The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC), a global networking of space elevator enthusiasts and experts who promote the green and efficient transportation of cargo to space, has named Makua Lani Christian Academy’s aerospace team as the winners of its Academic Challenge. The consortium invited high school students from around the world to design a space elevator mission incorporating an ecological benefit or the use of AI. The four-person team from Hawaii’s Big Island received a US$2,000 cash prize and a certificate of special recognition from the governor.
For now, space elevators are a theoretical technology. The idea is that a space platform in geostationary orbit would be connected to Earth by a tether. An elevator would transport people and cargo to and from Earth via the tether. Space elevator designs often feature counterweights or platforms placed just beyond geostationary orbit to balance the downward gravitation pull of the tethers.
AeroSpace Meridian, the Makua Lani team, developed a mission that sought to prove that space elevators would eliminate rockets and their fossil fuel pollution. The students’ mission included a test of mining technologies on asteroids, envisioning the mining of precious metals from asteroids near Mars. Their presentation can be viewed here.
Get more of Elevator World. Sign up for our free e-newsletter.
