Space elevator competition

Engineers are developing robots to climb nearly a kilometer (2,953 feet) up a cable dangling from a helicopter. The idea is to develop the technology imagined in Arthur C Clarke’s 1979 novel, The Fountains of Paradise.

NASA is funding the contest, held in the Mojave Desert in the US yesterday, to explore the bold technology required to take passengers into space via an elevator, rather than rockets, a reality.

Instead of risky and expensive rockets, the space agency would ultimately like to see electrically powered vehicles to run up and down a cable, which is anchored to a structure on the ground and extends thousands of miles to a mass in geosynchronous orbit.

To do this, electricity would be sourced through a concept known as ‘power beaming’ – ground-based lasers pointing up to photovoltaic cells on the bottom of the climbing vehicle. The machines must climb at an average speed of five metres (16.4 feet) a second, that’s 18 kmph (11 mph).

However, the space elevator competition has not produced a winner in three years, due to its difficulty.  Andrew Williams, 26, a mechanical engineer on a competing team told AP: "Once we put our minds to something it's just a matter of time for us to achieve it.”

The winning teams receive a share of the US$2 million prize money.

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