Meanwhile, another space elevator challenge that involves robot climbers racing each other to the top of a long ribbon also became mired in controversy on Saturday (see the New Scientist Space blog Space elevator scandal).
According to the rules, the robots were supposed to climb a ribbon at least 50 metres long at a rate of 1 metre per second or faster. But organisers realised they did not know whether the ribbon used in the competition was 50 metres or 60 metres long.
The length is crucial, since a team from Canada's University of Saskatchewan ascended the ribbon in 58 seconds – fast enough to qualify for the $150,000 top prize if the ribbon is 60 metres but not if it is 50 metres.
Other teams, however, say the University of Saskatchewan should not qualify for the prize regardless of the length of the ribbon because their robot got stuck at the top and was not able to descend the ribbon again in a controlled fashion, as the rules state.
That's interesting. While not quite what happened in the real story (real story?) it is close enough to catch my attention.