The next space prize

Following in the footprints of the X-Prize, NASA has announced its first Centennial Challenges. The Tether Challenge calls on inventors to create a material light enough and strong enough to be part of space elevators. The Beam Power Challenge is designed to encourage inventors to find a way to wirelessly beam a robot enough power to climb to the top of a 50-meter cable in less than three minutes–also a technology with application to space elevators.

NASA is lobbying Congress to let it increase the size of such prizes to as much as $40 million from the current limit of $250,000.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Going up!

Permanent link to this article: https://edwardwillett.com/2005/03/the-next-space-prize/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.