On the elevator in space - 2009. Results
Day 1
Day 2
On the third day, again, no one could beat the LaserMotive. I partially watched the live broadcast, even though it was terrible. Video lagged, and at the best moments gave a maximum of 1fps. But it was still interesting to watch.
The steel cable was attached to the ground, the second end was tied to the helicopter. After receiving permission from the coordinators, the device was attached to the cable and the helicopter, pulling the cable, lifting the device to the starting point - 100 m. Starting windows were coordinated with the military and the starting signal was given only after the “from there” signal.
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It is also interesting to read the descriptions of the participants themselves. In particular, USST is told that they had no luck from the very beginning. They broke the main engine rotor, they put a replacement, but the replaceable engine did not work. While they frantically tried to fix at least one, they missed two of the three launch windows. It seems that everything worked and they were ready to start in the third window. They pulled the elevator to the starting point and right there the beam positioning system using GPS lost its satellites. The guys say that this has never happened during tests. Emergency switched to manual guidance, but could not cope with it.
Kansas City Space Pirates : On the first day, the radio transmitter of the altitude and speed of the vehicle failed. As a result, they lost a tip at an altitude of 750 meters. The captain said that a similar problem was on tests in Seattle, but it seemed to be solved and he could not justify $ 1,000 for equipment operating on a different frequency. After the failure of the first day, we ordered an urgent delivery of the equipment, and before the start of the next day, the equipment was installed and designed.
On the second day, another problem came out - the beacon on the cart was randomly turned off. When this happens, the laser begins to wander across the sky and must be turned off immediately. After turning on the beacon, the laser homing back, but each lasted from 5 to 15 seconds, during which time the truck managed to noticeably lose height. As a result, the lighthouse turned off for 25 seconds. The sun had already gone down and the camera did not see the elevator, manual guidance was also impossible. The team spat on the attempt and began to fix the problem. It's a shame that the problem also got out in the tests, a new module was assembled and prepared for installation. But all the time before the start the team spent on work with telemetry and they did not have enough time for this module. The next night, everyone changed the lighthouse module.
On the third day, two elevators rolled out. Considering that the attempt was the last, they loaded the first elevator in full to take the first place (the seats were given by the “bill”, which was calculated as the speed * weight of the load / weight of the elevator). As they themselves admit - greedy. The module overheated and rolled slowly. Immediately removed it and put another, lightweight. They immediately decided that they would not fight for 5 m / s, they would receive 2 m / s. But again - many parameters, all the parameters are noticeably walking, protection against the output of parameters beyond the working range did not work ... As a result, the elevator traveled a bit back and forth, went up, the radio module again failed at the height. The camera could not focus on the elevator and in order to avoid damage to the helicopter, the laser was turned off.
I imagine the feelings of these teams. Especially the second.
Result: LaserMotive Win, $ 900,000
Conclusion from debriefing: If any trouble can occur, it will happen. (with)
Day 2
On the third day, again, no one could beat the LaserMotive. I partially watched the live broadcast, even though it was terrible. Video lagged, and at the best moments gave a maximum of 1fps. But it was still interesting to watch.
The steel cable was attached to the ground, the second end was tied to the helicopter. After receiving permission from the coordinators, the device was attached to the cable and the helicopter, pulling the cable, lifting the device to the starting point - 100 m. Starting windows were coordinated with the military and the starting signal was given only after the “from there” signal.
')
It is also interesting to read the descriptions of the participants themselves. In particular, USST is told that they had no luck from the very beginning. They broke the main engine rotor, they put a replacement, but the replaceable engine did not work. While they frantically tried to fix at least one, they missed two of the three launch windows. It seems that everything worked and they were ready to start in the third window. They pulled the elevator to the starting point and right there the beam positioning system using GPS lost its satellites. The guys say that this has never happened during tests. Emergency switched to manual guidance, but could not cope with it.
Kansas City Space Pirates : On the first day, the radio transmitter of the altitude and speed of the vehicle failed. As a result, they lost a tip at an altitude of 750 meters. The captain said that a similar problem was on tests in Seattle, but it seemed to be solved and he could not justify $ 1,000 for equipment operating on a different frequency. After the failure of the first day, we ordered an urgent delivery of the equipment, and before the start of the next day, the equipment was installed and designed.
On the second day, another problem came out - the beacon on the cart was randomly turned off. When this happens, the laser begins to wander across the sky and must be turned off immediately. After turning on the beacon, the laser homing back, but each lasted from 5 to 15 seconds, during which time the truck managed to noticeably lose height. As a result, the lighthouse turned off for 25 seconds. The sun had already gone down and the camera did not see the elevator, manual guidance was also impossible. The team spat on the attempt and began to fix the problem. It's a shame that the problem also got out in the tests, a new module was assembled and prepared for installation. But all the time before the start the team spent on work with telemetry and they did not have enough time for this module. The next night, everyone changed the lighthouse module.
On the third day, two elevators rolled out. Considering that the attempt was the last, they loaded the first elevator in full to take the first place (the seats were given by the “bill”, which was calculated as the speed * weight of the load / weight of the elevator). As they themselves admit - greedy. The module overheated and rolled slowly. Immediately removed it and put another, lightweight. They immediately decided that they would not fight for 5 m / s, they would receive 2 m / s. But again - many parameters, all the parameters are noticeably walking, protection against the output of parameters beyond the working range did not work ... As a result, the elevator traveled a bit back and forth, went up, the radio module again failed at the height. The camera could not focus on the elevator and in order to avoid damage to the helicopter, the laser was turned off.
I imagine the feelings of these teams. Especially the second.
Result: LaserMotive Win, $ 900,000
Conclusion from debriefing: If any trouble can occur, it will happen. (with)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/74941/
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