After three years without a winner in a NASA-backed competition to develop the science fiction space elevator concept, a team from Seattle on Friday collected $900,000 after its laser-powered robotic machine raced up more than 2,950 feet of cable dangling from a helicopter.

LaserMotive LLC was presented the check by Andy Petro, progam manager of NASA's Centennial Challenges, in a ceremony at Dryden Flight Research Facility on Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert.

Powered by a ground-based laser pointed up at the robot's downward-facing photo voltaic cells that converted the light into electricity, the LaserMotive machine completed one of its climbs in about three minutes and 48 seconds, good for second-place money.

The three-day contest required competitors' vehicles to get to the top, with rewards possible for completing climbs at two levels of speed.