MOJAVE, Calif. -- A robot powered by a ground-based laser beam climbed a long cable dangling from a helicopter on Wednesday to qualify for prize money in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the science fiction concept of space elevators.

The challenge: a teams climber has to climb a cable up one kilometer that’s suspended from a helicopter with only the help of a laser.

The laser projects light energy which the climber then has to turn into electricity in order to make the climb.

Steve Beland with Team Laser Motive explained the process.

"We shine the laser on it and then the solar panel underneath that will convert it to electricity and it drives the motor and then that motor has wheels and it grabs a hold of the cable and just runs as fast as it can to the top,” said Beland.

If any of the three teams can do it in the given time window, it means they could walk away with up to $2 million.

Ted Semon with the Spaceward Foundation who is hosting the event said, "If they can travel this 900 meter cable at an average of 2 meters per second or greater, they qualify for the lower prize which is $900,000. If they can travel at five meters per second they qualify for the $2 million prize."

The challenge is put on by Spaceward, but the prize money comes direct from NASA.

And while $2 million is a lot of money, NASA said it will be money well spent.

The same technology the teams are using for the challenge could be used in the future by NASA here on earth and even beyond.

Andrew Petro with NASA's Centennial Challenge Program said, "We might be able to power instruments on the surface of the moon or on the surface of Mars from orbit, and beyond that, we see a real application of this kind of thing here on Earth powering airships, or bringing power into communities after a natural disaster.”

While NASA is interested in the wireless power transmission, Spaceward hopes to learn more about the possibility of a space elevator that could one day replace rockets as a cheaper alternative of going to space.

But for the teams, who have put thousands of man hours into the challenge, they’re most interested in taking home that $2 million.

The Kansas City Space Pirates went first with a machine that initially balked but eventually began climbing. Its speed was too slow to qualify for any prizes but it got within about 160 feet of the top before the laser had to be shut down for satellite protection.

Ben Shelef, CEO of the contest-sponsoring Spaceward Foundation, said the Pirates had a minor laser tracking problem but the real problem appeared to be in the mechanical system.

As the afternoon grew late, the University of Saskatchewan's Space Design Team had to put off its attempts until Thursday. All three teams had further chances to qualify through Friday.

The competition was five years in the making, Shelef said.

"A lot of hurdles to cross," he said. "Now that it's happening I'm actually happy already. It doesn't matter what the outcome is."

Funded by a NASA program to explore bold technology, the contest is intended to encourage development of a theory that originated in the 1960s and was popularized by Arthur C. Clarke's 1979 novel "The Fountains of Paradise."

Space elevators are envisioned as a way to reach space without the risk and expense of rockets.

Instead, electrically powered vehicles would run up and down a cable anchored to a ground structure and extending thousands of miles up to a mass in geosynchronous orbit -- the kind of orbit communications satellites are placed in to stay over a fixed spot on the Earth.

Electricity would be supplied through a concept known as "power beaming," ground-based lasers pointing up to photo voltaic cells on the bottom of the climbing vehicle -- something like an upside-down solar power system.

The space elevator competition has not produced a winner in its previous three years, but has become increasingly difficult.

The vehicles must climb at an average speed of 16.4 feet per second, or about 11 miles per hour, to qualify for the top prize. A lesser prize is available for vehicles that climb at 2 meters per second.

The rules allow one team to collect all $2 million or for sums to be shared among all three teams depending on their achievements.

While the concept of an elevator to space may seem too fanciful, Andrew Williams, 26, a mechanical engineer on the Saskatchewan team, said he has no doubts it will come about.

"Once we put our minds to something it's just a matter of time for us to achieve it," he said.

To watch the event live you can visit http://live.SpaceElevatorGames.org/#end