Following last week’s $400,000 prize purse announcement by NASA, the
Spaceward Foundation has released details of its Space Elevator competitions
for 2005 and 2006, as well as a long-term roadmap.

Scheduled to be held annually starting this fall, the competition promises
to provide spectacular visual imagery and attract a large audience. Details
are available at: http://www.elevator2010.org/site/competition.html

“These competitions represent the best way to demonstrate our vision of the
Space Elevator to the public, and to focus the best scientific minds in the
country on this engineering task,” said Dr. Bradley Edwards, the developer
of the modern Space Elevator design.

Dr. Edwards is on the board of directors of the Mountain View, CA, based
Spaceward Foundation, the non-profit organization that is managing the
Elevator:2010 project.

The Climber competition will challenge teams to build a Space Elevator
prototype capable of scaling a 200 foot vertical ribbon using a beamed-power
system. Climbers will be limited to 25 kg (50 lb) and will have to climb at
a minimum speed of 1 m/s (3 ft/s), while carrying as much payload as
possible.

The Tether competition is an open dare to industry to produce tethers that
are stronger and lighter than anything fabricated to date. Tethers will be
pitted head-to-head in a high-tech tug-of-war fashion, and the winner will
still have to beat the previous year’s winner by at least 50%.

“The release of the multi-year plan and roadmap are important milestones for
us,” said Meekk Shelef, president of the Spaceward Foundation. “We plan for
this event to become an annual tradition, featuring progressively more
complicated Space Elevator prototypes, leading to a complete proof of
concept by the year 2010.”

The Spaceward Foundation is also starting a K-12 and public outreach
activity dubbed “Elevator:2010 Explorer,” designed to allow personal
involvement of as wide an audience as possible, and including interactive
displays in technology museums, children’s activities, and school science
projects.

Elevator:2010 is an educational and competitive program revolving around the
Space Elevator concept. Elevator:2010 includes programs aimed at
universities, K-12, the general public, and private industry. For more
information please go to: http://www.elevator2010.org

The Space Elevator is a revolutionary system promising a low-cost, safe, and
scalable access to space. For more information, please visit:
http://www.elevator2010.org/site/primer.html

For additional information, please contact ben AT spaceward.org.

A press kit containing this release, an image and a logo is available for
downloading at
http://www.elevator2010.org/site/documents/pr20050328roadmap.zip

The press kit containing the previous release and NASA’s press release is
available at http://www.elevator2010.org/site/documents/pr20050323saa.zip

Related Link: SpaceRef’s Space Elevator Reference