Space Elevator Games Update

Ben Shelef reports on the 2009 Space Elevator Games blog that good progress is being made with respect to a new helicopter operator in Washington State and the GPS system. A test of the system this past Saturday was nominal.
Here are some of the highlights:

– GPS position keeping worked flawlessly, with the pilot maintaining a horizontal envelope of <40 m irrespective of flight altitude. - Virtual Bob, in all configurations, worked exactly as intended, keeping the altitude to within several feet, controlling cable tension, and damping the whole structure. - Deployment off of the figure 8 was smooth. - Workload on the pilot was reduced significantly, with heads-in operation proving completely feasible.

For all the details visit the 2009 Space Elevator Games blog.