NASA Not Fond Of Space Elevators?

After listening to a podcast from The Space Show, Ted Semon has discovered that NASA is not that all interested in space elevators.

(Space Elevator Blog) I was surprised to learn that NASA is NOT interested in the Beam Power Competition to power a Space Elevator, nor are they interested in the Tether competition to build a Space Elevator. Ken put it quite bluntly: "NASA's not interested in Space Elevators...", at least not as far as the Centennial Challenges are concerned. NASA is looking at the results / winners / new technologies developed out of the Beam Power competition for Lunar exploration purposes and they are looking at the Tether competition for fundamental materials research.

Despite my surprise over this revelation, one thing us space elevator fans have to remember is that this new form of transportation has yet to prove itself to the space community and the world as a whole.

NASA should be thanked for actually helping to pioneer this idea by providing seed money via X-Prize Cup style, but we should probably be more thankful that the private sector (i.e. LiftPort, Black Line Ascension) is seriously attempting to construct one.

Note: Is it me or is Black Line Ascension's website down?



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