NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

This challenge is a practical demonstration of wireless power transmission. Practical systems employing power beaming would have a wide range of applications from lunar rovers and space propulsion systems to airships above the Earth. Another future application of power beaming would be the space elevator concept.

Beamed power competitions held in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 were directed at space elevator applications. Teams built mechanical devices (climbers) that could propel themselves up a vertical cable. The power supply for the device was not self-contained but remained on the ground. The technical challenge was to transmit the power to the climber and transform it into mechanical motion, efficiently and reliably. In the 2009 competition, the competitors drove their laser-powered devices up a cable one kilometer high, suspended from a helicopter. LaserMotive LLC was awarded $900,000 in the 2009 Power Beaming Challenge. Official results, as well as video and photography, are available at: http://live.spaceelevatorgames.org.

The Spaceward Foundation of Mountain View, Calif., manages the competition for NASA's Centennial Challenges program.