Another Power Beaming World Record

Written by Tom Nugent on Thursday, November 5th, 2009

Our power beaming world record that I posted about yesterday has already been broken. Luckily, we were the ones who broke it. During our window today, we made a speed of 4 m/s (there has been no official report of it yet, as far as I know), beating yesterday’s performance by 7%. We’re working tonight to improve things even more, and will try again for 5 m/s during our final window on Friday.

One of the things that has been a huge factor in reducing our performance from what we tested at our shop numerous times is the sand on the dry lakebed at Edwards AFB. It is extremely fine powder, comparable to flour, and it gets everywhere. Parts of our climber look as if they’ve been through a sand blaster, and the damage that has been done has surely reduced our efficiency. After the competition is all done, we will have some photos to post showing just how fearsome the sand can be!

Here’s to hoping that one or two more tricks up our sleeves will be enough to push us past 5 m/s!