Over the weekend 10 teams of college students participated in NASA's space elevator contest. Unlike DARPA's Grand Challenge, held last month, none of the seven finalists successfully completed the test.
The Space Elevator or Tether contest is one of NASA's Centennial Challenges. The teams attempted to propel light source driven robots up a 60 meter tether, at a minimum of 1 meter per second. The prize for winning the competition would have been $100,000.
Contestants should look on DARPA's Grand Challenge and take heart. No one succeeded in the inaugural race last year, but five contestants finished this past September.
Space Elevator Prize Remains Unclaimed
