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Will 'Space Elevator' Rival Modern-Day Rockets?

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Nov 4, 2009 12:49 pm US/Pacific

Will 'Space Elevator' Rival Modern-Day Rockets?

EDwARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) ― A laser-powered machine has only been able to climb part way up a cable dangling from a helicopter in a competition to develop space elevator technology.

Three teams are competing for $2 million in prizes in the NASA-backed Space Elevator Games, which began Wednesday at the Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base.

The idea of space elevators originated in the 1960s as a way to reach space without using rockets. Theoretically, payloads could be delivered to and from space on a cable stretched between the Earth's surface and a platform in geosynchronous orbit.

The first team, from Kansas City, Mo., had trouble keeping the laser locked on its machine and it failed to climb all 2,953 feet to qualify.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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