Official results of the 2006 Space Elevator games
The 2006 Space Elevator games, comprised of the Beam Power challenge and the Strong Tether challenge, were held successfully in Las Cruces, NM, between October 20 and October 22.
* 12 teams participated in the Beam Power Challenge, out of 20 registered teams.
* By far the best climb was achieved by the USST team, which ascended a distance of 55 m in 57 seconds - 2 seconds too slow for claiming the prize purse.
* USST's time was so close that we had to inspect the ribbon for elastic and plastic elongation to determine its exact length during the run.
* Three other teams made it to the top of the tether: LiteWon, MClimber, TurboCrawler, and one other team climbed a significant portions of it: Kansas City Space Pirates.
* 4 teams participated in the Strong Tether challenge.
* In trying to be very aggressive about making their tethers as short as possible, 3 of the teams made their tethers too short and were disqualified.
* The fourth team, AstroAraneae, performed very impressively, achieving a specific strength of slightly above 3 GPa-cc/g.
* In subsequent testing of the disqualified tethers, two of them (UBS and Fireball) were shown to be significantly inferior to the winning tether.
* Overall, the competition was obviously a huge success. It was the first full-form competition, and we already had 7 major universities participate, three professional engineering teams, and one aerospace company. We've had very good press coverage, and a spectator crowd of 20,000 people.
* Most importantly, we had 5 working climbers, 1 good tether, and a lot of interest in next year's competition.
* Since the goal of our project is to create interest in the Space Elevator in academia, the aerospace industry, and the general public, we could not have asked for more.
* Elevator:2010 is a 5 year program, and we're looking forward to next year's games, where the prize purses has been increased to $500,000 dollar for each of the two challenges.
We would like to thank our crew of volunteers:
* Dave Carty
* Marc Schwager
* Vern McGeorge
* Peter Renteln
* Roger Gilbertson
* Ted Semon
* Susan and Jacob Seichrist
* Karni Shelef
* Isaac Mazor
* Stephanie Ha
* Ciaran Clarke
* Ben Bakhshi
* Dan Armstrong
* Len Angle
* Falline Danforth
and special thanks to Dr. Brad Edwards and Dr. Bryan Laubscher.
We would also very much like to thank the very good people of Las Cruces, without whom the games would not have been possible:
* Mayor Bill Mattiace
* County Engineer Jorge Granados
* Roger Rutherford, Jerry Noe from the Southern New Mexico Rodeo and Fair
* Ronnie Sumpter and Kelly O'Donnel at the New Mexico Economic Development Department
* Phil Cordova and Tom Cordova from Alliance Rigging in El Paso
* Ken and Andrew Wooten from Wooten Construction
* Joe Ayala from RT Electric
* Cash Claridge from Hertz Equipment Rental in El Paso
* Marilyn Bagwell and Dwaine Blair from the county fairgrounds
* Jonathan Benson, Mark Medoff, and the rest of the Creative Multimedia Insititute at NMSU
* Pat Haynes and Joylynn Watkins at the NMSU Space Grant Consortium
and special thanks to Peter Diamandis, Rick Winquest, Michael Kelly and everyone else at X-Prize for hosting us at their show.
Climbing The Sky
The dream of a Space Elevator is a monumental one. A vision that will not only further space exploration and knowledge, but has the potential to shape the existential future of the human race for centuries to come.
For the first time since it was initially conceived, this dream is now within our reach.
Elevator 2010 has joined the on-going construction effort, adding energy, resources and new initiatives to the ever-growing number of organizations, companies, websites and enthusiasts focused on the technical, political and economic development of the Space Elevator.
Our goal is to generate enough interest in the project, so that within five years the Space Elevator basic building blocks can be demonstrated as feasible, and full-scale design and construction can begin.
And hence our name. Elevator:2010. we promise to get an answer for you by then.
About us
Elevator 2010 is a project of the Spaceward Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
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News
* Space Elevator segment on DISCOVERY.
* Registration for 2007 games in full swing! (list of teams).
* Space Elevator segment on NOVA.
* 2007 rulebooks are done! Beam Power, Tether, Changes and Comments.
* End-of-year Newsletter is here.
* Sponsorship Opportunities for 2007 Space Elevator games available now.
* 2006 Space Elevator games concluded successfully, though prize remains unclaimed. Next year's total purse: $1,000,000.
Reports and Blog.
* Older News - Our archive of past Elevator 2010 and Spaceward Foundation news.
Elevator:2010 Projects
* Competitions - list of teams, how to join, 2005 results, gallery.
* Space Elevator Presentations - list of talks we can present at your organization.
* MSTL new! - The Mobile Space Technology Lab, to reach out, inform and educate about the Space Elevator concept.
Information
* Space Elevator FAQ new! - Learn more - Quick facts, Primer, competition, advanced.
* Spaceward - Contact, sponsors, in the press, press kits.
* The Space Elevator Blog, by Ted Semon.
* The Space Elevator Reference, by Marc Boucher.
Act
* Support the cause! - We're a 501c3 - donate or buy something.
* Join the team! - We're always looking to expand our team.
* Sponsor a team - Find a local team to sponsor.
* Sponsor us - Elevator:2010 corporate sponsorships.
Our Sponsors and Partners
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