Monday, June 15, 2009

Space Elevator Games Test Week

A lot is happening with the setup and testing for the 2009 Space Elevator Games this week:

Space Elevator Blog:

And so it begins… - I’m now transitioning to “Space Elevator Week”. ... I’ll pick up a car and head on out to Mojave to meet up with Ben Shelef, CEO of the Spaceward Foundation (hosts of the Space Elevator Games) and various Climber / Power-Beaming team members. ...We’ll have a helicopter, we’ll have a winch, we’ll have a steel cable, we’ll have climbers, we’ll have lasers and we’ll have bodies - This coming week is intended to put it all together so that when the actual Games happen (the week of July 13th), all of the teams will have the maximum opportunity to put together a winning climb.

Monday first tasks… - We’re now here at Dryden, on the base, in the workshop, beginning to put the physical structures in place for this year’s Space Elevator Games (the planning structures were started long ago). Today is a day for building stuff (’swinging a hammer’) and, if all goes according to plan, we hope to do our first actual flight test at noon tomorrow.

More Monday Nuts & Bolts… - This one covers a safety device for the helicopter, protection on the ground in case the device is used, the first team there (Kansas City Space Pirates), and
the filming crew from Bitter Jester Creative.

From the Space Elevator Games:

The Quiet Before the Storm - Driving down to Dryden this week are:
  • Keith Mackey, helicopter expert extraordinaire
  • Vern McGeorge, pilot and Spaceward’s ops director
  • Ted Semon, blogger extraordinaire
  • Len Angle, electrical and long time help
  • Christopher “Neil” Lysons, new crew member and John Cleese impersonator
  • Michael Keating, new crew member, physics teacher from Pasadena.
  • Nic DeGrazia and camera, the official games video-scribe
  • Kathy Norman - long time help and media/VIP liaison
  • Robert Mykland - new crew member, video cook and blogger’s assistant

The teams are have also started their trek - KCSP will be here tonight, LM will start arriving on Tuesday, followed in order by USST, McGill, UMich and NSS.

Why Stress?

@segames is tweeting, too.