{"id":931,"date":"2008-02-20T02:09:17","date_gmt":"2008-02-20T07:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/?p=931"},"modified":"2008-02-20T02:09:17","modified_gmt":"2008-02-20T07:09:17","slug":"two-new-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/?p=931","title":{"rendered":"Two new records"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two new records have been set in fields that are related to either a real Space Elevator or the Space Elevator Games.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Lasers are now the power source of choice (and perhaps necessity) for the next and succeeding Space Elevator Games Climber\/Power-Beaming event.\u00a0 Researchers at the University of Michigan\u00a0believe they have set a new record for laser intensity<\/a>.\u00a0 It is described thusly:\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of a new laser beam made in a University of Michigan laboratory.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While I’m sure that this breakthrough does not have an immediate impact on either competitors in the Climber\/Power-Beaming event at the Space Elevator Games or a real Space Elevator, it’s just another indication about how research in this field is ongoing.<\/p>\n

<\/a>And, some previous entrants in the Climber\/Power-Beaming event have attempted to use a Stirling Engine to propel their climber.\u00a0 A new record has been set in this field<\/a> also:<\/p>\n

“Sandia National Laboratories and Stirling Energy Systems (SES) have set a new solar-to-grid system conversion efficiency record by achieving a 31.25 percent net efficiency rate. The old 1984 record of 29.4 percent was toppled Jan. 31 on SES’s “Serial #3″ solar dish Stirling system at Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps this development may help encourage another attempt with a Stirling-Engine powered climber.<\/p>\n

(The laser picture was taken by Anatoly Maksimchuk and the Stirling dish picture was taken by Randy Montoya – they were\u00a0from their respective stories.\u00a0 Click on them for a larger version.\u00a0 If someone showed up at the Games with a mirror like the one shown from Sandia, it would finally blow away what the KC Space Pirates<\/a> had used.\u00a0 And, doesn’t the laser picture remind you of the laser focusing setup used by LaserMotive<\/a>?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two new records have been set in fields that are related to either a real Space Elevator or the Space Elevator Games. Lasers are now the power source of choice (and perhaps necessity) for the next and succeeding Space Elevator Games Climber\/Power-Beaming event.\u00a0 Researchers at the University of Michigan\u00a0believe they have set a new record […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-announcements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spaceelevatorblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}