Editing Centennial Challenges (section)

===Strong tether challenge===
This [[Space elevator competitions|competition]] presented the challenge of constructing super-strong tethers, a crucial component of a [[space elevator]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elevator2010.org/site/competitionTether2005.html |title= Elevator 2010 Tether Competition|website=www.elevator2010.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050606232138/http://www.elevator2010.org/site/competitionTether2005.html |archive-date=June 6, 2005}}</ref> The 2005 contest was to award US$50,000 to the team which constructed the strongest tether, with contests in future years requiring that each winner outperform that of the previous year by 50%. No competing tether surpassed the [[commercial off-the-shelf]] baseline and the prize was increased to US$200,000 in 2006.

In 2007 the prize money was raised to US$500,000 USD for this competition.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}

The 2011 Strong Tether Centennial Challenge was held at the Space Elevator Conference in Redmond, Washington on August 12, 2011. The Space Elevator Conference, sponsored by Microsoft, The Leeward Space Foundation and The International Space Elevator Consortium has hosted the Tether competition for five years and there has yet to be a winner.