The Space Elevator Reference: NASA Ups Prize Funding for Space Elevator Challenges to $4 Million Over 5 Years

Climbers ascend a ribbon, 100,000 km long, strung between an anchor on Earth and a counterweight in space. Connecting Earth and space in a way never before possible, the space elevator will enable us to inexpensively and completely expand our society into space.

This site will serve as a reference tool for those interested in exchanging ideas on the scientific, engineering, economic and policy challenges inherent in constructing the solar system's first space elevator.

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NASA Ups Prize Funding for Space Elevator Challenges to $4 Million Over 5 Years

The Space Elevator on Mars

In a forward-looking move NASA has decided there is enough merit in the Space Elevator concept to offer more substantial prizes to help motivate teams to innovate further. This is truly exciting news and comes just about two weeks before the Space Elevator Games.

Here's an excerpt from the press release issued by the Spaceward Foundation;

"The new agreement expands the time-frame of both the Beam Power and the Tether Challenges from one year to five years through the year 2010, and provides incrementally larger total purses for years two through five above the $200K purse in year one for each contest. For the second through the fifth years, the total prize purses to be offered for each competition each year are$300K, $400K, $500K, and $600K, respectively."