The Tether Challenge ended just about a half-hour ago and NASA’s Prize money for the Tether Challenge is safe for another year.<\/p>\n
Four teams entered the competition; Astroaraneae, UBC, Centaurus Aerospace and Bryan Laubscher.\u00a0 Lots were drawn to determine who would face who in the two semi-final qualifying matches.\u00a0\u00a0Centaurus Aerospace drew Astroaraneae and UBC drew Bryan Laubscher.<\/p>\n
Tethers from Centaurus Aerospace and Astroaraneae were both weighed and both came in under the 2 gram limit.\u00a0 They were each then mounted on the Tether Pull machine and measured for length.\u00a0 While Astroaraneae met the 2 meter minimum, Centaurus Aerospace did not and was disqualified.<\/p>\n
Tethers from UBC and Bryan Laubscher were then both weighed and they, too, both came in under the 2 gram limit.\u00a0 They were each then mounted on the Tether Pull machine and measured for length.\u00a0 Unfortunately, neither team met the 2 meter minimum and were both, therefore, disqualified.\u00a0 So, Team Astroaraneae won the competition by default.<\/p>\n
There was much discussion and unhappiness over the disqualifications, and that topic deserves a separate post.<\/p>\n
in the spirit of competition,\u00a0however, tethers from UBC and\u00a0Bryan Laubscher were matched against each other in a “non-title” match.\u00a0 Team UBC won when\u00a0Bryan’s tether parted at 531 pounds.\u00a0 UBC then matched it’s tether against one from Centaurus Aerospace in another friendly competition.\u00a0\u00a0Centaurus won when the UBC tether parted at about 880 pounds.<\/p>\n
Astroaraneae then faced off against the house tether.\u00a0 The house tether won, but the Astroaraneae tether didn’t part until 1335.9 pounds of pressure was applied – a very impressive performance.\u00a0 This beat last year’s winner by about 100 pounds.<\/p>\n
An attempt was then made to break the house tether.\u00a0 It was matched against a high-quality rope, not as competition, but just to see at what level the house tether parted at.\u00a0 This number would then be a factor in next year’s competition.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the house tether proved to be stronger than the machine!\u00a0 The aluminum rollers holding the tethers actually began to force the block holding them outward at one end\u00a0and the measurement had to be halted.\u00a0 They’re going to have to come up with an alternative method to measure these.<\/p>\n
So, congratulations go out to Michael Remington and his Team Astroaraneae!\u00a0 Michael and his team promise to be back next year with an even stronger composition.<\/p>\n
Below are some pictures of the Tether Challenge.\u00a0 As always, click on the thumbnails to view a larger version of the picture.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n![](\"\/media\/2006SEGames\/TetherBenExplainingTheRules.jpg\")
<\/a>Ben Shelef explaining the rules before competition began.<\/p>\n<\/a>Ben hooking up the signal lights.\u00a0 These lights were “on” for each tether during the pull.\u00a0 When a tether broke, it’s light would go out – the other light signifying the winner.<\/p>\n