As the Ansari X-Prize competition to jump-start space tourism nears a climax, a new challenge has been launched to spur development of space elevator systems. The Spaceward Foundation has launched the Elevator: 2010 project to advance technology and raise awareness of systems that promise to lift payloads to orbit for a fraction of the cost of today's rockets.
A space elevator is a thin but immensely strong ribbon suspended from orbit up which vehicles climb, powered by energy beamed from the ground, to place payloads into orbit. The baseline elevator envisioned by Spaceward has a 100,000km (62,000-mile) -long carbon-nanotube ribbon, 0.9m (3ft) wide and thinner than a sheet of paper, capable of supporting 20t climbers moving at 320km/h (200mph). Unlike the X-Prize, which offers $10 million to the first team that demonstrates reusable suborbital spaceflight, Elevator: 2010 intends to run annual competitions in climber technology, tether strength and power beaming, starting in June next year.
Using a crane-mounted ribbon as the racetrack, a $50,000 prize will be awarded to the light-powered climber with the highest speed and payload, with $10,000 prizes for tether strength/weight and power beaming efficiency. The foundation also plans an X-Prize-like challenge worth up to $15 million.
Source: Flight International
