KC Space Pirates
Encyclopedia
Space elevator
A space elevator, also known as a geostationary orbital tether or a beanstalk, is a proposed non-rocket spacelaunch structure...
Games beamed energy climber competition and is planning to enter in the Elevator:2010
Elevator:2010
Elevator:2010 is a competition with monetary prizes similar to the Ansari X Prize, but with the purpose of developing space elevator and space elevator-related technologies...
climber competition. The team is affiliated with, but is not sponsored by the KC Robotics Society
The competition is put on by the Spaceward Foundation. The goal of the competition is to encourage universities and groups to research and create designs for beaming power to distant objects, but for the competition Spaceward has used the Space Elevator
Space elevator
A space elevator, also known as a geostationary orbital tether or a beanstalk, is a proposed non-rocket spacelaunch structure...
concept to make it more challenging and to show how beamed power could work. NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
has put up the top prize of up to $2,000,000US
($900,000 for the 2 meters/second category and $1,100,000 for the 5 meters/second category) for the 2009 competition. The 2 meters/second prize was won during the 2009 competition so only the 5 meters/second category remains for 2010.
The competition is in the form of a race, 1 km (3,281 ft) straight up. The climbers are unmanned, have a maximum allowed weight of 25 kg (55 lbs), and may use no fuel or batteries to climb - they must only be powered by beamed energy. So far, the top designs have been reflected sunlight and laser. The KC Space Pirates used sunlight reflected off of a large array of mirrors concentrated onto a highly efficient array of solar cells in 2006 and 2007. They switched to using an infrared laser for the 2009 competition and will continue to do so in 2010.
The KC Space Pirates was the only 2009 team to have a fully automated laser tracking system. They did well in each competition but fell short of the money.