Friday, November 16, 2007

Compilation of Space Elevator Posts

The Space Elevator Blog notes that the Space Elevator Reference is offering a calendar with pictures from the 2007 Space Elevator Games. My favorite is the picture with the scenic mountains in the background.

The Space Elevator Reference covers the support that Andrews Space is giving to Beam Power team LaserMotive. Spaceref has the press release.

The Space Elevator Reference also has a detailed post on the recent Eurospaceward Space Elevator Games workshop. There's a lot in the post that you should check out, but the most interesting part to me was this information on the plans for the 2008 games:

In discussions of the SE Games for 2008 Ben Shelef announced that Spaceward is seriously considering a climber height for next year of 1 km - ten times what it was this year. ... Shelef stated an interest in Spaceward providing lasers for teams to use in 2008. This would greatly reduce the expenses on the teams and allow more to compete. Other changes for next year include the ribbon being replaced by a cable, the crane being replaced by a balloon and the prize money going up to $900k for both the tether and climber competitions. ... Spaceward has released that it is considering raising the prize purse to $2M for each competition if higher performance is accomplished.

The Spaceward Foundation has updated the Elevator:2010 site to reflect the beginning of the shift in attention to the 2008 games. Here's some information about the 2008 Climber Competition, including a draft competition handbook and a request for comments document. A "request for comments" document ... doesn't sound too exciting, huh? Go read it, because it has some pretty impressive-sounding ideas (and visuals) on what the competition might be like next year. It would be quite an amazing site to see in person if they can pull it off. There's also a page for the $900,000 2008 Strong Tether Challenge. Surf around the site; maybe you'll find some more new material.

The McGill team has an update (also, if you prefer, in French) with a brief look to the 2008 games and some photos.

The Space Elevator Blog now has Part 5 of the Light Racer posts.