and mirrors. Speak up if your interested in some of this loot.

Press coverage:

You can find a picture of my garage in the October issue of Kansas City Business Magazine. It’s located just inside the back cover. The magazine should be on sale now. I mistakenly told some of you that this would be in the Kansas City Business Journal. The KC Business Magazine website is KCBcentral.com]

Brian”

In this article from NewScientist, we learn about a new possibility in the laser field, a gamma-ray laser.  All you have to do is to (somehow) have “an electron hook up with its antiparticle, the positron, to form positronium” and then have the “positronium atoms merge into a kind-of a ‘super-atom’ condensate” which could then lead to “gamma-ray lasers a million times more powerful than standard lasers”.

No problem…

I fully expect to see at least two of these in next year’s Space Elevator games 🙂

(Picture from here – click on it for a larger version)

USST gets some hometown press coverage here.

And, from their Website news tab, we learn that, among other things, the USST team has received official approval from the FAA to operate their Climber’s laser and that they appeared on a local TV show (CTV’s News at Noon) on Monday, September 10th.

The latest newsletter from Spaceward:

Spaceward Foundation News Bulletin

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Newsletter #3 – September 08, 2007

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Hello Folks!6 weeks to go, and the excitement is mounting!In this newsletter:

• Announcements: EuroSpaceward, The Space Show, Hotels, Light Racers
• Venue pictures and sneak preview
• 2007 Team Profiles
• Volunteer positions

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Announcements:For those of you new to this newsletter, previous letters are archived at www.spaceward.org/press.html#newsLetters, including the power-beaming technology overview from newsletter #2. This will help you keep up with some of the comments in the team preview below.Fans of Dr. David Livingstone’s Space Show as well as Space Elevator enthusiasts can find our 90 minute SE special conversation with the good doctor here. We talk about the coming games, the Space Elevator, Light Racers, and a little bit about the Space program and Space politics.

A quick reminder on behalf of the European Spaceward Foundation – Registration for the 2007 Climber Workshop in Luxemburg is open – read all about it at www.eurospaceward.org.

Team registration for Light Racers: Welcome to our new team from Farmington. If you’re considering participating in the Great Light Racer Championship, please sign up to the Light Racer mailing list, since we’ll use this list to announce special offers (Solar Panels!) rule updates, practice times, etc. Take a couple of minutes and read through the pages available at www.lightRacers.org. A new picture-by-picture guide to building a Light Racer is available too.

And finally, as if you’ve forgotten, the 2007 Spaceward Games – October 19-21 2007: Be there or be square! For details, tickets, special hotel rates, go to www.spaceward.org. A new hotel rate is now available at the Hilton Garden Inn in Layton (In addition to the Holiday Inn Express next door.) The discounted prices expire about 3 weeks before the games, or if they sell the entire block – so get your tickets now!

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Venue Sneak Preview:(Since some email readers do not show images by default, I used links instead of embedded images – just click the image name to view it)I just recently returned from another scouting week in lovely Salt Lake City. Things are coming along great, and I thought I’d share some of the pictures and some of my thoughts with you.

The first image is probably familiar to you already, a Google aerial shot showing the general layout of the grounds. The signature square concrete path will be the epicenter of activity – this is where the climbers will launch from.

The second image is of the launch pad location, taken from where the crane will be located. This year’s crane has an “elbow” type boom, and so will be almost 100′ away from the ribbon, which in my mind makes for a much prettier setup. Still, at almost 400′ tall, even 100′ doesn’t seem like much…

From the launch pad, you can follow the concrete pathway through the lawn to “climber row” – the hangar where the teams are parked when they are not on the pad. Serving as a real life Space Elevator museum, climber row features the climbers hanging from the roof beams at eye level, so you’ll be able to walk up close, talk to the teams, and get a first hand look at what makes them (both the climbers and the teams) tick.

The concrete paths are great for moving the team entries around, and the square pattern allows us to de-stage one team while the other one sets up – No traffic interference. This event center seems to have been built for our games.

Right outside climber row stands this concrete pedestal, which will be transformed (by October 15) into an 8′ Earth hemisphere, complete with Space Elevator attached. This model will also feature the moon, and mars – all to scale!

There is much more that I haven’t snapped pictures of: The question Maze, the A/V facilities where we will screen unique Space Elevator movies, the Light Racer arena, the media center (more on this in the next newsletter)

I will be headed back to SLC in a couple of weeks, and will make sure to have more show and tell for the next newsletter.

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The rest of this email is dedicated to an overview of our teams – both the veterans and the newcomers. I recommend that you check out their web sites… You’ll find that the teams are about as diverse a set as we could have hoped for – universities and hobbyists, 4 countries – some are prolific bloggers, some are more secretive. One thing’s for sure: On October 19, all their secrets will be revealed.So here we go, alternating between veteran and newcomers. You’ll notice that not all 22 teams are here. As was the case last year, some teams are not able to complete their climber in time. Since we’re nice people, we allow them to roll over their entry to next year, and so we hope to see them compete yet in 2008.

• USST – the University of Saskatchewan. (www.usst.ca).
  USST was last year’s best performing team, having come in only two seconds too slow to claim the prize money. This year is a brand new game of course, so while they are natural favorites, they are by no means a hands-down sure bet. Last year, USST was the only team to attempt an Infra-Red power beam, and they are planning to pursue the same idea again this year – only with a much more powerful system in mind. They are ambitious, and are definitely a team to watch. Clayton Ruszkowski is the leader.
• Lasermotive (www.lasermotive.com).
  This new entry from Seattle is led by Laser expert Jordin Kare, also working with an Infra-Red based system. The Infra-Red systems are closest to what is currently planned for the real Space Elevator – we explained a little bit about the power systems in the previous newsletter. Definitely one of the favorites.
• The Kansas City Space Pirates (www.kcspacepirates.com).
  The Pirates were by far the most original design last year, and also one of the more powerful ones, pioneering the use of a Solar light collector and what Brian Turner termed “Helio-Beaming”. Look for another original design this year!
• E-T-C (www.earth-track-controllers.com).
  ETC is our first ever Japanese team! ETC is one of the teams that have chosen to use a commercial off-the-shelf white light beam. Led by Akira Tsuchida.
• MIT (mitset.mit.edu).
  The Massachusetts Institute of Technology doesn’t join competitions in order to come in second. That’s right – If you’re not first, you’re last! MIT is one of our new entries, and we’re expecting them to uphold the school’s reputation. MIT’s system is based on a Microwave beam, and they have been working on their entry for more than a year, so expect to see sparks fly!
• Team Zero G(www.teamzerog.com).
  A home grown Microwave-based team, lead by Arthur Shay and assisted by daughter Katie.
• Team Tesla (www.warr.de/projekte.php?projekt=space_elevator).
  Last year the German team was one of the more robust designs, so if that’s any indication, we’re looking forward to see Team Tesla’s entry. They are pursuing a MW based system, and from their web site they will certainly have this year’s best looking climber! Team leader is Joachim Sturm.
• The Technology Tycoons. (www.goingupteam.com).
  Known last year as “Lite Won”, this high-school team is another one of the teams using redirected Solar light. Last year’s direct-solar climber performed quite well, and so they have the potential to pull a fast one (get it?) over the grown-up teams. Team leader is Larry Grattan.
• McGill University (space-elevator.mcgill.ca).
  Another member of the Canadian invasion, McGill is also pursuing a Microwave power beam. Lead by Cyrus Foster.
• Snowstar (www.snowstar.ca).
  The team from the University of British Columbia is one of our two-year veterans, having fielded entries in both the 2005 and 2006 games. They’re back this year with an all-new Solar based design. Led by Damir Hot, this team is one of the better sponsored teams in the line-up.
• Starlifters
  A new team this year, featuring a solar design. Led by Donald Longerbeam.
• Centaurus Aerospace.
  A private team from Logan, Utah, Centaurus is our second two-year veteran. Last year Centaurus we already attempting a Microwave based design, and so they have an extra year’s worth of MW experience under their belts.
• Andromeda Connection (www.anconn.com).
  A new team this year, featuring a solar design. Led by Mike Harvey
• University of Michigan MClimber (www.mclimber.org).
  A veteran group, University of Michigan’s MClimber was the first of the climbers to reach the top of the track last year. Lead by Brian Baca, this team is using a white light beam, similar to that of ETC.

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Next on our agenda is the “help wanted” sectionWe’re looking for a few good men and women to act as guides – this event will draw on the larger SLC area population, and a lot of people coming to the games will never have heard about the Space Elevator before. (Gasp!) Do you know your Space Elevator basics? Can you explain them well?  We’ve got a “Guide” badge waiting for you!If you feel you’re up for it, please browse to http://www.spaceward.org/help-wanted.html and register, so we can keep you informed. Please also email help-wanted@spaceward.org with a description of what you want to do at the competition.

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We look forward to seeing you at the games!   The Spaceward Crew

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The Spaceward Foundation is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit dedicated to furthering Space exploration in educational curriculums and the public mindshare – http://www.spaceward.org.

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One of the first-time entrants in this year’s Space Elevator Games is the McGill Space Elevator Elevator team, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.  Now I have a special affinity for that town; my wife was born and raised in the Montreal area, most of her relatives live in and around Montreal and she and I were married in Montreal.  Suffice it to say that I have spent a fair amount of time there.

So I was pleased to receive an email yesterday from Cyrus, one of the team members of the McGill Space Elevator Team, informing me that they are in the process of updating their web site and sending me a couple of photos from their teams appearance at Discover McGill, a campuswide orientation for all first-year students at McGill.

This team has been pretty quiet about what type of entry they’re going to have in this years competition and I’ll be contacting them (and all of the other teams) soon to set up some interviews.  In the meantime, enjoy the photos (click on them for a larger version).

(Update 29AUG07 – I inadvertently posted the same picture twice – this is now fixed – sorry)

The USST website is sporting a new, updated look – quite spiffy IMHO.  They’ve also been updating their “News” section and we learn from it several interesting things.  Their August 14th update states:

Members of USST have photos taken to be published in “NASA 50”, a publication celebrating the 50th anniversary of NASA.

That’s mega-cool.  Also, their August 22nd entry states:

USST has been unofficially notified by the FAA that they will be approved to operate their laser power source at the Elevator 2010 competition in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Check out their News section for all USST updates.  We also have other confirmation that they will be using a laser to power their Climber this year.  From their website’s Home Page:

For this year’s Elevator: 2010 Competition, the USST is making use of a high-powered laser and we are currently conducting thorough design and testing in order to provide the next generation of beamed power at this years competition.

That makes at least two laser powered entries this year; LaserMotive being the other one.  And, we have the Andromeda Connection’s “Solar Laser” entry, too.  I have no doubt that returning competitors KC Space Pirates, UBC-Snowstar and University of Michigan’s MClimber will all up their game.  Add that to the other first-time entrants and this year’s competition is shaping up to be the most intense yet.  If you haven’t made your plans to be there yet, I’d urge you to do so.  This is an event not to be missed.

In this posting on the LaserMotive blog, we learn about Carsten Erickson, another LaserMotive team member.  Racing seems to be in the guy’s blood, participating in “Go-Kart, Hydro, Vintage Sports Car for his entire life”.  He’s also the owner of a software company, which makes him ultra-mega-cool IMHO…

In today’s edition of the Edmonton Journal, Keith Gerein writes about the University of Alberta’s entry into this year’s Space Elevator Games.  Money quote from team member Chris Ryziuk in discussing their limited budget:

“We can’t buy our way to victory, but a good design goes a long way.”

This is the first article I’ve seen on this team – good to know that they’re active.  They won’t reveal their Climber’s power source so I guess we’ll just have to wait.  You can check out their team website here.

(Photo credit: John Lucas from the Journal.  Click on it or view the article for a larger version)

In order to operate their Climber/Power Beaming entries, many of the contestants in this year’s contest must have permission from the FAA.

Bryan Laubscher is the Safety Officer for this event and has issued the following memorandum to all teams;

“1) Solar Teams – Do not have to file anything with the FAA

2) Spotlight Teams – Must file the form below. Richard (FAA advisor) does not anticipate any issues. However, my recommendation to assure passage are:

A) Have a team member designated to look for aircraft and be ready to shut off spotlights.
B) Make the point that the beams are terminated (by the climber). His concern is that distraction or dazzle to an aircraft.
C) Have all your power and divergence information in the form submitted and include the distance at which each beam’s irradiance (Watts / cm squared) drops below the sun’s irradiance.
D) Get this done ASAP.
E) Bring a copy of your form and your approval letter with you to the games as a part of your safety package.

3) Laser Teams – Must file the form below. My recommendation to assure passage are:

A) Have a team member designated to look for aircraft and be ready to shut off the lasers.
B) Explain your system for automatic beam shutoff if the beam strays.
C) Have a person designated at the power switch to shut off the lasers in the case of an unanticpated problems.
D) Make the point that the beams are terminated (by the climber). His concern is eye damage to people on an aircraft.
E) Have all your power and divergence information in the form submitted and include the distance at which each beam’s irradiance (Watts / cm squared) drops below Maximum Permissible Exposure.
F) Get this done ASAP.
E) Bring a copy of your form and your approval letter with you to the games as a part of your safety package.

On the FAA website search for:

Form 7140-1 and for information Advisory Circular AC70-1

This form needs to be filled out by the teams indicated above.”

And on a related note, LaserMotive has announced on their blog that they have already received permission from the FAA to operate their laser-powered climber.  You can read about here.  Congratulations LaserMotive!

I received this news today from Clayton Ruszkowski, captain of the USST Space Design Team:

“…we are putting our 1kW laser stack, highly reflective mirror and solar cells (GaAs) up for sale to the other teams. They will be posted on our new and updated website next week…if anyone is interested to contact me via my email address; usst [AT] usask.ca…”

Clayton has emailed me some pictures of the stuff for sale (here and here – both are 1mb files).  So, either USST has given up or has upgraded.  I would lay a large amount of cash on the latter.  They are also sporting the spiffy new logo shown on this post (click on it for a high-res version).

Finally, Clayton and I have also entered into “serious discussions” on what type of Canadian beer may be brought to yours truly… 🙂  You know, I wonder if I could talk the German, Japanese and Spanish teams into bringing along a six-pack or two…

In this year’s Space Elevator Games, no fewer than five teams from Canada have entered the Climber/Power Beaming competition.  Returning from last year are teams from the University of Saskatchewan (USST) and from the University of British Columbia (Snowstar).  New Canadian entries this year include the McGill Space Elevator Team (from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec), the Queens Space Elevator Team (from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario) and the University of Alberta Space Elevator Racing Team (from the University of Alberta in Edmonton).

USST has to be considered the early favorite for this competition.  They finished first in the competitions in 2005 and 2006 and missed out on the prize money last year by just two seconds.

I’m personally very glad that we have so many entries from north of the border.  My wife is a Canadian citizen so fully half of my extended family are Canucks.  In addition, this land of Moose, Hockey, and Mounted Police brews a plethora of fine beer.  Now, I’m an American and I love my country (and my beer), but it is my personal opinion that most American beers are not up to world standards.  So, I would take it as a very great personal favor if each of the teams would bring yours truly a six-pack of their favorite brew.  If you do, I promise to reimburse you in American or Canadian dollars and to post a very favorable story about your team 🙂

CBC news, a Canadian news organization which did a fine job of covering the games last year, has posted a story about this year’s Canadian invasion of the games.

One of the entrants in last year’s Space Elevator Games was LiteWon, a team made up of High School students from Westmont High School located in Campbell, CA.  Their climber, certainly the least complicated one there, came up with the second best time to the top (a little over two minutes), losing out only to USST.  This year, they are returning for another crack at the prize.

A story ran in the November 1st, 2006 issue of the Campbell Reporter, one I hadn’t seen until Ben Shelef emailed it to me a few days ago.  It really is well done and the photographs are wonderful.  The author, Alicia Upano, did a marvelous job.  My favorite fact from the story was that their climber was powered by a motor from a model airplane.

If you want to see the story photos in all their glory, click on this link to view the pdf of the story.  Though this pdf file is large (2 MB), it is well, worth the time it will take to download on your machine (IMHO).

(Photo credit: Jacqueline Ramseyer – click on it for a larger version.  There are also several other excellent photos in the story)

Salt Lake City, the home of this year’s Space Elevator Games, is at latitude 40 degrees 47 minutes north while Las Cruces, home of last year’s Games is at latitude 32 degrees 31 minutes north.  The difference is only a little more than 8 degrees, but that, according to Brian Turner of the Kansas City Space Pirates, spells out about a 15% power loss for their climber.  Brian also says that Salt Lake City is cloudy about 45% of the time vs. 20% for Las Cruces.  Added up, this spells some additional hurdles for the Space Pirates climber, and any other team relying on Solar Power.

The Space Pirates are also experiencing other difficulties.  From an email he recently sent out (and reprinted with permission);

“Solar cell attrition is looking to be a potential problem. We are using Space Grade rejects. The testing has been mixed with both good and bad results. It appears that we will break more than I had anticipated because they are quite fragile. It also seems at this point that some of the Space Grade rejects are also Space Pirate rejects. Currently it looks like we may have to scrap 30% of what we buy or use them at reduced output.”

Brian also has this to say about his competitors:

“None of the other teams seem to be confident enough in their progress to release any details. That usually means that they are having similar problems to us. If any of the laser teams were really doing well I would expect to hear something. The teams that are copying my mirror idea are up against the same things we are. And as for the Microwave teams…. Well, I am just not a believer.”

I’m not sure if the other teams not releasing information is symptomatic of problems or not.  He certainly could be right, but I expect at least a few other teams to come to the competition with polished, ready Climbers and they are only keeping mum now out of fear of tipping their hand early.  Come October, we’ll find out…

The Space Pirates are also sporting a new logo.  Click on it to see a larger version.

49 years ago today, President Dwight David Eisenhower signed The National Aeronautics and Space Act (Pub.L. 85-568) to create The National Aeronautics and Space Agency, more commonly known as NASA.  NASA was created to respond to the challenge of Sputnik.

Though this agency is often criticized, it’s monumental achievements cannot be overlooked.  In addition to winning the race to the moon via its Mercury and Apollo programs, NASA has sent probes all over the solar system and into true outer space.  Today, NASA’s Rovers wander the surface of Mars, looking for the building blocks of life.  NASA built and launched Skylab and is now working on the International Space Station.  It has launched numerous satellites that have performed spectacularly, perhaps best symbolized by the Hubble Telescope.  It has built the Shuttle, the world’s only, true, spaceship; capable of launching into space (with a 20 ton payload) and returning.   And for we Space Elevator afficiandos, let’s not forget that NASA provided the money for Dr. Edwards research which led to the Space Elevator concept we are all working for, not to mention the prize money for the Space Elevator Games. The list of accomplishments goes on and on.

Yes there have been mistakes and failures and people have criticized NASA (perhaps justly, perhaps not) for supposedly taking wrong paths with the ISS and the Shuttle.  But NASA is an organization which actually accomplishes great and magnificent things.  We take so much of what they do now for granted and we really shouldn’t.  Space is hard.

There is little doubt that NASA is going through perhaps their most difficult time now.  From constantly changing priorities, to personnel issues that have become soap-opera fodder, to trying to deal with the nascent commercialization of space, it sometimes seems now like they are in a lose-lose situation.  But I think we have to step back and take a look at the larger picture and just marvel at what they have actually accomplished and what they continue to do.

Next year is NASA’s fiftieth anniversary and I hope that day is marked by our country with great joy and celebration.

Happy Birthday NASA!  Long may you continue to ad astra per aspera.

There have been a couple of posts recently (here and here) on the LaserMotive blog, both concerning the mirror that they’re going to be using in the upcoming Space Elevator Games.

In the latest post, they include a cool photograph, showing a reflection of someone from the coated side of their mirror, and discussing why they’re not concerned that their mirror doesn’t reflect visible light very well.

I must say, of all the Space Elevator Team websites, only a few are updated frequently.  I understand that it takes extra work to keep a blog updated (well I know) and a lot of teams just don’t have the extra bandwidth to do this.  Also, I’m sure that some teams are worried about giving too much away to the competition.  With a half-million bucks at state, it’s hard to fault that logic.  But I hope that the other teams will start posting some updates on their blogs soon, otherwise I’m going to have to subject them to one of my infamous interviews 🙂

(Click on the picture thumbnail, or check out the LaserMotive post, for a larger version)

The press release, announcing the date and venue of this year’s Space Elevator Games is all over the media and blogosphere now, and I’m not going to attempt to link to all of the related posts.

I will make an exception for Alan Boyle’s Cosmic Log, however.  His column is a regular read of mine; I always enjoy what he has to say.  Here is his take on the upcoming festivities…

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Spaceward Foundation announced today the venue and timing for its annual Space Elevator games.

The event will be held at the Davis County Event Center just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. The qualifying rounds will start on October 15, and the event will be open to the public between October 19 and October 21.

The Space Elevator competitions, marking their third year running, will feature more than 20 teams from around the country and the world, vying for $1,000,000 in cash prizes provided by NASA’s Centennial Challenges program.

“The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development is thrilled to have the Spaceward Games in Utah this year,” said Gary Harter, Managing Director of Business Creation there. Barbara Riddle, director of the Davis area conventions shared his enthusiasm.

This year will feature a new technology competition — “Light Racers” — that allows kids and young adults to take part in a realistic lunar exploration scenario and win cash prizes for their performance. The competition is open to school, family, and grown-up teams. The Light Racers also serve as a science education platform for teaching basic science and math topics.

Meekk Shelef, president of the Spaceward Foundation: “We are thrilled to have added an educational component where kids can take part in the competition. Reaching out to the scientists and engineers of the future is the most important thing we can do.”

The Space Elevator games concentrate on two far-reaching technology concepts that will enable NASA to enhance its space program — power beaming for wireless power transfer, and Nano-materials such as Carbon Nanotubes for strong structures.

Ken Davidian, program manager for Centennial Challenges: “I am excited and impressed with the evolution and level of technical maturity demonstrated by the teams in both the Tether and Beam Power Challenges. Over the past 24 months, individual teams started from scratch, have grown continually, have coalesced into communities, and are on the verge of accomplishing substantial achievements worthy of a Centennial Challenges prize.”

Dr. Bradley C Edwards, the leading Space Elevator researcher and science advisor to the games: “The Space Elevator games, with their emphasis on strong tethers and power beaming, represent the road to building the Space Elevator. We hope their cumulative effect on the engineering community will enable further effort in this direction.”

“From what we have seen of the teams so far, we are looking forward to an exciting race to the finish this year,” said Ben Shelef, CEO of the Spaceward Foundation. “Third year’s a charm — we expect to be able to award the prize purse this year.”

The Space Elevator is a revolutionary Earth-to-Space transportation system proposed in 1960 by Yuri Artsutanov and enhanced in 2000 by Dr. Bradley Edwards, then at Los Alamos National Labs. The system is comprised of a stationary cable rotating in unison with the Earth, with one end anchored to the surface of the planet and the other end in space. Electric cars then travel up and down the cable, carrying cargo and people.

For more information on the competitions, visit: http://www.spaceward.org/, email ted [AT] spaceward.org, or call (630) 240-4797.

Press resources are located at http://www.spaceward.org/press/PR-2007-001.html.

The Spaceward Foundation is a public-funds non-profit organization dedicated to furthering space science and technology in the public mindshare and in educational curriculums. We believe that expanding mankind’s habitat is essential to its survival, and that the most effective way to induce long- term change is through education. Spaceward Foundation

CONTACT: Ted Semon of Spaceward Foundation, +1-630-240-4797, ted [AT] spaceward.org

Web site: http://www.spaceward.org/

No, I didn’t know that there was one either.  I cannot read Japanese, and there’s no English translation.

I found it via a link on the E-T-C Space Elevator Team website.  It seems that the team will be making a presentation to the Japan Space Elevator Association (JSEA) on July 28th.  I’ll contact their team captain to try and find out how organized the JSEA is and what we might be hearing from them in the future…

I would LOVE IT if the Japanese got into this in a big way.  Here’s a country with the technical know-how, the resources and the balls to pull this off.  And, my wife is of Japanese ancestry – maybe I can use that connection to wangle a ride 🙂

One of the entrants in this year’s Space Elevator Games is Warr’s RAMCO I, out of Munich, Germany.  They do post news on their website, but I don’t read German.  If you plug the latest news entry from them into one of those online language translators, you get the following:

“The WARRmedia WARR-EX1 was updated with pictures by the Garnix to festival and the test ignition. A lot of fun with it!”

There is also a video, which looks somewhat like what I saw in my neighbor’s backyard on the Fourth of July…

On the Team Snowstar website, they give a progress report on how/what they are doing, along with some neat photos.  The photo of their climber on a 40 foot tether shows that, on the outside at least, they have a similar design to last year’s entry (though of course there may be changes between now and competition day).

In their latest posting (June 27th), they note:

“In addition to progress on this year’s design, on June 5 we ran the climber in a situation that allowed us to test in real-world conditions, allowing us to refine and verify our design. There are no public test days planned in the near future; however, UBC Snowstar is proud to announce that we will be holding an event on July 21 at Science World. More details will be forthcoming, with instructions on how to get there as the day comes closer.”

Check out their website for more information.

As ScienCentralNews reports, spider silk is strong stuff, “5 times tougher than Kevlar.”  But as they also report in this very interesting article, it’s hard to obtain, in quantity, from spiders.  The story describes a technique of harvesting spider silk from Goat milk.  The idea was to insert gene fragments into goats and then harvest the silk spider from the goat’s milk.

One of the entrants in the 2006 Space Elevator Games Tether Pull competition was a Canadian company called Nexia Biotechnologies.  They licensed this technology and attempted to create a super-strong tether to enter into the Games.  They never showed up to compete, however, and I always wondered why.  This article gives us the probable reason; the spider silk created from this technique was inferior to the real stuff.

A newer technique, using the entire gene sequence of spider silk (instead of just a fraction of it, as was done before) may be in the offing, and this time, instead of splicing this information into goats, it may be spliced into crops.  Cheryl Hayashi, one of the team members who has helped decode the entire spider silk gene sequence states; “That way they could be grown very cheaply, you know, by the acre. And then the silk protein would be extracted from the plant material and this would be the way that we could get very large amounts of spider silks. We could get spider silks by the ton.”

There is also a video about spider silk and spider silk “farming” you can view.  One learns that Black Widow spiders happen to be the best for this use.  Nadia Ayoub, the researcher interviewed, said that farming Black Widows to extract Spider silk was like “farming wolves for meat” – a very interesting comparison.

It’s a shame that spider silk is not strong enough for an earth-based space elevator, but it should work just fine for a lunar-based one.  Here’s hoping this technique becomes practical.