The games are all about far-reaching space exploration concepts, and how you can take part in them.

By far the most spectacular project is the Space Elevator competition. The centerpiece for this competition is the climber race, held on a 100m vertical race track (that's more than 30 stories tall!).

The catch: The race cars must be powered exclusively by beams of energy from the ground - no fuel or batteries are allowed.

The prize purse: $500,000 in cash!

We've got more than 20 teams this year, from around the nation and around the world. We expect great things from them, and we're pretty confident somebody is going to walk away richer than they came in :)

On the right you can see the Last year's University of Michigan entry lifting off. For more pictures, movies and other information, visit our Elevator:2010 section.

On the left, you can see a snap shot from our other $500,000 competition - the Strong Tether Challenge.

We can't quite build a Space Elevator without first coming up with a tether that's a lot stronger than what you can buy in the store today - we need something almost 50 times stronger!

Luckily for us, a few years ago, a form of Carbon which has this strength, called a Carbon Nanotube, was discovered and the race is on to make a real cable out of it. If anyone has done it, there's some prize money waiting for them too.

Join us for this head-to-head tug-of-war technology showdown.

Our latest and greatest addition to the games is the (Drum roll, please) Great Light Racer Championship - your chance at playing for a $5000 cash prize and helping NASA with a real lunar exploration problem - all at the same time!

As it turns out, power beaming is not only Space Elevators - it is also the only way a lunar rover can operate in the (cue organ music) permanently shadowed craters of the lunar poles!

And why would NASA (and you) want to explore the (cue organ music again) permanently shadowed craters of the lunar poles so badly? Because (unlike what you remember from school) this is a place on the Moon where water ice can be found, and if we were to have a permanent base on the moon, this ice can be mined and converted to oxygen and fuel (not to mention a fresh shower!)

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Your visit to the games will begin with a personally guided 10 minute Audio-Visual special about the Space Elevator, followed by a visit to the Space Elevator showcase.

You will then be guided through Climber Row - where our teams show off their creations and explain their workings.

Outside of climber row you'll find the ? maze, followed by the Light Racer tracks. At the center of the lawn is the vertical raceway. If you get lucky, you'll catch a winning climb!

We hope to see you there!

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© The Spaceward Foundation 2008 - www.spaceward.org - Mountain View, CA