WSPEC 2026 Q1 Update
It feels like just yesterday we were wrapping up 2025, but the first quarter is already behind us. Our mission has been and continues to be to accelerate the progress of space elevator technology through cooperative, global competitions. As we continue building toward our inaugural global competition cycle, I want to share some of the concrete steps we've taken this past quarter to help make that a reality.
Competitions & Global Expansion
We are actively expanding our competition roadmap for the upcoming year:
Central Asia Launch: We have officially launched our Kazakhstan competition! A huge thank you to our local organizers, Icarus Rocketry and Yurt Space, for working with us to make this a reality and bring space elevator competitions to Central Asia. To support this, we are also hosting a targeted virtual workshop to help develop the local teams and ecosystem.
Another Region in the Cycle: We are currently in the preliminary planning stages for our next competition, following the Kazakhstan event. Stay tuned—we will be officially announcing this in the coming months!
ISDC 2026 Workshops: We are also slated to host three new, hands-on physical workshops at the ISDC this June in Virginia. Participants will get a chance to build a mini space elevator climber and learn the basic considerations that go into the technology. If you’ll be at the ISDC this year, we would love to see you there. For further details or to register, please visit the following link: https://www.wspec.org/workshop-signup-isdc
Equipping & Supporting New Teams
A major focus for us right now is lowering the barrier to entry and making sure all our competitors, both old and new, are fully equipped to succeed. We are currently developing a comprehensive new team kit—a welcome package for new teams joining the competitions that provides everything they need to understand how to start, fund, and operate a team.
To pair with this, we are building out a dedicated mentorship group to provide real-time guidance and support. We’ve also officially launched our community Discord server to tie all of this together, giving teams a centralized place to collaborate, ask questions, and get ready to compete.
Internal Growth & Looking Ahead
To support this global push, we have been reinforcing our foundations behind the scenes. The core WSPEC operational team has now grown to over 20 members and volunteers. To ensure we can operate cohesively across different time zones, we recently transitioned our internal operations to a unified digital task management platform, Monday.com.
You may have already noticed some solid updates to our website recently, and we have some even bigger digital developments currently in the works—consider this your official teaser. Finally, we are actively professionalizing our media, so expect to see more video content rolling out on our YouTube channel soon.
Thank you to everyone who has followed our journey, joined our community, or stepped up to form a team. If you haven’t gotten involved yet, we warmly welcome you to join us in any way you can.
As a growing organization, we are fueled by the incredible support of our community. If you believe in what we are building and want to help push this mission forward, please consider making a donation. Every contribution directly supports our teams and helps us accelerate these global competitions.
We are building the future together, and we are just getting started.
Best,
Mordy Friedman
CEO, WSPEC
