The 2007 Spaceward games started off spectacularly on Monday, with the Kansas City Space Pirates qualifying immediately at 3.5 m/s, virtually guaranteeing a prize winning run later in the week. KCSP are a second-year team and have already astonished us before with their uncanny ability to optimize the sun-reflecting technology that has become their claim to fame. The group is lead by Brian Turner, known to his close subordinates as Captain Brian. First Mates include Danny Leafblad, Martin Lades, Richard Bull, and Chad Hampy. We expected nothing short of record-braking performance, but what we got exceeded even our expectations!
This was about as far as the good stretch went. The first wave of bad weather closed in on us (as expected), limiting qualifications on Tuesday, and practically shutting us down on Wednesday. We did some contingency indoor qualifications, and were getting ready to resume operations on Thursday. We qualified two more solar teams (UBC and TT) early in the day, and later the University of Saskatchewan (USST) with their laser system, late at night. To everyone's disappointment, team Lasermotive, which had a laser-based entry comparable in capability to USST's, failed to qualify.
Friday, which was supposed to be the first day of the finals, was sunnier, but too windy. Saturday's forecast was rain and snow, and so we didn't even bother scheduling climber activities for then. Saturday was going to be in indoors day, and we were down until Sunday. The weather indeed got worse on Saturday, and we were spending the day indoors. By that time it was clear that the competition will be extended into Monday.
The Light Racer championship started at noon, and the kids had a great time testing out their light racers. The races were held at Climber Row which added to the atmosphere and made it more special. Some of our teams jumped in and improvised Light Racers in less than an hour, including KCSP, who pieced a Light Racer together from spare parts (and a piece of drinking straw!) and won the "professional" category. (see movie clip)
Participating teams included:
• Team Eddington
• Team Technology Tycoons
• Team TSA-Mesa
• Team Family LeBaron
• Team McGill
• Team Farmington Junior High
• Team Michael Flora
• Team Kansas City Space Pirates
As a pilot event, the Great Light Racers Championship has proven its merit. The kids had a great time, learned a lot, and are looking forward to the next race later this year.
The next competition scheduled for Saturday was the Strong Tether challenge, also for a first place prize of $500,000. Two teams stepped up to bat: Last year's defending champions Team AstroAraneae, and this year's newcomers, Team Delta-X from MIT. Their entries could not have been more different.
The reigning champions used the same tether as they had last year, which comes very close to the theoretical spec of its core fiber. (or so we estimate, since the true make-up of the tether is confidential). Astroaraneae is led by Michael Remington of Aerojet Corporation.
The contenders, lead by Stephen Steiner of MIT, featured a Carbon Nanotube tether - the very material that we expect in the near future to far surpass all other existing materials. This was a 2 gram Carbon Nanotube tether - not Vaporware - the real thing!
In the near future we said, perhaps, but not this year. The CNT material was so fresh out of the furnace that Team Delta-X has not had time to even form it into the required shape of a closed loop. Instead they had to tie it in a knot, fully knowing that the knot will fail. Predictably, the knot slipped off before the material was even properly stretched. Delta-X's has promised to come back and win next year. They have staked their claim, and are the first team to have 2 whole grams of CNTs to show off.
Neither tethers was strong enough to beat the house tether (with it's unfair 3:2 weight advantage). Next year we're looking forward to having two CNT tethers, and if we end up giving up the money (meaning their specific strength was 50% better than the commercial state of the art), it would be a very significant milestone on the way to the Space Elevator.
Special thanks go to Jery Sterling from NASA's Goddard Flight Center for overseeing our activities and lending a helping hand.
Sunday started out great with a couple of hours of perfect weather. Two solar teams (UBC and TT) tried and failed to win the prize money. KCSP mounted the climber just as the wind was kicking up, with everyone extremely tense - this was a money run, and the one thing we did not want to see was a wind gust... Still, we have regretted before not going when conditions were ok - a true Captain's dilemma.
The wind died down, and Brian decided to go. Regrettably, just as the climber was mounted, the weather turned foul and a wind gust literally ripped them apart. I can't even bring myself to post this video here. It's on YouTube though, if you're feeling too cheerful. We can officially call this the low point of the week's activities.
USST was up next. USST entered the most advanced entry this year, with a truck mounted laser system, automated tracking, and a rich data link with the climber. USST is an undergraduate college team, and is headed by Clayton Ruszkowski.
On their first attempt, due to technical difficulties, no power was converted on the climber. Sunday passed, and the competition slipped into Monday.
Against all odds, the KCSP crew repaired their climber overnight. With everyone holding their fingers crossed, KCSP made a good run with their climber, but it was not up to what it could do on qualification. They ran at 3:20 PM, 20 minutes past their last calculated possible start time. Even with the sun so low, and a partially functional climber, they made it to the top in 1 minute and 15 seconds. Without a doubt, KCSP had the strongest entry this year, and were well capable of claiming the prize money. As Ted Semon blogged: Snakebit. Snakebit. Snakebit.
USST were ready next. On their next attempts, things started to work out. They ran 4 consistent climbs within a little more than half an hour. Unfortunately, due to last minute integration issues, they weren't able to extract the full power that their cells were providing, and didn't reach the 2 m/s metric that was required. Still, it was the most advanced laser power beaming demonstration ever, and a good indicator to what they can do next year.
So to sum things up:
- Team USST from the University of Saskatchewan was the best performer, moving their laser-powered 25 kg climber [55 lb] at an average speed of 1.8 m/s [6 ft/sec] over a 94 m run. This corresponds to over 400 Watts of mechanical power maintained for almost a minute. They did this four times within 40 minutes, demonstrating the simplicity of the Space Elevator design.
- Team Kansas City Space Pirates demonstrated the fastest short climb, moving at over 3.5 m/s using directly reflected sunlight. They were later damaged by a wind gust and never regained their full power. Their full length run was 1 minute, 15 seconds, corresponding to an average speed of 1.25 m/s.
- Team Lasermotive from Seattle entered a laser-based system comparable in potential to the USST entry, but did not get the system working in time.
- Team Astroaranea kept their title as the maker of the strongest tether.
- Team delta-X from MIT demonstrated a 2 gram pure Carbon Nanotube tether.
- None of the teams reached the threshold necessary to win the prize money.
- Both prize purses have rolled over to 2008.
These achievements are just the tip of the iceberg in what the underlying technologies can deliver.
What this all means is that as a technology advocacy program, Elevator:2010 is a stunning success. Less than half-way through our schedule (we still have 2008, 2009 and 2010!) we've got several professional groups putting significant resources (Easily totaling more than $1M this year in expenditures and a lot more in worth-of-hardware and man hours.) None of these groups existed before our program began.
The teams have demonstrated a first of its kind power beaming system, and have laid out the road to vastly increasing its capabilities. The teams have demonstrated a 2-gram Carbon Nanotube tether. Everyone involved is itching to go farther, faster, and stronger. (With apologies to Lee Majors...)
These are the first steps of a newborn giant. We plan to take full advantage of the technologies that were developed this past year, and make a breath-taking leap forward towards the 2008 games. Details will come out soon. See you then!
© The Spaceward Foundation 2008 - www.spaceward.org - Mountain View, CA