Technora, a para-aramid fiber manufactured and sold by Teijin, is being used in the Space Elevator Challenge, held in Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture. This event, a technical competition organized by the Space Elevator Association since 2009, marks its fifth year and will run for four days from August 7th to 10th.
A space elevator is an elevator connecting Earth and space. While the principle is very simple, the lack of a cable strong enough to lower it from space to Earth meant it remained a pipe dream. However, with the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991, a variety of concrete construction plans began to emerge. At the same time, competitions to develop and research the technology necessary for space elevators began to be held in Europe, the United States, and Japan.
The Space Elevator Challenge is an event in which automated climbing robots, known as climbers, compete for distance and speed as they ascend and descend a belt and rope connecting a balloon launched 1,200 meters above sea level to the ground. This will be the world's largest such competition. Teijin's Technora is a strong fiber that began production in 1987. Its properties include high strength, fatigue resistance, dimensional stability, heat resistance, and chemical resistance. Its uses include reinforcing materials in a wide range of products, including industrial ropes and cables, fiber optic cables, rubber belts, hoses, and concrete. In the space industry, Technora was selected as the material for the suspension cord connecting NASA's unmanned Mars rover "Curiosity," launched in 2011, to the supersonic parachute used during its landing. Due to this proven track record, Technora has been used in the competition's belts since 2011. Starting this year, it has also been used in the competition ropes. The climbers in the event weigh a maximum of 50 kilograms and have a maximum ascent speed of over 100 kilometers per hour. Technora belts and ropes enable stable, continuous ascents and descents.

No one knows yet when a space elevator will become a reality, but in February last year, Japan's Obayashi Corporation attracted attention by announcing a plan to build a space elevator in 2050. To make this a reality, it is necessary to improve and refine existing technology and evolve it to an even more advanced level. Japanese textile technology is at the world's top level. Technora, which has already been used in space, may be used as a key material even when a space elevator becomes a reality.