Los Angeles ? A space elevator may not be rocket science but it can be just as complicated — and rewarding.

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, program manager of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, in a ceremony at Dryden Flight Research Facility on Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert.

The two other teams, KC Space Pirates of Kansas City, Mo., and the University of Saskatchewan’s Space Design Team, finished out of the money.