Category Archives: Interviews / Presentations

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65th International Astronautical Congress gets underway

The International Astronautical Foundation is hosting its 65th International Astronautical Congress in Toronto, Canada, from September 29th through October 3rd at the Metro Toronto Convention Center.

The Space Elevator, and progress towards building it, will be well represented during this Conference. Dr. Peter Swan, the President of ISEC, will be giving a couple of presentations and Stephen Cohen, Technical Editor of Volume 3 of CLIMB, the Space Elevator Journal will also be presenting.

A new space elevator documentary needs your help!

A new space elevator documentary is being created and it needs your help!  The good folks over at Going Up! Films have been following all of the efforts in the space elevator arena for the past several years, interviewing and filming, and they are now ready to finalize the documentary film they are creating.

They have started a Kickstarter campaign and we need everyone who is interested in the space elevator (or just cool projects in general) to participate and DONATE!

The film is to be called “Sky Line: The Space Elevator Documentary” and will cover (in their words):

“For the past several years, the SKY LINE team has been following the space elevator community as they pursue a seemingly impossible vision. From attending various scientific gatherings, to covering NASA’s high-stakes Space Elevator Games, we got to know the major players and watch their successes and struggles, both personal and professional.  As we wrap up filming and head into post-production, we’re asking for your help with finishing funds, so we can bring this fascinating story to life.”

If you support the idea of a Space Elevator, if you want to help get the word out to everyone, please DONATE and support this project.  I have and I hope you will too.

Visit their Kickstarter website to donate and to see the (very cool) trailer…

Dr. Brad Edwards at ideacity

Some months ago, Dr. Brad Edwards made an appearance at the ideacity forum in Toronto and gave a talk on Space Elevators.  You can view the video here – it’s not long, less than 20 minutes.  I always enjoy hearing Dr. Edwards speak about the Space Elevator, but I do have a couple of issues with his presentation.

To listen to the talk, one would think that the idea of a Space Elevator was first explored in science fiction.  He did not mention either Yuri Artsutanov or Jerome Pearson, the first engineers who came up with the modern-day idea of a Space Elevator and who, in the vernacular of the field, “ran the numbers” (especially Jerome Pearson).  Both of them did so long before Sir Arthur C. Clarke popularized the idea in his book The Fountains of Paradise (both authors, by the way, corresponded with Sir Arthur about space elevators).  There can be no disputing Dr. Edwards contribution towards the effort to build a Space Elevator; he (and Eric Westling) wrote THE book on space elevators, but he wasn’t the first person to describe what a real space elevator might look like.

According to his talk, we now have the carbon nanotubes necessary to build a space elevator.  Oh, if only that were true. I wish, I wish, I wish…  Yes, there have been carbon nanotubes built which are 55 cm long and yes, there have been carbon nanotubes which have tested out at 200 GPa, but not at the same time.  And, even if you can get CNTs to grow to this length and have perfect (no defects) structure, they’re still not going be aligned – and alignment is key to making threads of macro-strength.  I do agree that we’re getting closer, but I don’t think we’re all that close yet.  Spinning CNTs into threads is a whole different kettle of fish than spinning normal animal or plant fibers into threads.

And finally, let’s talk about my “favorite” subject, space-based solar power (SBSP).  I’m already on record as being very skeptical (to say the least) about SBSP being able to provide power except under unique, niche circumstances.  Dr. Edwards talked about the Obayashi project to build a space elevator and provide SBSP for Japan.  Let’s run the numbers for “just” Japan.  The most current electric generating capacity I could find for Japan was for 287,000,000 kW (for 2013).  Energy available at earth’s orbit is 1.3kW/m2.  What efficiency number should we use?  Let’s say 40%.  I think that’s generous.  Yes, I know there are cells out there which are slightly more efficient, but they are expensive and, when you see how much we’re going to need, I think that cost economy will play a role here.  So, to generate 287,000,000 kW will require about 440,000,000 m2 of solar cells (or 440 km2).  This is roughly equivalent to the land area of the Seychelles or of New Orleans.  How much mass?  If you figure 5 kW / kg (see the Space Elevator Feasibility Condition for details), you come up with 57,400,000 kg (or 57,400 metric tons).  Now that’s just for the cells themselves.  There will also need to be a massive structure holding them together, an enormous amount of cables, antennas to beam the power to earth and also some sort of propulsion / steering system (along with the propulsion mass) so that you can keep the collection array pointed at the sun and the transmission array pointed at Japan.  The best I can do here is a guesstimate – 50% more for the ancillary mass?  I think that’s probably ballpark.  So, a total mass of about 86,000 metric tons.  If you have an elevator that lifts 100 tons to GEO every week, then it’s going to take you 860 weeks (16&1/2 years) to just lift the mass up there.  Then you have to either lift personnel to put it together and maintain it or else robots to perform the same.  You’ll need to periodically replace the panels due to space debris and other space-related hazards and you’ll need to replace the propellant too.  And that’s assuming everything goes right.  Things always go wrong, so you’ll need to deal with that too.

Add that all up and you can see why I’m skeptical about this.  Now, if you wanted to replace “just” the nuclear generating capacity of Japan with SBSP…  Nuclear plants provide about 18% (roughly 1/5th) of Japan’s electric power – at least they did when they were all online.  So if you wanted replace just the nuclear power generating ability with SBSP, well, then, maybe…  Maybe that is a possibility, with an engineering project dwarfing anything else created by human beings.

Color me skeptical, very very skeptical…

One final note; Dr. Edwards talks about his company – I’m assuming he’s referring to this.

The Space Elevator in the Earth’s Atmosphere

Dr. John Knapman give a presentation on how we deal with the Tether and the Climber within earth’s atmosphere.  Even though the distance of this portion of the trip is tiny compared to the total trip (~50km vs 100,000km), there are many “special” hazards which must be dealt with.  This consists of weather; wind, rain and lightning.

John discussed “Spring Forward” (winding up the tether at the ground, stretching the tether, attaching the Climber and then letting the tether “spring” back into its original shape), “Boxed Climber” (having the Climber packaged in a protective box for its journey through the atmosphere) and High Stage One (a structure built to have the elevator base station be above the atmosphere and thus bypass these problems altogether).

LEGO Space Elevators and Tall Structures

At this URL, there are two YouTube videos.  The first shows a “space elevator” being constructed by a LEGO Mindstorm kit.  Slow, clunky, but kind of cool.

The second video discusses tall structures built by humans and ends in speculation about building a space elevator.  Nice to see that the author/narrator (Vsauce) seems to have his scientific facts correct.  Two cool moments in the 10+ minute-long video…  The first is at about 3:12 and shows one of those very tall radio masts snapping in half and collapsing – always neat to see things breaking!  And the second cool moment, at least for me, occurs around the 5:30 mark.   Vsauce discusses how you can actually see two sunsets (or sunrises, if you’re so inclined) in the same day by physically manipulating your body at the moment of sunset (or sunrise).  To emphasize the point of your height above ground being a factor as to when you see a sunset, Vsauce mentions that a ruling by the Dubai Islamic Affairs Department actually had to be made for Muslim residents of the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building) in Dubai as to when the sun set.  This is important for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan – you cannot break your fast until “official” sundown and, for residents of the Burj Khalifa, sundown is declared at one ‘official’ time for residents from floors 1-79 and at another ‘official’ (and later) time for residents of floors 80 and up.

Yes, they take such things very seriously in the Middle East (and, I assume, wherever Muslims live in great numbers).  I lived in Saudi Arabia for eight years and, during the times I was in-Kingdom for Ramadan (Eid Al-Fitr) and/or Islamic New Years (Eid al-Adha), I was greatly intrigued by the attention that was paid to this.  The newspapers would project the actual clock times these events would begin.  For Ramadan, as noted above, it was when the sun set on a certain day.  For New Years, it was the first sighting of the new crescent moon during the proper lunar cycle.  When this happened for New Years (in Jeddah, at least) a ceremonial cannon would be fired and the person who first sighted the new moon would win a prize.  There is a story (probably apocryphal) about someone who happened to walk in front of the ceremonial cannon just as it was set off and was blown to bits.  No, I don’t believe it either…

As an aside, the Muslim calendar is 12 months long, as is the Gregorian one, but it is strictly governed by lunar cycles.  This means each month is about 29.5 days long with an Islamic year being about 354 days long.  So, the months (and the holidays) gradually cycle ‘backward’ through the Gregorian calendar.  When I first arrived in Saudi Arabia, in 1979, the Islamic New Year (Eid Al-Adha) was in late November.  In the 35 years since (jeez, has it really been that long?), the New Year has gradually moved backward through the Gregorian calendar (for example, in 1995, the Islamic New Year was at the end of May).  Fun facts with dates!

Anyway, both videos are, IMHO, fun to watch.

And, in keeping with the theme of this post, this is a very short, very awesome video…

Dr. Bryan Laubscher will be on The Space Show on Sunday

Dr. Bryan Laubscher, long-time space elevator enthusiast and principal owner of Odysseus Technologies, Inc., a carbon-nanotube startup company, will appear on Dr. David Livingston’s The Space Show this coming Sunday, June 8th, from 12 noon to 1:30pm, Pacific Daylight time.  He will be there to discuss the latest developments in the Space Elevator field along with carbon nanotubes and nanotechnology in general.  Dr. Laubscher’s bio:

Dr. Laubscher is a PhD in Physics with a concentration in Astrophysics. After a career as a project leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory that included research and development of astronomy projects, space missions, satellite instrumentation, optics, novel electrodynamic detection techniques, high power lasers, and classified projects Bryan became interested in the Space Elevator.  Bryan’s current Space Elevator activities include being the General Chairman for the annual Space Elevator Conference held at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond, WA.  Pursuing the R&D of the Space Elevator has led him to start Odysseus Technologies, LLC a small company based in Washington state with the goal of developing high strength carbon nanotube materials. In August 2010, Odysseus Technologies competed in the NASA Centennial Strong Tether Challenge. Although the tether was not strong enough to win prize money, it was strong enough to beat the other two teams. Odysseus Technologies, LLC is planning to compete in the 2011 challenge.  Bryan now lives in Olympia, WA with his wife Carla.

Click here to see how to listen in to the show and ask Dr. Laubscher a question.

Prophets of Science Fiction

An oldie, but still goodie, and, with the Space Elevator Conference coming up in just a few days, this seems apropos…

In 2011 and 2012, the Science Channel aired 8 shows in the Prophets of Science Fiction series.  Episode 4, originally aired on November 30, 2011, featured Sir Arthur C Clarke (my all-time favorite sci-fi author).

One of his best books was the Fountains of Paradise, Sir Arthur’s concept of a Space Elevator.  The show devotes a good portion of time to the concept and also to Michael Laine, head of LiftPort, and someone very active in the Space Elevator community.

You can see the movie as it is occasionally re-aired on the Science Channel and also, online, thanks to the awesomeness that is YouTube.

The Space Elevator segment starts at about 26:20 and the bit with Michael Laine starts at about 30:28.  Michael, incidentally, will be attending this year’s Space Elevator Conference as he usually does and I will look forward to seeing him again there.

A Tedx Talk about the Space Elevator

Earlier this year, Markus Landgraf, a Mission Analyst at the European Space Agency, gave a TEDx talk about the Space Elevator.  It was well done and worth the 19+ minutes of your time it will take you to listen to it.

He discusses the long CNT fibers made by a company in China and proposes using these to make an SE Cable.  The problem is, is that they’re just not yet “pure” enough to do so.  Nano-threads spun from CNTs are, so far, full of kinks and defects – the technology is just not yet there to make them like we need to have them be.  But technology continues to attack the problem and I think it’s only a matter of time…

Michael Laine to appear on The Space Show

On Tuesday, March 20th, Michael Laine (of LiftPort fame) will appear on Dr. David Livingston’s The Space Show.  From the Who’s On The Space Show This Week email:

We welcome back MICHAEL LAINE of Liftport to discuss his Lunar Space Elevator Concept. Visit his website for more information. 

The show will be aired at 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT) and you are encouraged to call in to ask Michael any questions you might have.

And, you can view the Space Show Website Newsletter to get a detailed bio of Michael as well as information about how to call into the show.

(Image thumbnail of “Moonlifter”, from the Liftport site).  Visit the Liftport 2.0 page – Art of the Elevator to see a full-size version of this picture as well as many more images that have been posted).

Conversations with Yuri Artsutanov – part III

This is the third in a three part series of Conversations with Yuri Artsutanov.  Part I can be found here and Part II can be found here

What Yuri Artsutanov told us about himself

Conversations with Yuri Artsutanov by phone, March 2010

Q. When and where were you born?
A.I was born on the 5th of October, 1929 in Leningrad, on the Moika river, in the building which once belonged to the Governor-General of St Petersburg in the XVIIIth century, during the time when either Casanova or Cagliostro visited the city.

Q.Who were your parents?
A. My mother was a teacher of history and worked in both standard and technical schools. My father was also a teacher of history but taught in special schools for workers which were organized after the revolution to educate the working classes. They met at the “A. Herzen Education Institute” where they studied together.

My maternal great-grandfather, my mother’s grandfather, was Ivan Vassil’evich  Vassil’ev (after whom a street in old St Petersburg was named, now called Degtyaryov’s street). He was the son of a serf  who came to St Petersburg from  Tver province to sell canvases. Artists recognized his talent and began to teach him their trade. He became an artist and produced many paintings. Later he even  became an Honorary Citizen, the title passed on to the next generations as Hereditary Honorary Citizen and my mother had this title as well. He opened a lane on the Okhta (a district in St Petersburg on the other side of the Big Neva River) near the Okhta cemetery. This lane grew and was renamed Vassil’ev street as I mentioned before.

In 1935, when I was 5 years old my father was arrested in connection with Trotsky’s trial and he was exiled to Kazakhstan. During the first couple of summers he came illegally from there to the dacha we rented near Leningrad. In 1937 he was finally sentenced to  five years as ‘an enemy of the people’, and taken to a concentration camp in Magadan, on the Kolyma.

After that  he was stripped of his civic rights for a further15 years, exactly like Ivan Denisovich, the hero in Solzhenitsyn famous novel. After five years, in 1942 he was released but denied  the right to live in a big city. He lived in a village called Nexican, in Magadan district until 1957.  After Stalin’s death and with Khrushchev in power he was rehabilitated. Then he moved to Krasnoyarsk where he lived until his death in 1973. I have a document confirming that I’m the son of the victim of unlawful repression and as such I receive an additional pension – 300 roubles (about $10!) a  month.

My mother died in 1998. I had a brother who died 5 years ago. He was a graduate of the Air Force Academy as a meteorologist. After his death his wife appropriated  my flat by deceit and left me to live in a tiny flat where I can’t order all my belongings properly. I think my original flat should become a museum just like the Tsiolkovsky museum.

Q. Where were you educated? What do you remember about your school?
A. I was educated  in school No.14 (which later became No.78) on the Petrogradskaya Side. That was before the war and it was a standard school and my class was a standard one as well. There were some boys who were friends interested in science and we discussed all sorts of  unusual scientific problems. I finished year 7 only.

Q. What you remember about the war?
A. The war started in June 1941 but only in March of 1942 were my mother, brother and I able to escape the blockaded city across the frozen Lake Ladoga along the so called “Road of Life”. We were lucky to survive as the truck in front of us sank under the ice. We spent the rest of the war in the Urals – in the village of Beloyarka in what was  Chelyabinsk province at that time but later became Kurgan province. There was a very nice river in Beloyarka and the village itself has some connection to  Tsar Boris Godunov.

Q. Where did you study and work after the war?
A. We returned to Leningrad in July 1945. After  7th grade at the standard school I began studies  at the technical school from 1945 to 1949 and in that year I entered the “Lensoviet Leningrad Institute of  Chemical Technology”. After graduation in 1954 I  was sent to The Research Institute for the Chemistry of Mineral Oil (I stayed there for 3 years) and worked on polymers. In 1957 I entered the special course at the same Chemical Institute. I studied to do my PhD in the faculty of colloid chemistry.

Unfortunately I didn’t complete my PhD. I wrote my thesis but didn’t submit it because I became very sceptical of the details of “ Kremnyov’s Method ” ( he was the  head of the Faculty) when I  found them to be incorrect – this way of doing things made it possibile of achieve any results you wished.Q. Was it at that time that the idea of a lift into space came to you? How?
A. Yes, my idea for  a lift into space took shape at that time. I was always interested in space and my friend Alik Yezrielev’s father, as a Stalin Prize winner had access to  foreign scientific and technical journals (that was in 1957, four years after Stalin’s death) and we could also read them. On one occasion we read about a newly developed extremely strong polymer, so strong that if you used it to make a rope 400km in length it would not break under its own weight. At an altitude of 400km the force of gravity is already less than on earth so the rope could be lengthened up to 1km ( according to  my calculations) without it  breaking. The question arose what thickness would a rope of infinite length require. It turned out to be impossible if it was of a constant diameter. However, such a rope could be possible if it had a variable cross section, that is, was spindle shaped and if it was possible to use centrifugal force  to counter the force of gravity. Step by step the idea of a lift into space was born. I kept talking to people about the idea but didn’t submit my article to the Soviet newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” until 1960 and a week later they published it.
Q. Where does your ability to have ideas on so many different areas come from? Is it innate or did you develop the skills yourself or were they the result of your studies and work?
A. It is difficult for me to answer that question. As a child I read popular science books in the series “ Entertaining Physics”,”Chemistry”,”Mathematics”, “Astronomy”,”Mechanics” and so on, all by the same author Perlman. Perhaps both my interest and my ability came from there.
Q. If you were interested in such books and you read them it suggests you already had an interest in these things. The ability to think, to analyse, to develop new ideas could develop from your reading because all those books were about ideas and how to put them into practice.
A. I was always solving difficult problems. For example in  4th Grade I solved all  the problems in our Arithmetic text book.

Q. Was your Arithmetic teacher special?
A. No, he was an average teacher.

Q. Do you recall any outstanding teacher at your school?
A. Yes. In Grade 7 there was a teacher of Physics – Guchkov who made a big impression on me. He gave me a physics textbook to read which he had used at University.

Q. Did you understand it all?
A. Of course! (he laughs)

Q. What are your own best qualities?
A. Love for knowledge otherwise known as ‘inquisitiveness’. I love to solve difficult problems. Yes, I’ve always tried to solve difficult problems wherever I’ve been.

Q. Did you join the Komsomol (Young communists) organization?
A. Of course I did. It was compulsory! As soon as I was 14 years old  I became a member at once.

Q. What happened when you graduated from the Technological Institute? Did you let your membership lapse?
A. When I started my studies at the technical school I was asked whether I was a member of Komsomol and I said “yes”. When I started to work in the Research Institute for the Chemistry of  Mineral Oil I was asked if I was a member of the Communist Party. I said ”no”. Of  Komsomol? I said “yes”. When I completed the course work for my PhD in 1960 I left Komsomol because of my age. They kept asking me to become a member of the Communist Party but I avoided it at all costs. I was afraid to tell them that I didn’t want to! (Laughs).

From 1960 to 1964 I remained in the faculty of Colloid chemistry and worked in the laboratory. for four years.

In 1965 my friend Alik Yezrielev persuaded me to join the Institute of  Synthetic Rubber (VNIISC) because at the Chemistry for  Mineral Oil Institute I had been working with latexes. It was here I first met some young dissidents.

Q. Did the fact your father was arrested affect your career, if so how?
A. Yes, it affected me before his rehabilitation in 1956. Before then I was expelled from the special faculty of Atomic Energy in the Technological Institute where I studied. It was actually contrary to their own popular slogan “Children are not responsible for the deeds of their fathers”! (laughs). I always had the best marks in all subjects. I was awarded a special allowance as part of my scholarship (but they didn’t give me a Stalin scholarship!) Everyone  around me kept telling me I was the best student in the Institute etc. Despite this I was expelled form the Atomic Energy faculty.

Q. How did you get into the Faculty of  Atomic Energy in the first place?
A. I had a “red”diploma (an outstanding diploma with Honors) from the technical school where I had studied  so they enrolled me there but by doing so they kept me from any of the other, better faculties. (The faculty of Atomic Energy was “closed” with increased security and secrecy so you needed to have an absolutely (politically)clean biography. From that point of view I was not  “trustworthy” because my father was a political prisoner. Political considerations were more important than my qualifications in 1949. My father wasn’t rehabilitated until 1956.

Q. Were you interested in atomic energy?
A. No, but they offered other subjects in the faculty: all the nuclear processes, all the chemical processes connected with nuclear technology etc. i.e. it gave a very broad knowledge around the behaviour of atoms.

Q. How did you become an “Enemy of People”?
A. It was much later, in 1965 and I didn’t become one directly as such. There was a group of nine students who decided to organize a communist revolution. They were all arrested and imprisoned. Those who read their pamphlets and the book called “From Bureaucracy to Dictatorship of the Proletariat” and who hadn’t informed the “organs” (of the KGB) about such anti-Soviet activities were expelled. ‘Why didn’t you denounce them?’ ‘Why didn’t you  come to tell us?’ ‘If you hadn’t forgotten our special department (Department No.1)  at your place of work or study and if you had have come to us more often everything could be different’. So, I was dismissed from the Institute of Synthetic Rubber. I had worked there for only a year and a half.

Q. How did that affect your life?
A. It continued to affect me in one way or another. Wherever I worked I was either paid less than before or didn’t receive any wages for some months. And if they wanted to dismiss me I was told to write an application that I wanted to terminate my work “of my own free will”. Or else I was told, “Yes, we’ll appoint you” but three days later I was rejected.

That was the case in five or six work places. Finally I found a position at the VNIIASH (Institute for  Abrasives and Grinding Materials) where people from the 1st Department of my previous place of employment had called asking them to take me (the Institute had a low security profile). That was in 1966. Actually it only happened after I had gone to the headquarters of the KGB in Leningrad (the so called “Big House” on the Liteinyi Prospect) and told them that  I hadn’t known that I had to inform them about the dissidents. I hadn’t known I had to denounce them! I worked from 1966 to 1992 at VNIIASH.  In between I worked for four years at the “Ilych” in an experimental research plant.

Q. Your future wife worked at VNIIASH?
A. Yes, she had graduated from the Electrotechnical Institute in Leningrad.

Q. How did you survive financially before you started to work at VNIIASH?
A. My mother and my aunt helped me with money but personally I wasn’t stressed because I felt it wasn’t my fault that I didn’t  have a job.

Q. Why didn’t you emigrate when it became possible?  You told me in 1979 when I emigrated that you couldn’t bear leaving the Russian landscape.

A. No, I was joking! I never considered emigrating seriously because I couldn’t bear to cut  my connections with hundreds of my friends and acquaintances.

Q. Are you a member of some scientific organization, club, or association?
A. I was a member of a society where people delivered scientific lectures and I did the same: the  Society for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge Unfortunately I haven’t  heard about the society for a long time. I also gave lectures at the Historical Museum of the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Q. When did you retire from VNIIASH?
A. In 1992. I didn’t retire, they made me go on the pension. The Deputy Director of Science, M. Efros, told me  I was too individualistic. If I had have  included all the “essential people” (i.e. himself) as co-authors on the  applications of my inventions I could have worked much longer!

Copyright 2010.:Yuri Artsutanov, Natalie Sherman, Eugene Schlusser

This conversation, as the previous two, are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in any form without the express, written consent of Eugene Schlusser (eugenesc [at] netspace.net.au).

I find the whole interaction with the KGB and the Russian state beaurocracy to be fascinating.  To not be allowed to do the work of your choice because they had a political problem with your father is just so bizarre…

Yuri Arsutanov and Jerome Pearson will both be at the upcoming Space Elevator Conference and it’s still not too late to sign up!  Come out, learn more about this magnificent idea, and meet the two people largely responsible for the modern day concept of the Space Elevator!

The Space Elevator Blog wishes to thank Mr.’s Schlusser and Artsutanov for their permission to publish these conversations.  It’s truly been an honor.

Conversations with Yuri Artsutanov – part II

This is the second part of a three part series; “Conversations with Yuri Artsutanov”.  Part I can be found here.

Dyson Sphere

(Conversation with Yura Artsutanov by phone – Melbourne – St Petersburg), March 2010

Q. What is Dyson’s sphere?
A. Dyson is an American scientist-physicist. He proposed that if we want to survive in the Universe we need to search for much bigger sources of energy than the sun, the sizes of the entire solar system and the absolute temperature of  radiation up to 300 F,  the temperature needed to support life. He said that life of any civilization develops and expands requiring more and more space. In the end, the entire terrestrial civilization will occupy a “cocoon” – so called “Dyson’s cocoon ” which will include some of the planets of our solar system, satellites, any artificial bodies (Sputniks) etc. All  this matter will form a  sphere around the sun capturing its entire energy for use by  humankind. At present only a millionth part reaches our planet. So the sphere has to be of an enormous size but its temperature has to be equal to that of the human body.

Nobody knows how to construct such a cocoon.  The (Polish) writer and philosopher Stanislav Lem wrote that it was impossible. Mathematics and mechanics also indicate such a sphere is impossible to create, that it is fundamentally unstable, that it will be crushed by the forces of gravity.

So this is my proposal: to make a belt in the shape of a beautiful shell revolving around the sun like a stretched satellite. If such a belt were constructed we could get not just a millionth part of the sun’s energy but as much as one hundredth of it. However, the radiation will be immense so a second belt has to be constructed at an angel to the first, and a third belt – at the same angle as the second one. The second belt must have a lesser diameter than the first one and the third belt a lesser diameter than the second  to prevent them from crashing into each other. Such a shell will be impossible to crush. It will be stable because in each section  the centrifugal force will be balanced by the force of gravity. The sphere will rotate around the sun and in addition it might even be possible to move closer to the sun. However that is a very complicated option.

So in principle it is possible to devise a mechanical  structure which will not be crushed under its own weight and I’m the first one to propose this. My article “Threefold Matryoshka” was published in the Russian magazine “Energy”. 1986, No.12. There is even a drawing of how it will look. I sent the article to Freeman Dyson, but unfortunately I couldn’t meet him when I was in the USA  about 10 years ago.

Copyright 2010 Yuri Artsutanov, Natalie Sherman, Eugene Schlusser

Again, these conversations are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in any form without the express, written consent of Eugene Schlusser (eugenesc [at] netspace.net.au).

The ‘belt’ idea seems to mimic Larry Niven’s Ringworld (one of the all-time great SciFi stories) – I wonder if Yuri is familiar with this novel?  I’ll have to ask him at the upcoming Space Elevator Conference.

As I mentioned in Part I of this series, Yuri will be attending the upcoming Space Elevator Conference in Redmond, Washington.  If you want the chance to be able to meet both Yuri and Jerome Pearson, two of the true pioneers of the space age, come out to the Conference – it’s going to be the best one yet!

Conversations with Yuri Artsutanov – part I

For those of you who don’t know who Yuri Artsutanov is, he is a Russian engineer and the original co-inventor of the modern idea of a Space Elevator.  It was Yuri who first postulated the Space Elevator being a tensile structure rather than a compressive one (like a conventional building or tower).

Yuri will be appearing at the upcoming Space Elevator Conference (August 12-15) in Redmond, Washington – traveling all the way from his home in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Yuri is 81 years young and is, by all accounts, in excellent health.

The Space Elevator Blog is very privileged to be able to present the first in a three-part series; “Conversations with Yuri Artsutanov”.  Parts II and III will be posted over the next several days.

Yuri Artsutanov in a phone conversation with Natalie Sherman and Eugene Schlusser – part I        
(Melbourne –St Petersburg), March 2010

Q. Yura, please tell us how the idea of “A lift into Space” came to you initially?
A. It was in 1957; I had a friend, Alik (Albert) Yezrielev; his father was a Stalin Prize winner and as such had access to foreign scientific and technical journals so Alik read them as well. One day he told me the Americans had invented a very strong material so that a cable made of this material could be as long as 400kms and would not break under its own weight. I commented that if the cable were placed vertically at an altitude of 400kms where the force of gravity is less than on earth the cable could be made even longer (for ~ 200m) without collapsing into itself. There followed this hypothetical question: what strength would a cable of infinite length have to have? And what if such a cable where erected on the equator where its centrifugal force would keep it at the higher altitude and therefore it would not fall down? That might make it possible to travel into space along such a cable instead of using rockets!

Q. What aroused your interest in the material and the thickness of the cable in first place?
A. I was interested in travelling into space from my early childhood. When I read that a new super strong material had been invented I immediately realised  it could be used for building super long cables to lift us to cosmic altitudes, i.e. for traveling into space.

Q. So the very idea of “a lift into Space” came to you when you thought about the cable, its strength etc.?
A. Yes and it was in 1957, two months before the first Sputnik was launched.

Q. Why is it so important to travel into Space?
A. To find fossils and water on other planets and to use them.

Q. What about “saving humankind”?
A. Plenty of writers and philosophers from Aristotle to the present have thought and written about this. K.E.Tsiolkovsky said that “The Earth is the cradle of humanity but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever”.  The idea of Arthur C. Clarke was “to resettle humankind around the sun to increase its possibilities of survival”. Besides, sooner or later the sun and our planet will perhaps explode and people will need transport to escape and to disperse into space. So “salvaging humankind” has two meanings:  the salvation of humankind in the event of a catastrophe, and making way for humankind in its natural aspiration to expand. Now it is closer to being realized thanks to the invention of the new super strong material – fullerene. The Americans could be using “A lift into Space” by 2040.

Q. Tell us how your idea came to be connected with Tsiolkovsky?
A. Five years after my article “A Lift into Space” was published in the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” a short article mentioning it appeared in the newspaper “Leningradskaya Pravda”. A year later the Americans invented the same “lift” (they called it a “space elevator”) and published an article in the American magazine “Science”. A correspondent of the “Novosti Press Agency” V. Lvov had special access to the foreign press and brought the article to “Leningradskay Pravda” where he was told that the idea was not a new one. A Russian article on the same idea had already been published in their paper one year prior. They searched their archives and found the article. Lvov then came to me convinced that the Americans had stolen my idea and he even published an article accusing the Americans. That was in 1966 when “the cold war” was coming to an end. When the Americans found out about Lvov’s article they asked him to stop alleging plagiarism because he was wrong. Their invention had been made quite independently. Lvov agreed and in an article for the American journal “Science” wrote:the space elevator had been “invented for the second time”.

Then the KGB came into the picture asserting that Artsutanov was not worthy of the status of ‘ a hero’. His father had been arrested as “an enemy of the people” and he himself hadn’t informed them about a group of young dissidents (i.e.“enemies of the Soviet State”) at the Leningrad Technological Institute where he had studied. He had known them and was even connected with them. Lvov was ordered as follows: “You need to reduce the role of Artsutanov in this invention; write that the idea originated with Tsiolkovsky and Zander, and Artsutanov had copied their idea; that is, he wasn’t the originator of the idea”.

In fact what Tsiolkovsky had written was: ”if it were possible to build a tower to a height of 36, 000 kms it might be possible to launch satellites  from the top. However, everybody understands that to build such a tower is impossible”. He didn’t even offer a solution on how to build such a tower. It was a purely mental speculation on his part, “a mental experiment” as Arthur C. Clarke put it later.

Among the rough notes belonging to F. Zander they found his calculations for the strength of a tube which could be used by people to get to the moon.  He concluded that the entire supply of  cast iron on the planet would not be enough to build such a tube. He also wrote that while it might be conceivable “everyone understands that it would be impossible”, and thereafter he never mentioned it again.

Despite all these obvious facts V. Lvov still claimed that both scientists had been thinking of “a lift into Space” long before Artsutanov.

It must be said that Tsiolkovsky’s idea for a tower was not original.  It goes back to the Biblical Tower of Babel. People wanted to build a tower to reach the sky but God punished them and destroyed the tower.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote to V. Lvov pointing out that there are no references to a lift in the works of Tsiolkovsky. The idea of a tower remained merely a speculative matter.

Q. What did Arthur C. Clarke think about it all when he found out you were the real father of the idea?
A. In his novel “The Fountains of Paradise” he clearly wrote that the lift into space was invented in the 20th century by Yuri Artsutanov and Tsiolkovsky didn’t invent any of it. Tsiolkovsky’s writings about the tower are no more than a mere “mental experiment”.

Q. How did you meet Arthur C. Clarke?
A. He came to the USSR with several purposes in mind; one  was to meet me. His main goal was to see the Hermitage in St Petersburg and the location in Siberia where the Tunguz meteor fell in 1908 (he wasn’t able to fulfil this aim). His trip was organized by the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” who gave him an interpreter as well. Yes, he came to my apartment, looked out from my window, we spoke sitting around the table …

Q. What do you think about Jerome Pearson and his work?
A. His is engineering work of a very high quality but the idea itself is exactly the same as mine. He had the opportunity to try to build a lift – the company, the equipment etc. which I, of course, didn’t have. The idea itself came to him through his work as an ichthyologist. In their research into the oceans it was very important to have very strong cables which wouldn’t break even at a depth of 30km. Then he realized it would be possible to pull the cable not only down underwater but up as well.

Q. Do you have other inventions on which you have written and published?
A. Dyson’s Sphere. In our search for other civilizations we need to locate and study huge objects of a length of up to one billion km. Their temperature has to be less than 50C for life to exist. In the future the increasing population on earth will need all the energy of the sun, not just that fraction which at present reaches our planet. So we need to create a sphere, where intelligent creatures can live on its inner surface and  capture all of their energy’s source – the sun’s or other sources. That’s Dyson’s idea.

Q. What is your part in the idea?
A. Nobody knows how to construct a sphere so that it isn’t destroyed by the sun’s gravitation. My article on the subject was published in the Russian magazine  “Knowledge is Power”, 1969, No.9.

© Copyright 2010 Yuri Artsutanov, Natalie Sherman, Eugene Schlusser

Note that these conversations are copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in any form without the express, written consent of either Natalie Sherman or Eugene Schlusser (you can email Eugene at eugenesc [at] netspace.net.au).

I found Yuri’s remarks, especially about the role of the KGB, absolutely fascinating.

It’s not too late to sign up to attend the Space Elevator Conference.  Yuri will be appearing with another co-inventor of the modern idea of the Space Elevator, American Engineer Jerome Pearson.  They will be hosting a Q&A session, currently scheduled for the morning of Saturday, August 14th.

Come on out and meet some true pioneers of the Space Age!

June is Space Elevator month

I’ve written about the NASA MICI (NASA Minority Innovation Challenges Institute) before (here), telling you all about a video which had been posted on this website.  This video showed portions of the competition in several of the recent NASA Centennial Challenges.

That’s all well and cool, but Ben Shelef, CEO of the Spaceward Foundation (organizers of the Space Elevator Games) has just let me know that, at the NASA MICI channel, “June is Space Elevator Month“.  Two presentations relating to the Space Elevator Games have already been posted and two more are on the way.  And, if you login to the site while a presentation is underway, you’ll be able to interact (via Chat) with the presenter, asking questions in real-time.

The presentations that have already been posted are:

  • The Space Elevator (Ben Shelef)
  • Robotics and the Space Elevator (Dr. Antonio J Soares)

Upcoming presentations are:

  • Photovoltaic cells and the Space Elevator (Dr. Antonio J Soares) – June 21st, 3:00pm US Eastern time
  • Lasers and the Space Elevator (Dr. Antonio J Soares) – June 28th, 3:00pm US Eastern time

The ‘catch’ to all this is that to register to view these presentations, you must be a professor that is “…currently employed at a university or college located in the United States” or a student that is “…(a) a US Citizen currently enrolled at a university or college or (b) a non-US Citizen who is currently enrolled at a university or college located in the United States. ”  If you don’t fall into either of these categories, you can apply for login permission (you’ll see how to do this on their website).

This site and it’s videos are there to encourage participation by US students and faculties in the NASA Centennial Challenges program.   If you qualify (i.e. are a faculty member of student meeting the MICI requirements), then I would highly encourage you to sign up for this.  We are always looking for more competitors in the Space Elevator Games and the majority of teams that have registered have been university-based.  The more the merrier!

An (old) interview with Clayton Ruszkowski

Anyone who is familiar with the Climber / Power-Beaming team from the University of Saskatchewan, the USST team, knows or knows about Clayton Ruszkowski.  Clayton was the team captain for the first several years of their competing and, in the latest competition held in 2009, Clayton was there as an elder statesman…

Many moons ago (Dec 28, 2007), Stan Taylor of the Science Teachers Association of Ontario did an interview with Clayton and recently, he kindly emailed it to me.  You can read the interview here (it’s in pdf format).  It’s very interesting and we learn all sorts of interesting facts about Clayton.  For instance, he is a Canadian and, when he was younger, he played hockey – what are the odds?

He gives his future plans as ‘joining the Canadian Air Force’.  I wonder if it’s this Canadian Air Force he’s thinking of:

STAN FREBERG: …ahem, okay people, now when I give you the cue, I want the 700 foot mountain of whipped cream to roll into Lake Michigan, which has been drained and filled with hot chocolate. Then the Royal Canadian Air Force will fly overhead towing a 10-ton maraschino cherry, which will be dropped into the whipped cream to the cheering of 25,000 extras. All right – cut to the mountain!
(Appropriate SFX)
Cue the Air Force!
(Appropriate SFX)
Cue the maraschino cherry!
(Appropriate SFX)
Okay, 25,000 Cheering Extras!(Appropriate SFX, which end abruptly)
Now, you want to try that on television?

Of course, if you weren’t a fan of Stan Freberg, that probably didn’t mean anything to you…

Anyway, it’s a cool interview – check it out.  And hey, Clayton – you still owe me a USST mug…

NASA Centennial Challenges Video

Recently posted on the NASA MICI (Minority Innovation Challenges Institute) website is a short video showing portions of the competition in several of the recent NASA Centennial Challenges.

The Power-Beaming competition is shown, of course, with the 2009 prize-winners, LaserMotive, as the representative.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so9XSvdbVIY[/youtube]

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If you visit their photos/videos page, you can see several other cool things worth watching.

Hat-tip to the LaserMotive blog posting which alerted me to this.

“One of the problems we had last year was wind-induced oscillation…”

The Chicago Video Production company, Bitter Jester Creative, Inc., the “official video chronicler” of the Space Elevator Games, has some updated and some new video clips available.  The sound is in stereo, too…

Check out this page to view them.  All of them are of the very high quality that we have come to expect from this talented and dedicated group.

Nic DeGrazia, one of the members of this group, sent me this email about these clips:

Hello Elevator Boys!

I sent you the crane building vid for your enjoyment but I thought I’d let you know that I added that clip (with a nicer fade at the start) and two others (one that you’ve seen, where Ben explains the space elevator on the white board and another new one … UBC delicately polishing their solar cells before the wind whips their climber around) to the BJC site as well.

Check out this page on our new(!) website to see the clips in question…

-Nic

The title of this post was a quote from Ben Shelef (in the video clip ‘Building the crane‘) talking about how the redesign of the raceway would, hopefully, dampen the oscillations in the tether caused by the wind.  Alas, this tether failed during the competition (described here and here) due to those pesky oscillations, and was a primary reason why Ben moved to a steel cable (which performed spectacularly well) in the 2009 Games.  This was just one of those things that you don’t know if it’s going to work or not until you try it.

Watching these clips of the 2007 Games brought back a lot of memories – most of them good, but some of them sad.  The weather really was a handicap in this event; lots of rain, lots of wind and even some snow and hail for good measure.

I enjoyed watching all of these videos, but the one showing the UBC Climber was, IMHO, particularly fascinating.  At the end of the clip, you can see how the wind just played havoc with everything, the tether and the climbers. The picture thumbnail of the UBC Climber, reflected off of their gigantic mirrors, was truly a video highlight of the Games.  Click on the thumbnail for a full-size version of the picture.

A very special “Elevator to Space”

It’s good to see that our intrepid explorers can talk through these issues and help each other out when the need arises…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBU4xJSB3Iw[/youtube]

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I identified with this webisode as I’ve often been the guilty party when my wife has yelled out “Hey, who ate all the ice cream?”  I’ve also tried the Astronaut Ice Cream, having purchased some at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Gift Shop (yes, there really is one there and they have some cool stuff for sale) during the Space Elevator Games tests and competition.  I wasn’t expecting much, but they’re actually edible.  I should have refrigerated them before eating though – then I think they would have tasted more like ice cream.

And I should mention that this episode 19 in the Elevator to Space series.  I’m glad to see that these guys aren’t winding down and continue to entertain us with their humor.

Visit their website to view all of the webisodes – thanks guys – I’m always very happy when my RSS reader tells me you have a new webisode up…

A new Brad Edwards interview

Sander Olson of the Next Big Future kindly emailed me to let me know that his recent interview with Dr. Brad Edwards has now been posted at their website.

Most interesting quote (IMHO) from the interview:

Small quantities of some nanotubes have been made that are sufficiently strong to be used in a space elevator. We would obviously need to produce hundreds of tons of such nanotubes to build a space elevator. With sufficient funding, we could create a nanotube-based material appropriate for a space elevator within a couple of years.

That certainly sounds overly-optimistic to me, but who am I to argue with Dr. Edwards?

Anyway, it’s always interesting to get the current thoughts of Dr. Edwards and I recommend that you check out the interview.

LaserMotive talks power-beaming

On the LaserMotive Blog, mention is made of a recent article in the SunBreak, a local Seattle newspaper (team LaserMotive is based in Seattle).

It’s a very interesting article and well worth the read.  LaserMotive’s Jordin Kare talks about power-beaming and why that interests LaserMotive (as opposed to a Space Elevator, which they are not interested in).

Jordin is quoted:

“Some of the people who are competing are very much believers in the space elevator–Tom Nugent and I, who started the LaserMotive team, are pretty skeptical,” admitted Kare. “It’s one of these things where it’s a lovely idea, and it may be physically possible–which I wouldn’t have said a decade ago–but it’s a very long jump drawing pretty pictures and writing basic equations to being able to build something a hundred-and-some-odd-thousand kilometers long.”

He’s absolutely correct, of course – right now a Space Elevator IS not much more than ‘pretty pictures’.  As the President of ISEC, it’s my job to change that ‘equation’…

It’s ironic – the team that really is not a fan of the idea of Space Elevator is the team that won the recent Space Elevator Games.  On one of the many news-clips that resulted from the Games, a reporter asked why LaserMotive bothered to compete in the Games if they don’t believe in the concept.  The reply was that they wanted to demonstrate their prowess in power-beaming.  I don’t think the $900,000 hurt anything either…

(Picture of Jordin from here – click on it to see a full-size version)

LaserMotive to appear on XM and Sirius satellite radio on Tuesday

On Tuesday, November 17th, at 4:30pm (Eastern time), members of the 2009 Space Elevator Games prize-winning LaserMotive team will be interviewed on the Jay Thomas radio show.  This will be broadcast both on Sirius radio (channel 108) and XM radio (channel 139).

The show will be replayed at 9:00pm (Eastern time).

If you subscribe (or you can get one of the ‘free trials’), this should be a fun interview to listen to.

LaserMotive’s first prize-winning run

As many/most of you know, the recently completed Space Elevator Games were broadcast live on uStream.tv.  I hope you were watching and listening.  After a very ragged first day, commentators Bryan Laubscher and myself did OK, I think, in bringing you all of the action.

For the competition next year (plans already in the works), we’ll be doing this again and hopefully, even better than this time around.

One of the neat things you can do with uStream.tv is record what you watch.  Marc Boucher from SpaceRef.com did just that with LaserMotive’s first prize-winning run and it is now available on YouTube.  You can watch the run in all it’s glory and listen to Bryan and I (in all our “unglory”) as we call the action.  Thanks Marc!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ABVGHypirQ[/youtube]

New Brad Edwards interviews now available

Dr. Brad Edwards, co-author of The Space Elevator and Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator, has appeared in two new interviews.  These interviews discusses the Space Elevator somewhat, but concentrate much more on nanotechnology in general.

In the first interview, Dr. Edwards briefly discusses the Space Elevator before the conversation turns to developments in nanotechnology.  I must disagree with Dr. Edwards on one issue though.  When asked why a Space Elevator hasn’t been built yet, he said that it was because a) society is distracted by other things (swine flu, the war in Afghanistan, etc.) and b) NASA is afraid of failure.  While both of these may or may not be true, IMHO I think the reason a Space Elevator hasn’t been built yet is the fact that carbon nanotubes just aren’t strong enough yet.

In the second interview, Dr. Edwards states that a carbon nanotube “1/8 inch in diameter could hold 20 tons”.  Again, I must disagree with the optimism here.  I don’t think such a tether exists.  Someday it may (and it better if we ever want to build a space elevator), but it’s not here yet.

But the interviews are interesting and a lot of very futuristic nano-technologies are discussed.

Ben Shelef appears on The Space Show

On June 8th, Ben Shelef, CEO of the Spaceward Foundation, appeared on Dr. David Livingston’s The Space Show to discuss the upcoming Space Elevator Games, Power Beaming, Strong Tethers and Space Elevators in general.

Ben’s Spaceward Foundation is the host of the Space Elevator Games, so he is THE MAN to discuss the topic of the Games.  As well, with his recent publications (you can find them all here), most importantly, The Space Elevator Feasability Condition, I think it is safe to say that Ben is now pushing the research forward about the Space Elevator more than anyone else.

Check out the show here – it’s very interesting…

And be sure and check out the official site of the Space Elevator Games here

Dr. Bryan Laubscher appears on The Space Show

I missed this one…

Last Monday, Dr. Bryan Laubscher appeared on David Livingston’s The Space Show.  Bryan and David discussed the state of Space Elevator ‘affairs’ and the upcoming Space Elevator Conference (Aug 13-16).

Dr. Laubscher’s bio:

Bryan E. Laubscher received his Ph.D. in physics in 1994 from the University of New Mexico with a concentration in astrophysics. In 2008 Bryan left Los Alamos National Laboratory to pursue new adventures in the Redmond, WA where he and his wife now live. In 2006 Bryan spent a year on Entrepreneurial Leave to Seattle. There he started a company to develop the strongest materials ever created. These materials are based upon carbon nanotubes – the strongest structures known in nature and the first material identified with sufficient strength-to-weight properties to build a space elevator. At LANL he is was a project leader and has worked in various capacities for 17 years. His past projects include LANL’s portion of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey , Magdalena Ridge Observatory and a project developing concepts and technologies for space situational awareness. Over the years Bryan has participated in research in astronomy, lidar, non-linear optics, space mission design, space-borne instrumentation design and construction, spacecraft design, novel electromagnetic detection concepts and technologies, detector/receiver system development, spectrometer development, interferometry and participated in many field experiments. Bryan led space elevator development at LANL until going on entrepreneurial leave in late 2005.

And, thanks to the miracle of podcasting, none of us missed the show (though we did miss a chance to call in and ask Dr. Laubscher questions).  Click here to listen to the show or visit The Space Show’s website.

Reminder – Next Space Elevator chat coming Tuesday, March 31st

The third in the series of the Space Elevator Spring Chats, hosted by Marc Boucher at the Space Elevator Reference site, will be tomorrow, Tuesday, March 31st at 2:30pm – Eastern Time. This week, Marc will interview Bert Murray, the head of the National Space Society (NSS) Climber / Power-Beaming team.

The topic: Discussion on the NSS Team efforts and the Space Elevator. Bert has 30 years experience working at Lockheed Martin.

I look forward to seeing all of you on Marc’s next chat!

Transcript of Space Elevator Reference chat with Ben Shelef now available

On March 17th, the inaugural Space Elevator Reference chat was held.  This is a series of chats that is being hosted at Marc Boucher’s Space Elevator Reference site.

The first guest was Ben Shelef, CEO of the Spaceward Foundation, host of the Space Elevator Games.

The transcript of this chat is now available.  If you missed the chat, here is your chance to get the absolute latest information on the Space Elevator Games and hear Ben’s answers to other questions that were posed to him.

Weekly series of Space Elevator chats begins this Tuesday

Over at the Space Elevator Reference, THE original Space Elevator website, host Marc Boucher will be hosting a series of online chats dedicated to the topic of the Space Elevator.  Each week, Marc will have a different luminary from the Space Elevator effort on the chat.

Spring Chat Series Starting March 17 and running every Tuesday for at least 4 weeks.

Our first guest will be:

Ben Shelef, Co-founder, The Spaceward Foundation & the International Space Elevator Consortium
Join the Chat: March 17 @ 2:30 PM Eastern Time/ 11:30 AM Pacific Time

Topic: The Space Elevator concept including an update on the Space Elevator Challenges
http://www.spaceelevator.com/chat

So, join the chat and learn, first-hand, the latest goings-on in the Space Elevator effort.  You can also send questions to Marc before the show at:

Marc.Boucher [at] spaceelevator.com.

Hope to see you on the chat!

Nothing new…

No, there’s nothing wrong with me (outside of a nasty cold that had me bed-ridden for a few days), there’s just not much going on in the “Space Elevator World” at this time.

Work still continues on finalizing arrangements for the next Space Elevator Games.  It has been reported in many places (but NOT this blog) that the Games are scheduled for April 26th-30th, or alternatively, April 27th-May1st.  This may yet happen but is NOT yet certain.  When the dates and location are set, you’ll hear about it first here on this blog and, of course, on the Spaceward website.  Several of us, including some team representatives, visited the Kennedy Space Center in late February to meet with people from ISTEF, the Kennedy Space Center, NASA, and several other groups to discuss logistical problems and find solutions.  This is no small task.  What Spaceward and the teams are attempting to accomplish this year is truly quite astonishing; creating a laser-powered climber speeding along at an average speed of 5 meters/second up a kilometer-long steel cable racetrack held up by a hovering helicopter.  Because the teams are beaming class-4 lasers essentially straight up into the air, flight restrictions must be observed so that aircraft, especially low-flying aircraft, are not allowed in the area during climbs.  Also, the actual scheduling of the runs must take into account overhead satellite passes as it is might be possible for these lasers to affect some satellite optics.  In addition, because reflections from these lasers off of the climbers can be potentially dangerous, procedures and ‘safe’ areas need be designated so that the “6 year old albino kid who never blinks and has both a 12″ Celestron telescope and a litigious mother” are taken into account and kept safe.  All these problems are solvable, but many parties are involved and all have to be satisfied that the plan is a sound one.

Speaking of lasers, LaserMotive’s Jordin Kare recently appearedon Dr. David Livingston’s Space Show.  Jordin really knows lasers and the show is quite informative – tune in and enjoy…

Vibrating your way to space?

I’m sure many of you saw the BBC News Article about using vibrations to power a Space Elevator Climber (along with a very short video clip demonstrating the effect via using a broomstick).

On YouTube now, there is a longer video where the engineer who has proposed the idea at the recent EuroSpaceward conference, Age-Raymond Riise, talks about how this idea works and some of the problems it introduces.
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_YZWKS9Yqs[/youtube]
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Frankly, I’m a bit skeptical of this idea.  There is already, IMHO, too much going on with the tether (having to move it to avoid potential collisions as well as just the natural vibrations which will already be in the tether due to the Climbers, the sun, the moon, etc.) and introducing this will just muck up the works even more.  But I’m not a physicist, perhaps I’m wrong.

One of the things we hope to do with ISEC is to launch a ‘rapid-response-team’ which will look at ideas like this and say if they are feasible or not.  It will be nice to catch the news cycle these stories appear in and give them a bit more credibility if they past muster, or point out the obvious flaws in them if they do not.

(Picture of parking space from here – click on it for a larger version)

More from the EuroSpaceward 2008 Conference

Markus Klettner, Executive Director of EuroSpaceward, has kindly sent me several documents resulting from or relating to the recent EuroSpaceward Conference.

This first document is an interview of Markus by BBC New Journalist Jason Palmer.  Markus hastens to add that the views he expresses in this interview are his own and are not necessarily representative of EuroSpaceward.  This document is in pdf format.

The next document is the Conference presentation by Professor Nicola Pugno entitled “The role of defects in the design of Space Elevator cable” and is in Microsoft Powerpoint format.

Finally, Markus has kindly provided us with 8 other documents/presentations authored or co-authored by the same Professor Pugno relating to his studies of defects in carbon nanotubes.  All of these documents are in pdf format.

So, if you need some reading material – here it is!

These documents are particularly relevant as I have recently presented a series of posts (here, here and here) on Ben Shelef’s (CEO of Spaceward) view of how strong a carbon nanotube ribbon has to be to make a useful Space Elevator.  From my own reading of Prof. Pugno’s papers, it appears that there are some differences of opinion (or at least differences in the way things are stated) between Prof. Pugno and Ben on this issue.  Hopefully in the not-too-distant future, ISEC can explore these differences in more detail.

Iron Man – The End, and an interview with Bob Layton

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I finally have my copy of the new Marvel release, Iron Man – The End.  It’s been one busy week, so I didn’t have a chance to read it until tonight.

The issue is about 98% Iron Man and 2% Space Elevator, but hey, 2% of a Marvel Iron Man issue is nothing to sneeze at.  I was initially going to do a review of the storyline, but decided against it because a) I am not competent to do so as I really know nothing about the comic book genre and b) I thought it would be more interesting to tease out the 2% Space Elevator bits to see how they stack up against the ‘currently accepted model’.

To begin with, the earthport of the Stark Space Elevator (Tony Stark = aka Iron Man) is based on a tiny island.  This does not fit the currently proposed model, which calls for an an ocean-based, movable platform.  The Edwards-Westling book gives eight reasons why we would want to have a movable base;

  1. Able to move the ribbon out of the path of orbiting objects and also any storms strong enough to be dangerous.
  2. Can be located directly on the equator in the most weather-friendly position possible.
  3. Can be located in international waters.
  4. Can be located near populations or not as selected.
  5. Large-scale, mobile sea platforms are tested technology (Sea Launch).
  6. If the ribbon breaks, much or all of the lower portion will probably fall into the ocean.
  7. No high-altitude operational challenges (snow, thin-air, etc.)
  8. Easier to ship really large, bulky, irregular-shaped items to a Space Elevator via sea than on land.

Some difficulties of a ocean-based earth-port vs. a land-based earth-port are also mentioned in this book;

  1. Vertical movement of the anchor
  2. Movement of the power-beam(s)
  3. Salt
  4. Remoteness

Personally, I’ve never liked the idea of an ocean-going earth-port – the idea has always seemed a bit dodgy to me.  When I first read The Space Elevator, everything proposed made sense EXCEPT for the earth-port.  Having to move the earth-port itself to induce a wave in the tether in order to make it miss a bit of debris (or a satellite) is really inefficient.  Why not have lasers zap the 99.99% of the debris that no one cares about and have thrusters mounted on the ribbon every 1,000 Km or so and let them move the ribbon as necessary for the rare bit (live satellite or whatever) which cannot be zapped?  Just find the thruster that’s closest and use it.  And, with the portion of the tether which is in the atmosphere now probably going to be a cable rather than a ribbon, it will be minimally affected by the wind.

So, my heart is with Stark on this one, though the ‘prevailing wisdom’ says otherwise…

The next item mentioned is the tether itself.  To quote from the relevant frame; “Basically a giant nanotube ‘grown’ from a geostationary Space Station.”  Travel on this tether will be by (again quoting); “…magnetically levitated shuttles (which) will carry passengers and cargo at less than two percent of current costs making the stars accessible to the common man.”  Hmmmm.

Again, the current model says that the baseline tether will be shipped to GEO, assembled, and then simultaneously deployed downwards (towards earth) and upwards (away from earth), this to keep it stable.  If the tether is only ‘grown downwards’, as is shown in the comic book, pretty soon (very soon, in fact), gravity will have its say and will pull everything down.  Yes, you can have a counterweight at GEO (with nothing above it) to hold the tether in place, but it would have to be ginormous, far bigger than the space station shown in the comic.  Also, later on in the issue, there is a picture of the tether in the clouds, looking like it’s being ‘grown downwards’, but it’s not a tether at all, but rather a very large structure.  This is reminiscent of the ‘Clarke model’ from his Fountains of Paradise novel.

So, IMHO, I don’t think the tether scenario in the comic would work at all…

The next Space Elevator item was, well, there was no ‘next item’ – that was it.  Like I said, 98% Iron Man, 2% Space Elevator.

If you want to find out if Tony Stark succeeds in building his Space Elevator, you’ll just have to go out and buy the issue 🙂

When this issue was first announced, I emailed one of the storyline artists, Bob Layton, and asked if he would be willing to answer a few questions for us.  He graciously consented and below, is our short interview with Bob.

[Space Elevator Blog – SEB] Have you been following the evolution in thought regarding the development of a Space Elevator? Do you consider it to be a realistic possibility or just a crazy idea?
[Bob Layton – BL] I believe that it’s a totally realistic concept and I hope that we eventually apply our energies as a society to make this science into a reality.

[SEB]Why did you pick a Space Elevator as Tony Stark’s “Ultimate Project”? Were you at all influenced by author Arthur C. Clarke and his fictional engineer (Vannevar Morgan) building a Space Elevator as his ‘ultimate project’ or was there another inspiration behind this?
[BL]When David Michelinie and I were originally concocting the plot to Iron Man: The End back in 1999, I had just finished reading Arthur C. Clarke’s ‘Songs of Distant Earth’.  The scientific theory around the Space Elevator in that story served as an inspiration.

[SEB]If it’s not revealing a plot line you’d rather keep secret for now, does Tony Stark use the ‘Edwards model’ for building a Space Elevator (a carbon nanotube ribbon as the climber cable, anchored in the ocean at the earth-end) or the ‘Clarke model’ (a more solid structure anchored on land) or some other model?
[BL] We use a little bit of the “Edwards Model” and the “Clarke Model” in IRON MAN:The End.

[SEB] Reading your Bio on your website (http://www.boblayton.com <http://www.boblayton.com/>), it’s obvious that, to date, you have had a long and successful career in the comic book industry as well as in film and television. During your career, have you used the concept of a Space Elevator in any other project? If so, could you tell us a little bit about those projects?
[BL] No. But I have a proposed TV series in the works entitled “Jett’s Way” that revolves around the first commercial Space Agency. In the premise, the lead character is trying to get permits to construct the space elevator and encounters political and corporate opposition from every imaginable source.

[SEB] There is support building for a Space Elevator in both Europe and Japan and I think they would be very interested in this issue. Are Marvel Comics available in other languages?
[BL] Yes.

[SEB] Finally, if you had a chance to ride on a real Space Elevator, would you do it?
[BL ] In a HEARTBEAT!! YOU BET!!

Thank you Bob!  And, please keep us updated on the “Jett’s Way” project you mentioned.  It sounds fascinating.

Go out and buy this issue, dear readers.  More than most comic books, I think this could become a ‘Collector’s Item’.

(Cover Text/Graphic and frame from this issue)

An interview with Elon Musk

Over at SpaceFellowship.com, they have just posted an interview with Elon Musk, he of SpaceX fame (as well as PayPal, Tesla Motors and SolarCity).  The interview covered many subjects. including the Space Elevator.  He’s not a fan.

“Question: I know that SpaceX has plenty on its plate right now. However, any thoughts on using your techology after you go public on the construction of a Space Elevator? Private or Public?

Elon Musk: It will be a *long* time, if ever, before the economics of a space elevators make sense. Consider that no one has decided to build a bridge from New York to London and that would be way easier than building a space elevator.”

That’s an odd answer, to say the least.  Why would anyone want to build a bridge from New York to London?  We already have commercial shipping and air transport that gets things to/from one side of the pond to the other.  He really thinks we should drive between New York and London?  Rest stops?  Gasoline stations?  Restaurants?  In the middle of the Atlantic?  When someone can fly from New York to London in just a few hours?  I think he’s totally missing the point, especially considering a quote a little later on in the interview:

“Question: Do you have an estimate of when the common person will be able to take advantage of the fruits of the SpaceX program?

Elon Musk: Depends on how common. If we can make reusability work well, I think we can get the cost per person to orbit down to a few million dollars within eight to ten years. If reusability works well and demand is strong, so that we can distribute overhead over a large number of launches, it could one day get to under $1M.”

Under $1M“.  Gee, how exciting… 🙁

On the other hand, I do tend to agree with his assessment of Space Solar Power:

“Question: Should not NASA be funding research to make Space Solar Power possible in this time of energy crisis as they did in the 1970’s?

Elon Musk: No, I don’t believe in space solar power. It will never be competitive with ground solar power. The cost of converting the electron energy to photon energy and then back again on the ground overwhelms the 2X increase in solar incidence. And that’s before you consider the cost of transporting the solar panels and converters to orbit!”

It’s a very interesting interview – check it out.

(Picture of Elon Musk and the Falcon2 from here.  Click on it for a larger version.)

Space Elevator interview

Several days ago, I was interviewed by Jon Udell, he of the Perspectives podcast fame.  The subject was, of course, the Space Elevator.

This interview has now been posted; you can access it here.

I read the partial transcript he put up on the website and listened to the interview and I think I made only one serious gaffe; when I spoke about the solid-state lasers that Boeing had recently developed, I said that they were capable of generating 25 MEGAwatts of power.  That should have been 25 KILOwatts of power (I had posted about these lasers earlier, here).

Those of you who attended the recent Space Elevator Conference also almost certainly met Maurice Franklin, a Microsoft employee (actually, I think he’s left Microsoft now and is up in New Hampshire learning how to build boats) who was largely responsible for getting the Microsoft conference center for us and making the venue work very well for us.  Jon also interviewed Maurice about the conference and the Space Elevator – you can view/listen to that interview here.

Thanks again Jon – I enjoyed our conversation and very much appreciate the work you’ve done to put these interviews together and on the web.

PBS NOVA Science Now to rebroadcast Space Elevator clip

In January of 2007, the PBS show NOVA Science Now aired a short clip (about 12 minutes) on building a Space Elevator.  This clip was narrated by the esteemed Neil deGrasse Tyson.  I blogged about it a few times, including here and here.

Jim Dempsey has let me know that this show is being rebroadcast TONIGHT.  Check your local listings for playing times.

Thanks Jim!

Reminder – today’s ‘The Space Show’

Remember, on today’s ‘The Space Show’, host Dr. David Livingston interviews Dr.’s Bryan Laubscher and Martin Lades to talk about the upcoming Space Elevator Conference and the ‘state of affairs’ for the Space Elevator.

If you have questions and/or comments about the Space Elevator or the conference, or just want to hear the latest, be sure to tune into today’s show.

From the Show Notes:

The Sunday, July 6, 2008 program, 12-1:30 PM Pacific Daylight Time welcomes Dr. Bryan Laubscher and Dr. Marin Lades to the program to discuss the upcoming Space Elevator Conference in Redmond, Washington.

Bryan E. Laubscher received his Ph.D. in physics in 1994 from the University of New Mexico with a concentration in astrophysics. Bryan has just left Los Alamos National Laboratory to pursue new adventures in the Redmond, WA where his wife lives. In 2006, Bryan spent a year on Entrepreneurial Leave to Seattle. There, he started a company to develop the strongest materials ever created. These materials are based upon carbon nanotubes – the strongest structures known in nature and the first material identified with sufficient strength-to-weight properties to build a space elevator. At LANL, he is a project leader and has worked in various capacities for 17 years. His past projects include LANL’s portion of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey , Magdalena Ridge Observatory and a project developing concepts and technologies for space situational awareness. Over the years, Bryan has participated in research in astronomy, lidar, non-linear optics, space mission design, space-borne instrumentation  design and construction, spacecraft design, novel electromagnetic detection concepts and technologies, detector/receiver system development, spectrometer development, interferometry and participated in many field experiments. Bryan led space elevator development at LANL until going on entrepreneurial leave in late 2005.

Dr. Martin Lades, has an interdisciplinary physics Ph.D. with a dissertation on pattern recognition and neural networks from the Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany, and an M.S. in physics on applied optics from the Friedrich-Alexander Universitaet Erlangen, Germany. His research work includes pattern recognition research at LLNL and software development in bioinformatics. He has managed R&D, IT, and information security efforts and co-founded a VC funded tissue engineering startup running FDA trials. Martin joined the Space Elevator community 2004 attending the SE conference in D.C. He is currently working on optical design and control system questions for the 2008 Kansas City Space Pirates entry in Spaceward’s Power Beaming competition. He was working with the same team in 2006 and 2007, for example contributing the KCSP mirror targeting device for 2007. Martin’s passion is to coalesce the forces for Space Elevator development and support their communication infrastructure.

Listeners can talk to Dr. Laubscher, Dr. Lades, or the host using toll free 1 (866) 687-7223, by sending e-mail during the program using dmlivings@yahoo.com, drspace@thespaceshow.com, thespaceshow@gmail.com, or chatting on AOL/ICQ/CompuServe Chat using the screen name “spaceshowchat.”

The Space Elevator Conference to be discussed on an upcoming Space Show

On Sunday, July 6th, Dr.’s Bryan Laubscher and Martin Lades will be joint guests on Dr. David Livingston’s The Space Show.  From the show notes:

Sunday, July 6, 2008, 12-1:30 PM PDT (19-20:30 GMT) – Dr. Bryan Laubscher and Dr. Martin Lades come to the program to discuss the upcoming Space Elevator Conference in Redmond, Washington…

Bryan E. Laubscher received his Ph.D. in physics in 1994 from the University of New Mexico with a concentration in astrophysics. Bryan has just left Los Alamos National Laboratory to pursue new adventures in the Redmond, WA where his wife lives. In 2006, Bryan spent a year on Entrepreneurial Leave to Seattle. There, he started a company to develop the strongest materials ever created. These materials are based upon carbon nanotubes – the strongest structures known in nature and the first material identified with sufficient strength-to-weight properties to build a space elevator…

Dr. Martin Lades, has an interdisciplinary physics Ph.D. with a dissertation on pattern recognition and neural networks from the Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Germany, and an M.S. in physics on applied optics from the Friedrich-Alexander Universitaet Erlangen, Germany. His research work includes pattern recognition research at LLNL and software development in bioinformatics.

Visit The Space Show website to read the full biographies of both men and be sure to tune into the show.

And visit the Space Elevator Conference website to learn more about the conference and to register to attend.  It’s coming up soon – only 18 more days – but it’s still not too late to make plans to attend.

See you there!

Space Elevator Potpourri…

Well, that didn’t take long.  The video clip I put up of Brian Turner of the Kansas City Space Pirates appearing on the Conan O’Brien show has been taken down due to “Copyright violations”.  I don’t know why – there’s a ton of other Conan video clips up on YouTube.  Maybe someone from another Climber/Power-Beaming team complained because they thought that Brian was getting too much publicity 🙂  Anyway, you can go to the Conan O’Brien website and see the clip.  Don’t delay though, it probably won’t be up there for long either.  Go to this website, navigate to the “May 2nd” episode and then select on “Brian Turner”.

I received a couple of photos from Akira Tsuchida, Captain and Fearless Leader of team E-T-C, showing the Japanese translation of the Edwards-Ragan book “Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator” on sale at a Japanese bookstore.  When Akira first wrote me about this, he exclaimed that the book was “Laying on it’s side!!”  I had no clue why that was important until he explained to me that this was reserved only for books with multiple copies – a position of prominence I’m told.  On a related note, I received an email from Phil Ragan, the co-author of the book.  He emailed me to say; “I just saw your spaceelevatorblog.com web site for the first time, sorry I hadn’t come across it earlier.  Thanks for the supportive words about our book! The intent was to increase the public awareness of the project and help it along in some way.  We’ve just had the Japanese version of the book released and it is in the stores in Tokyo and available at amazon.com.jp and its prompting the book publisher to consider taking us up for a second edition in English, which would be great if it happens.”  So, way cool…

On the Spaceward Foundation website, there is an “Artist’s rendition” (complete with Homer Simpson) of a mockup of what the 2008 Space Elevator Games venue might look like (if it’s held at Meteor Crater in Arizona).  This mockup will be on display at this year’s ISDC and SEC2008 (and probably some other venues too).

Speaking of ISDC, Ben Shelef of the Spaceward Foundation will be there (with the aforementioned venue mockup) along with representatives of some of the teams entering this year’s Space Elevator competition.  I may make it there myself – we’ll see…

And, speaking of the Space Elevator games, the observant may note that the date for these games (posted on the sidebar of this blog) has been changed from September 8th to September 26th-28th.  The September 8th date was never really ‘set in stone’ – it was just a target date.  The 26th-28th dates (with qualifications beginning on the 23rd or 24th) is a much more firm date.

And finally, just another example of how the term “Space Elevator” is entering into the everyday lexicon.  In this article, the author is complaining about the rise in diesel fuel prices saying; “Sure, fuel spikes aren’t new, but this time it’s less of a roller-coaster ride than a space elevator.”

(Gas price sign from here)

(For all pictures, click on the thumbnails for a larger version)

‘It will be filled with drifters, loners and prostitutes…’

This was Conan O’Brien’s joking response to Brian Turner’s description of the “Space Elevator highway(s) to Space”.

Brian Turner of the Kansas City Space Pirates appeared on Friday night’s Conan O’Brien show.  I thought the interview went well and that Brian handled himself very commendably.  It’s not easy, being interviewed live like that.  Many, many years ago, I had one very forgettable instance in a TV interview and I am eternally grateful the TV network chose not to air my mumblings…

Clearly Conan understood the concept of a Space Elevator; either he knew it beforehand or had been coached prior to the show.  His questions were accurate and Brian handled them well.  There was one comment by Brian where I thought he had clearly misspoke – describing the probable site of a future Space Elevator port as being in the Pacific Ocean, “south of Kansas City.”  But I looked on a globe and darned if it isn’t true…

My only complaint would be that they did not mention the Space Elevator Games at all.  I think this would have given the concept much more credibility; NASA putting up 4 million dollars in prize money and that what Brian’s team (one of many in the event) is building is an entry for this competition, not a real Space Elevator.  But still, Conan O’Brien…

Well done Brian!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKO0IpPHnSw[/youtube]

.

(Update 07MAY08 – YouTube has taken down the video.  To see it, visit the Conan O’Brien website, navigate to the May 2nd episode and then select ‘Brian Turner’.  Do it soon, though – I don’t think episodes stay up very long on this site either…)

Dr. Michio Kaku discusses the Space Elevator on The Space Show

On the current edition of Dr. David Livingston’s The Space Show, Dr. Michio Kaku and Dr. Bob Krone are interviewed.

It’s a wide-ranging interview, with many topics discussed, among them:

“As for discussing space travel, Dr. Kaku pointed out the problem of the high cost of space access. He was asked if we needed breakthrough advanced propulsion to give us low cost space access, could we do it through the space elevator which he talks about in his book, or could space tourism or space solar power be an economic driver leading to a significantly higher launch rate which would enable commercially attractive launch prices.”

It’s a very interesting interview and can be accessed here.  Note that this is an .mp3 file and must be downloaded to be played.  It’s > 50MB, so… patience is a virtue 🙂

New Space Elevator Videos…

At last year’s Space Elevator Games, the Chicago video production company Bitter Jester Creative, Inc. was invited to film the games from a human interest viewpoint.  The first fruits of this effort from the team of four that were at the games are now online.

Nic DeGrazia, one of the Bitter Jester Creative team members said this in an email he sent to me:

The second and third clips in that screening room are two scenes from the feature.  One is an introduction of some of the characters in the movie, the other is sort of a sample dramatic scene from one of the Space Pirates failed attempts to claim first place.… please know that this is a work in progress and as is, it’s a bit out of context.  This is just to give an example of the production value, content, etc.  The full feature would obviously have much more setup and explanation.”

If you visit this link at their website, you can see these two clips.

These are really well done, especially (IMHO) the first one.

Enjoy…

(The picture thumbnail is from the first clip – interviewing Bryan Laubscher – one of several people interviewed during the clip.  Click on it for a larger version, or, better yet, watch the videos)

A short hiatus…

Yes I know that there have no posts here for a few days now.  No, nothing’s wrong (thank you to those who emailed me, asking if all was well), there just hasn’t been much to post about.

One of the things I have been doing is some investigation into the “wobbly Space Elevator” (non?) problem.  I’ve been corresponding with Dr. Brad Edwards and Dave Lang about this (as well as reading what Blaise Gassend had to say about it) and am going to pony up the $31.50 to read the original paper by Lubos Perek to see what ignited all the fuss.  At some future point, if I think I have something to add to this discussion, I will do so.

Glen Phillips is in town Friday night – I look forward to this concert with great anticipation.

Planning is still ongoing for this year’s Space Elevator Games.  The two biggest changes from previous games are, of course, the length of the racecourse (now 1km) and that instead of a ribbon, the climbers will have to be ascending/descending a steel rope.  The chances that anyone will attempt this competition with a power source other than a laser are somewhere between zero and nil.

Planning is also ongoing for the 2008 Space Elevator Conference.  A full team has been assembled to organize this event and I, for one, am truly looking forward to it.  It will also be very interesting to see how much Microsoft is truly interested in this idea.  I had blogged earlier about Bryan Laubscher’s talk at Microsoft – perhaps this is another way that they are going to compete with Google? 🙂

The picture thumbnail, above, is probably one of the last (if not the last) pictures of Sir Arthur C. Clarke and was provided as part of a story by Saswato R. Das.  Click on it for a slightly larger version (or access the story, of course).

Finally, about 30% of me thinks that this is a hoax…

Discovery Channel 2057 show about the Space Elevator now on YouTube

Early last year, a new series from the Discovery Channel aired.  One of the episodes was a fictional account about how a Space Elevator might be used / integrated into our future and how it may play a part in future scientific development.  I blogged about this show here.

Now, thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can view this show again (or, for the first time if you missed it before).  It was posted in five parts.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSxUKyDoRbc[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrLZhmIzVUE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSxUKyDoRbc[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrLZhmIzVUE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOnlSrhFn7U[/youtube]

.

Enjoy!

The Space Elevator and Our Future

On July 20, 2007, Bryan Laubscher gave a talk about the Space Elevator at Microsoft.  It has just (I think) been posted on the web.  You can access it here.

This is an hour and 23 minute presentation, exploring the concepts, history, potential uses and current status of the Space Elevator development.

If anyone is looking for a primer (or refresher) about the Space Elevator and its benefits to humanity, this is the video to watch.

(Pictures are screenshots of the presentation.  Click on them for a larger version)

Weltraumaufzug

Weltraumaufzug – this is how you say/write “Space Elevator” in German.  In the most recent episode of the German TV series ‘Quarks‘, the concept of the Space Elevator is explored.

I don’t speak German, so I can’t give you a word by word description of what the show was about, but for anyone who is at all familiar with the concept of a Space Elevator, most of the show will be very understandable.  IMHO, it’s really well done – the graphics and animations, some of which I’ve not seen before, are first-rate.

It’s not on YouTube (at least not yet 🙂 ), so I can’t link to it that way.  However, you can view the show here.  Maximize the screen size.  You can watch the entire show (which covers many subjects besides a Space Elevator), or you can just click on the ‘Weltraumaufzug’ link on the left-hand side to go directly to the Space Elevator episode.

The show spends some time talking about a Climber vehicle being created by some German University students.  I don’t recognize the Climber – it wasn’t the TurboCrawler entry into the 2006 Games and there is no German entry into this year’s Games (at least not yet).  I’ve emailed the show’s producer to ask her about it – when I find out, I’ll either post an update here or else will put it on a separate post.

And by the way, the videos of the 2007 Space Elevator Games at the beginning of the TV episode were all taken by yours truly.  Many of the teams and their climbers are shown.

Watch the show.  Even if you don’t speak German, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

(The picture is a screen capture from the show – click on it for a larger version (or watch the show 🙂 )

News from E-T-C; the Space Elevator on Japanese TV

A couple of days ago, I received this email from Akira Tsuchida; fearless leader of team E-T-C;

Ted, Brad and Ben,

I am sorry not to talk to you for a long time.  I am having hard time to get sponsor for E-T-C to join 2008 game.  Still I am not sure if we can join this year or not even I registered….

BTW, there is one good news from Japan today.  Space Elevator became popular today in Japan.  It was on TV Asahi from 8 pm to 9 pm on Sunday.  TV Asahi is one of major TV broadcasting network in Japan.  This program in not for Education purpose but unique.  That program has an audience rating of almost ten percent.  Ten percent is big number.

Anyway, HQ of Spaceward foundation was shown even I have not been there yet.  And Brad is also on the TV.  Also they made big globe and space station to explain about SE and they invited me to explain.

They broadcast around 30 minutes.  I hope SE becomes more popular in Japan.

I just want to tell you about this TV program.  Still I need to find sponsor but I am very happy today.

Regards,
Akira Tsuchida
Earth-Track-Controllers

10 percent IS a big number in viewer percentage – let’s hope this leads to a) more interest in the concept of a Space Elevator in Japan and b) some sponsorship help for team E-T-C.

The four pictures in this post are from Akira; they are from the show.  Click on them for a larger version.  The good looking guy just “above” the globe in the first picture is Akira.  And the large-version of the picture of Dr. Edwards is almost scary 🙂

And, as this team IS the Earth-Track-Controllers (for the International Space Station – ISS), the picture of the ISS in this group can be forgiven 🙂

Ken Davidian to appear on The Space Show tomorrow

Tomorrow, Sunday, March 2nd, Ken Davidian, NASA’s man at the Spaceward Games (and other Centennial Challenges), will be interviewed on Dr. David Livingston’s The Space Show.  The show airs from 12:00 noon to 1:30pm Pacific Time.  Here is a short blurb from the show’s promo:

Ken is now the NASA ESMD (Exploration Systems Mission Directorate) Commercial Development Policy Lead.  Ken Davidian is a NASA contractor and the former Program Manager for Centennial Challenges at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.   Within ESMD, Mr. Davidian is charged with conducting and promoting commercialization efforts related to the Vision for Space Exploration and the Global Exploration Strategy. Mr. Davidian is also the principal driver of Centennial Challenges, NASA’s prize program modeled on past and ongoing prize competitions.

Ken’s interviews are always high-energy and a joy to listen to.  But “former Program Manager” for the Centennial Challenges?  I’ll be listening to the show tomorrow to see if Ken is still going to be involved with them.  I would be sad if he leaves – he’s great to work with and a lot of fun to be around.

As with all broadcasts on The Space Show, it will be saved as a podcast so you can catch it later on if you miss the show.

The Space Elevator vs. Fusion Power – Ben Shelef responds…

Ben Shelef of Spaceward sent me the following response to the Bruce Pittman statement (comparing the reality of using Fusion Power for rockets to a Space Elevator) that I posted here.

“Regrettably, that statement shows such a basic lack of understanding of both the Space Elevator design or even straight forward physical reasoning.

To respond directly, there is absolutely zero connection between the wind behavior of the power beaming setup and a real Space Elevator.

A real Space Elevator, inside the atmosphere, will likely have a round cross section, about 1/4″ in diameter, and only 0.05% of the Space Elevator (yes – half-a-thousandth) is inside any appreciable atmosphere. (50km). The Space Elevator will oscillate with a period of hours, not even comparable to what we see in atmospheric tests.

Having said that, here is one more statement:

Go Fusion! Fusion technology is definitely not a pipe-dream, and we need it urgently.”

Thank you Ben…