2014 ISEC Space Elevator Conference – Day 2

Day 2 of the conference is underway.  Our first presentation is a highly technical one: “For space elevator rope – Production of exfoliated graphene and high surface charged-cellulose nanocrystals as stabilizer synthesized by lyophilized acidic hydrolysis“.  Dr. Sherif Hindi of King Abdulaziz University, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, gave this presentation via Skype.  It was a difficult presentation to understand; a combination of the subject being highly technical, the presentation given via Skype and that English is not Dr. Hindi’s first language (though his English was excellent).  But if I got the gist of it, Dr. Hindi’s work consists of stabilizing/purifying Graphene (and thus making it stronger?) via cellulose nanocrystals produced from renewable materials.  I will need to review his paper to learn more.

The second presentation was by Dr. Bryan Laubscher, chief technologist of Odysseus Technologies, Inc. (full disclosure; I am an investor in OTI).  He gave us an update on OTI’s continuing efforts to build longer, stronger nanotubes.  He discussed the patents that OTI has made, both in terms of taking existing ‘forests’ of nanotubes, drawing off threads and strengthening those threads and also in growing stronger nanotubes themselves.  His presentation elicited many questions and a whole lot of discussion.  OTI’s problem now (as with a lot of startups, especially in this field) is funding.  OTI is doing a lot with a little – a little more would certainly help.  Dr. Laubscher made the observation yesterday that if you want to really advance the possibility of a space elevator, materials science is the place to be.  I’ve pointed out the obvious many times on this blog that without the materials strong enough to make a viable space elevator tether, this is all just a pipe-dream.  Long, strong tubes are the answer.

2014 ISEC Space Elevator Conference – Day 1 Wrapup

And, to get this out of the way right away, it’s a good thing that the Bears-Seahawks games was a preseason one – ’nuff said…

The first day of the 2014 ISEC Space Elevator Conference was outstanding.  The morning was “setting the stage”, introductory information and a fine Keynote speech from Science writer Leonard David of how the Space Elevator fits into the current space paradigm.

The afternoon sessions were all technical ones and I think it’s safe to say all attendees learned a lot.  It’s hard for me to pick a favorite, but I must comment on the final session of the day, on Weather; how it can be measured, how it can be forecast and what it means for a space elevator.  The presenter, Winifred Crawford ended her presentation with the suggestion that we start recruiting a meteorologist (or two) and freely admitted that she was hooked on the concept of the Space Elevator.

All of these sessions are being recorded and will be on our video website in the near future – watch this space for an announcement…

On to Day 2!

Weather support to the Space Elevator program

Winifred Crawford gave a talk about some specific aspects of weather, specifically wind and lightning and what is really known about them.

Winifred talked about the amazing power of lightning and that there are two types; natural and triggered.  She also pointed out that the areas now posited as ‘best’ locations for the Space Elevator (for example, on the equator – west of the Galapagos Islands) have much less lightning that other areas do, but that the number of lightning strikes even there is not zero – it must be planned for.  She also talked about how lightning hurt (but did not destroy) the Apollo 12 mission and that lightning did destroy an Atlas Centaur launch.

She also talked about rain and the problems it causes and noted that much less data has been captured about weather over ocean locations than it has for land locations and so satellite weather gathering will be key.  Satellites can also capture sea surface temperature and current data, knowledge of both of which will almost certainly be needed to run a Space Elevator.

Finally, she showed how all this data can be used to forecast the weather at a Space Elevator Base station, something which will be absolutely critical for a successful operation.

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).

Space Elevator Simulation Validation and Metrology

Peter Robinson gave a very interesting talk on how we might go about validating the design and simulating the operation of a Space Elevator.  He pointed out some famous engineer failures from history and all of them, of course, failed to accurately simulate their operation.  A common theme to many of these failures was that they were the first of their design – there was no other similar acting structure to use in validation and simulation.

This will obviously be a problem with a Space Elevator too – the first one will be, well, the first one.  Peter proposed how simulation, validation and testing can be built up step by step.  He also emphasized that MTBF for Climbers is very important – they will be very difficult, if not impossible, to service while on the tether.  Peter also posited that the building of a Lunar elevator will be a pre-requisite to building an earth-based space elevator.

“You won’t be allowed to build an earth-based space elevator unless you can convince an awful lot of people that the elevator will be safe.”

Loop Technology

Keith Loftstrom, author of the Lofstrom Loop, gave a presentation on “Loop Technology – Increasing Throughput, Decreasing Radiation”, his take on how to improve (or even in some cases, to discover) assumptions being used in designing a space elevator.  He touched on many subjects, but one was the location of the Ground Station.  Conventional wisdom has that it should be located on the equator for efficiency reasons.  Keith posited a Ground station 8 degrees south of the equator, claiming that a) this would allow the tether to be ’tilted’ allowing things to be oriented off of the tether, b) it keeps the tether out of the way of things in orbit around the equator and c) that if the tether breaks, the mass above the break will be flung out into space along the imaginary equator line, thus missing other tethers that may be constructed.

He also talked about how to use the Space Elevator to eliminate the Van Allen Belts.

He discussed much more – this is just a brief.  His talk, like all of the others, are being recorded and will be available some weeks after the conference.

If you want to view this presentation now, visit http://www.launchloop.com/SEPulley.

Concept of Operations

One of the ISEC reports, finished a year or so ago, is entitled “Space Elevator Concept of Operations“, a fairly in-depth look as to how the operational aspects of a Space Elevator system might actually work.  This includes the land port, the ocean port, the tether itself, attaching / detaching the climber to the tether, etc., etc., etc.

Skip Penny headed up this project and gave a talk on the report and current thinking on this topic.

ISEC History Committee

One of the presentations this morning was from Nick Martin and Mark Dodrill, reporting on progress with the ISEC History Committee (I wrote about the formation of this committee here).  Lots of progress has been made, but this effort is still in the early stages.  Nick and Mark are collecting both oral and written documentation about the development of the concept of the Space Elevator and all the work that has been done since.  There IS a lot of information and I applaud this effort – things get forgotten if they don’t get written down.

The picture thumbnail is of Nick – he has definitely won the “best dressed and most dapper” attendee at the conference (so far) 🙂

Click on the thumbnail for a full-size version.

Leonard David

Noted Science author Leonard David is now giving the Keynote speech at the ISEC 2014 Space Elevator Conference, talking about how the Space Elevator fits into the “current space environment”.

He had an interesting, and almost certainly true statement, early on in his talk.  He said the space elevator, whenever it is built, will be “very different” from what we think it might be now.  We need to keep an open mind.  One of his final remarks struck me; “Be prepared to be stunned by the future“.

Clicking on the thumbnail will display a full-size picture.

All of these presentations are being recorded so, “God willing and the creek don’t rise”, they’ll be posted on the ISEC Vimeo account in the near future.  I’ll notify you here when that happens.

And we’re off!

It’s Friday, August 22nd, 2014 and that means it’s the first day of the 2014 ISEC Space Elevator Conference!

I’m here attending again, as a Director of ISEC and as an enthusiast and supporter and will be documenting the conference as we go along.

I’m from Chicagoland and the conference is in Seattle.  Now, if you’re a professional football fan (and especially if you’re from Chicago or Seattle) you know that the Bears are playing the Seahawks in an exhibition football game this evening.  Now yes, this is preseason, but it’s preseason game number 3 and, if you follow football, you know that this is close to what you’re going to see during the real season as is possible in preseason.  The starters will play at least a half and maybe more.  I’m a Bears fan and, like all Bears fan, we’re really looking forward to this game – it will be a good test to see how the team might do this year.

I’m bringing all this up because when I left the hotel this morning, riding down in the elevator with me was a young couple and the lady was wearing a Chicago Blackhawks TShirt.  I commented to them that “I like your TShirt”.  They smiled and asked me if I was from Chicago.  When I said I was, they said they were too.  I asked them if they were going to watch the Bears-Seahawks game tonight and they said they were actually going – they had tickets!  I’m jealous.

So, a Chicago connection already and the conference hadn’t even started – a good omen indeed…

And, back to the conference – we’ve had the introductory remarks from Conference David Horn and now Dr. Bryan Laubscher is giving his “Space Elevator 101” talk to get everyone on the same page…

More soon…

Leonard David – Space Elevator Conference

Science writer Leonard David is going to be attending the upcoming ISEC Space Elevator Conference (Aug 22-24) at Seattle’s Museum of Flight and is going to be giving the Keynote speech.  All of us who are going to attend are looking forward to it.

In his INSIDE OUTER SPACE column on his website, he lets all of his readers and followers know he will be attending.  Thanks Leonard – looking forward to meeting you and listening to you!

Last chance to register!

Registration for the upcoming ISEC Space Elevator Conference will be closed in just a couple of days – register now or you’ll regret it later!

The conference is jam-packed with exciting presentations and workshops and don’t forget the Keynote presentation from noted author Leonard David.

I’ll be attending the Conference, as I normally do, and will be blogging updates throughout the three-day event.

Be there or be square!

Moon Rising – Book Review

A few weeks ago, first-time author Jerry Kaczmorowski emailed me and asked if I would like to review his book Moon Rising.  He told me that there was an American-built space elevator involved (as well as some other details I’ll let the reader explore) and, of course, that was enough to get me to say “Yes”.

I finished the book shortly after I started it – here is the review I put on Amazon:

This is an excellent book, especially for a first-time author.  The plot is rich and detailed and keeps the reader guessing.  The characters are believable and the action is non-stop.  Once I started reading it, I didn’t want to put it down and I believe that others who are fortunate enough to take a chance on this new author will feel the same.

As the author of the Space Elevator Blog, I’m always intrigued by a new book with a Space Elevator as the theme or the backdrop.  I’m also always worried because the authors of many of these types of books have obviously not done their homework on how a Space Elevator could be built or could work – they seem to have skipped all of their science and math classes in school.

Thankfully this book is not like that.  The author doesn’t delve deeply into Space Elevator architecture (it’s not the focus of the book), but what technical details he does write about are plausible.  What this book also does is show WHY we would want to build a Space Elevator and then presents a scenario as to HOW a Space Elevator might actually come about.  I don’t want to spoil the plot for new readers, but suffice it to say that, in this book, the world does NOT come together, sing “Kumbaya” and then build a Space Elevator for the advancement of all mankind.

I do have a couple of nits; the characters seem a bit one-dimensional at times and the villains are the “usual suspects”.  Nevertheless, adding everything together, I give this book 5 well-deserved stars and I look forward to this author’s next effort.

The author is going to be at the upcoming ISEC Space Elevator Conference (you ARE coming, yes?) and I look forward to meeting him.

And, buy the book – you’ll enjoy reading it!

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…

Results from the Technion Space Elevator Competition

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.  A couple of weeks ago, the Technion Institute in Israel held a Space Elevator competition (I’ve previously posted about this competition here and here).  The winner used the inner workings of an electric screwdriver to power his Climber.

Details can be found here.  Money quote from the winner: “The idea of basing the engine on an electric screwdriver we borrowed from the world of manufacturing plastic pipes using plastic extrusion, in which raw plastic material is melted and formed into a continuous profile,” said Atzili. “In short, it’s an idea that came to me originating from my experiences working in the plastics industry.

Congratulations to Technion and to the winners!

ISEC June, 2014 eNewsletter released

The latest ISEC eNewsletter is hot off the presses and can be found here.  It’s a shorter eNewsletter than usual as ISEC efforts are now focused on the upcoming Space Elevator Conference (less than two months away – you ARE coming, aren’t you?).

And, about the upcoming conference, there have been a record number of papers/presentations submitted so I think it’s safe to say that interest is running very high.

This is also a good time to remind everyone that the Early Bird Registration prices for the conference end on Monday, June 30th, so don’t delay.

See you there!

Video coverage of the Space Elevator Competition in Israel

In my previous post, I had written about a new Space Elevator competition in Israel and that the originator of the modern-day concept of the space elevator, Russian Engineer Yuri Artsutanov, would be there as a judge.  While I can’t find any results posted as of yet, I did hear from Eugene Schlusser, Yuri’s friend (and unofficial translator), who accompanied Yuri to the 2010 ISEC Space Elevator conference.  Eugene lets me know that Yuri did indeed make it to the competition and did act as a judge.  And, better yet, there was coverage of this in Russia and a YouTube video has been made of it (hint: it helps if you speak Russian and/or Hebrew :).

Yuri appears at two different times in the video; around the 53 second mark and again at the 1:05 mark.

I’m still hopeful of getting some pictures from the competition which I will, of course, post here.

This competition reminds me so much of the early days of the NASA/Spaceward Space Elevator Games; Climbers climbing a racetrack held aloft by a crane, students frantically working on their equipment, etc.  It brings back some great memories.

Thank you Eugene!

Yuri Artsutanov to judge upcoming Space Elevator competition in Israel

This is cool.  The father of the modern-day concept of the space elevator (and a guest at the 2010 ISEC Space Elevator Conference) Yuri Artsutanov, will be one of the judges at a Space Elevator contest being held next Wednesday, June 18th, in Israel.

This year’s challenge at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology’s 12th annual Technobrain competition is to build a “space elevator” — a device capable of climbing in a nearly vertical manner (at an 80 degree angle to the ground), to a height of 25 meters.

More details can be found here and here and there is also a posting on the Technion Facebook page.  The official posting from the Technion website can be found here.

I’ve reached out to both Yuri and the Technion institute for more details.

(Photo thumbnail is from Yuri at the 2010 ISEC Space Elevator conference – click on it for a full size picture)

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.

April 2014 ISEC eNewsletter released

The April, 2014 ISEC eNewsletter is hot off the presses and has been sent to all of ISEC’s subscribers.  Lots of good stuff in this issue, mostly about the upcoming ISEC Space Elevator Conference.  This includes a reminder Call for Papers for the Conference, notice that Registration is now OPEN and, a special announcement about the Keynote Speaker.

ISEC is very pleased to announce that long-time science writer Leonard David will be giving the Keynote speech at the conference.  I’ve read (and linked to his writings) for many years now and look forward to a) hearing what he has to say and b) finally being able to meet him.  His list of accomplishments, writings and awards is too long to list here – check out the April eNewsletter for a partial list.

So, check out the current issue now.  And, you can always sign up to receive the eNewsletter so that you’ll among the first with the latest news.

I hope to meet many of you at the conference!

There was another $2 Million targeted towards Carbon Nanotube Research…

Occasionally, FeedDemon provides me with old articles that are very interesting.  Case in point…

Many readers will remember the Space Elevator Games, the 5 year partnership between NASA and The Spaceward Foundation, to further research and development in the fields of power-beaming and strong tethers.  The Power-Beaming games were a spectacular success, resulting in several years of exciting and photogenic competition and culminating in the winning of $900,000 by the good folks at LaserMotive.  The Strong Tether challenge was NOT a success however.  Even the promise of $2 Million in prize money provided by NASA failed to produce any competitors with entries approaching the strength of conventional materials, let alone surpassing them.  Those of us like myself who were involved in those games (and then tried, unsuccessfully to get them restarted under the auspices of ISEC) spent a lot of time theorizing and supposing why this was so.  I think at the end of the day, it was just a much tougher nut than anyone had initially thought.

An article which just popped up in my FeedDemon reader showed that another approach was taken by the sporting goods company Jas. D. Easton, Inc.  In 2009, the same year that LaserMotive won their prize, Jas. D. Easton awarded $2 Million (there’s that number again) to the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science to fund research on advanced carbon materials for sports equipment and aerospace applications.  One of my arguments to support The Space Elevator Games Strong Tether Competition to skeptics was that even if you don’t think a Space Elevator is feasible or a good idea, there certainly would be a myriad of applications for a super-strong material such as carbon nanotubes promise to be – it would be a true game-changer in every sense of the word.

I know that UCLA continues to be a leader in CNT research and a professor from UCLA has presented at the University of Cincinnati’s CNT workshop.  Alas, it doesn’t appear that they have come up with anything revolutionary yet but hope springs eternal…

GoogleX and the Space Elevator

An article that has been making the rounds recently seems to confirm that GoogleX, once upon a time, was interested in building a Space Elevator.  This story has been reported in several outlets but they all seem to come from this story at Fast Company.

Money quote from the article:  “The [GoogleX] team knew the cable would have to be exceptionally strong– ‘at least a hundred times stronger than the strongest steel that we have,’ by ­Piponi’s calculations. He found one material that could do this: carbon nanotubes. But no one has manufactured a perfectly formed carbon nanotube strand longer than a meter.”

Yes, indeedy, that is the stumbling block.  If someone is truly interested in getting closer to the day when a Space Elevator could be built, I would recommend that they invest in Materials Science research; carbon nanotubes, boron-nitride nanotubes, carbyne, it doesn’t matter which one, just as long as the goal is stronger materials.

Many months ago, I contacted Astro Teller, the head of GoogleX, to see if they would be interested in sponsoring a rebirth of the Strong Tether Competition.  I thought their (at the time) rumored interest in the Space Elevator coupled with their deep pockets would be a natural fit.  Sadly they were not interested.  When this article surfaced, I contacted Mr. Teller again and he confirmed that GoogleX is not currently working on this project, sigh.

So, it’s nice to know that they were interested, once upon a time, but we will need to continue to look elsewhere for the breakthough needed to make this project a reality…

Registration is now open for the 2014 Space Elevator Conference!

Registration is now OPEN for the ISEC 2014 Space Elevator Conference, to be held from August 22nd through the 24th at Seattle’s Museum of Flight.  This is the same venue that ISEC has used for the past several conferences and it is absolutely perfect fit for this conference.

A full schedule is being planned, with many presentations, several workshops, a Family Day Science Fest and much more.

And, a special announcement as to the Keynote speaker for this conference will be shared soon – watch this space!  Early Bird prices are now available so don’t delay.

Be there or be square!

The Space Elevator Blog celebrates 8 years!

Yes, today this blog celebrates its 8th anniversary – it’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing this for such a long time…

Much has happened in the Space Elevator field since I first began my missives.  In no particular order they are:

The Space Elevator Games – this joint venture between NASA and the Spaceward Foundation created lots of interest in the power-beaming and strong-tether technologies over its many year run.  Games were held in California (Mountain View and Mojave), New Mexico and Utah and produced a winner (Lasermotive) that took home $900,000.  It’s unfortunate that NASA didn’t renew the contract, but they have other ‘fish to fry’ these days. However, it’s good to know that there are still organizations and groups trying to push the boundary of power-beaming.  For example, the Kansas City Space Pirates recently set an unofficial record for beam-powered flight.

The birth of the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC).  This organization began in 2008 and, after a rough first year, has found its way.  I was privileged to be its President for four years and it is now in the capable hands of Dr. Peter Swan.  This organization has taken up sponsorship of the American Space Elevator Conference, produces year-long studies on various aspects of Space Elevator Technology and also CLIMB, the Space Elevator Journal.  Recently, ISEC created the Space Elevator Research and History Committees to further knowledge in this field.  And hey, lets not forget the posters ISEC creates too…

The birth of the Japan Space Elevator Association (JSEA).  This very active group holds a conference every year and hosts multiple competitions too.  They have an active website and lots of members and are group of very good, committed people.

The Space Elevator Conferences.  The American ones were originally hosted by the SESI organization and have now, as noted in a previous item, been taken over by ISEC.  During the past few conferences, we’ve had luminaries such as Yuri Artsutanov and Jerome Pearson attend and give Keynote speeches and this year’s conference will be very exciting too, I’m sure.  JSEA also hosts conferences in Japan each year and EuroSpaceward (apparently not active anymore, unfortunately) has hosted a few conferences in Europe where Space Elevator Technology and Research has played a central role.

The International Academy of Astronautics released a report about Space Elevators (An Assessment of the Technological Feasibility and the Way Forward), the first comprehensive study of Space Elevators since Brad Edwards and Eric Westling’s seminal publication in 2002.  This report has been just recently published and has received a lot of Press coverage.

We’ve seen the growth and demise and then subsequent rebirth of LiftPort.  They are now concentrating their efforts on building a Lunar space elevator.  They were able to host a very successful Kickstarter campaign and raised a lot of money for their efforts.

While the Space Elevator is a familiar concept in Japan (Gundam rocks!), publicity about this enterprise is growing in the western world too.   There have been articles published about the Space Elevator in such world-wide publications as the National Geographic Magazine (both online and in print) and a Google Search on “Space Elevator” will now turn up hundreds and hundreds of hits of articles about this concept.  Also, several fictional and non-fictional books about the Space Elevator (or with the Space Elevator as a backdrop) have been published.  The idea of a Space Elevator is no longer a strange concept and I’m hopeful that this blog has had some small part to play in that.

There have been many other developments in the Space Elevator field over this past eight years, too numerous to list here.  I’ve highlighted major ones (IMHO) in my previous anniversary blogs:  Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6.  No posting, sadly, for Year 7.

While all of this is good and exciting, we continue to wait for science & engineering to come up with the material strong enough to construct an earth-based Space Elevator tether.  Research in the Carbon Nanotube tensile-strength field has not made the progress that many of us had hoped for by now, but on the grand scale of things, we’re still in the ‘early innings’ of this project.  And research is now proceeding with a second material theoretically strong enough to build an earth-based Space Elevator tether from, Boron Nitride nanotubes.  Options are good things!

My faithful readers over the past several years have noted, I’m sure, this blog’s change in focus from “all-things Space Elevator” to “all-things ISEC”.  This wasn’t deliberate, but was rather a side-effect of my being president of that organization for four years.  Now that I’m no longer president (but I’m still very much involved as a Director and being in charge of publicity), the focus of this blog is returning to “all-things Space Elevator”.

So, thank you for reading and onward and upward!

March 2014 ISEC eNewsletter released

The latest issue of the ISEC eNewsletter has just been released.  Lots of good information in this issue including how to register for the upcoming 2014 Space Elevator Conference (you ARE going, aren’t you?), updates on the ISEC Research Committee, ISEC being a supporter of the upcoming NSS/ISDC conference and more.

Check it out here.

And remember, you can join our eNewsletter list so you’ll always be one of the first to get updates from ISEC.

www.spaceelevatoronline.com

Hey, a new Space Elevator website?  Oh happy day!

Surely with a URL like www.spaceelevatoronline.com, this is a Space Elevator related site?  Maybe a blog, like this one, or some other technical site?  Perhaps a Q&A site where you can ask questions about a Space Elevator and get answers?

Sadly, no…

This is the home for a new music group, Space Elevator.  They have a debut album out and you can sample it (and order it) on their website.  Now this music may or may not appeal to you – I personally didn’t find the sample attractive enough that I was going to plunk down £9.99 (plus £3.50 shipping) to order it (and it’s not on iTunes). But perhaps you will enjoy it enough to do so.

However, I must register a strong complaint with them.  Only Freddie Mercury was allowed to wear this outfit…

(Clicking on the picture thumbnails display a larger-size version of the picture)

A Lunar Space Elevator

As many people who follow developments in the Space Elevator ‘arena’ are aware, LiftPort has turned its attention to developing a Lunar Space Elevator.  Leonard David, SPACE.com’s “Space Insider Columnist’ recently posted a story on the current status of this project.  In this article (which includes a link to a video created by LiftPort), he interviews Jerome Pearson, the American co-inventor of the modern-day concept of the Space Elevator (and the first one, to my knowledge, that seriously discussed a Lunar Space Elevator) and LiftPort’s Michael Laine.

It’s a very good article, well worth the read…

2014 Space Elevator Conference official announcement and Call for Papers

The official announcement for the 2014 Space Elevator Conference and its associated Call for Papers has been released.  You can view the announcement here.

The Conference will be held at the same venue as the past few conferences have been, Seattle’s Museum of Flight.  This venue has proven to be a wonderful facility for this event and we are looking forward to having it there once again.  And once again, Microsoft is going to be a Key Sponsor of the Conference – Thank you Microsoft!

The Conference will be held from August 22 through August 24th.  Start making your plans now – be there or be square!

ISEC February, 2014 eNewsletter released

The February, 2014 ISEC eNewsletter is hot off the presses and can be accessed here.

Included this month are Dr. Peter Swan’s “The President’s Corner”, an updated Call for Papers for the 2014 edition of CLIMB (The Space Elevator Journal), and a summary of recent space elevator-related articles in the news.

And a reminder, if you are not already on the eNewsletter mailing list, you can join here to make sure you won’t miss an issue in the future…

Enjoy!

Over at www.space.com…

At the www.space.com website, Leonard David has written a fine article about the Space Elevator and the recent IAA Study concerning Space Elevators.  It’s well worth the read.

And, check out all the illustrations from Frank Chase.  Frank has been the artist for ISEC for several years now; he has designed most of our posters, the covers for CLIMB and for the ISEC reports and has contributed his artwork in other ways too.  He’s a very talented guy 🙂

Anyway, check it out

ISEC Membership Drive!

For the month of February only, ISEC has launched a Membership drive which features reduced rates for Professional and Student Level members!  This applies to renewals and new members.  Professional level membership can be purchased/renewed for only $58 (normally $68) while Student level membership can be purchased/renewed for only $20 (normally $25).

Full membership benefits (CLIMB and the ISEC 2014 Poster) apply, so don’t delay.  Visit the ISEC Join/Renew webpage now and take advantage of this offer!

CLIMB – Call for Papers

The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) has issued its official Call for Papers for Volume 3 of CLIMB, the Space Elevator Journal.

Volumes 1 and 2 of CLIMB were published in 2011 and 2013, respectively, and ISEC is targeting August of this year for the publication of Volume 3.

You can find the official Call for Papers document here, giving details as to the subject matter desired and the submission / publication process and schedule here.

Abstracts are required first and should be accepted before Papers are submitted (details are in the Call for papers announcement).  For the most up-to-date information, please visit the CLIMB page on the ISEC website.

Questions can be emailed to climb [at] isec.org.

Volume 1 of CLIMB was the “Yuri Artsutanov” edition while Volume 2 of CLIMB was the “Jerome Pearson edition”.  Volume 3 will be dedicated to the man who almost certainly popularized this concept more than anyone else, Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

So come on everyone, let’s get those writer juices flowing!

(Clicking on either of the CLIMB Cover thumbnails will display a full-size version of the Cover)

ISEC January, 2014 eNewsletter released

The January, 2014 ISEC eNewsletter is hot off the presses and can be accessed here.

Lots of good stuff this month, including the Call for Papers for the 2014 edition of CLIMB (The Space Elevator Journal), the 2014 ISEC membership drive (where you can join/renew an ISEC membership for reduced rates) and a report on the recently concluded IAA Space Agency Heads of Summit gathering in Washington, D.C.

And a reminder, if you are not already on the eNewsletter mailing list, you can join here to make sure you won’t miss an issue in the future…

Enjoy!

Auroras – a Space Elevator love story?

I received an email from Mr. Niles Heckman, letting me know about Auroras, a new sci-fi short film that he and his 3-person crew are creating, a”story about love, separation, and having to say goodbye.”

Niles tells me that it is “heavily influenced by Japanese anime” and is “an unconventional story about two women in love, with the backdrop of one leaving on a space elevator flight.”

Niles and his team have a Kickstarter campaign going on until the end of this month to fund the production of this film and, as of the writing of this blog post, they have raised about $8,600 towards their goal of $10,000 – almost there!

At the Kickstarter site, you can view the Project poster and the film Trailer – let’s hope this project comes to fruition!

IAA concludes Space Elevators Seem Feasible

The International Academy of Astronautics has just published its multi-year study about the Space Elevator (I first mentioned this study here).  It’s conclusion was “Space Elevators Seem Feasible” and that’s, of course, good news, to all of us who are supportive of the concept.  From the Press Release:

                 “Academy Concludes Space Elevators Seem Feasible”

The International Academy of Astronautics just approved this conclusion when it published the study report entitled: “Space Elevators: An Assessment of the Technological Feasibility and the Way Forward.”  The report addresses the simple and complex issues that have been identified through the development of space elevator concepts over the last decade.  It begins with a summary of ideas in Edwards’ and Westling’s book “The Space Elevator” (2003).  Out of these beginnings has risen a worldwide cadre focused upon their areas of expertise as applied to space elevator development and operational infrastructure.  The report answers some basic questions about the feasibility of a space elevator infrastructure.  A preview of the main questions and answers shows the depth and breadth of this cosmic study.

  • Why a Space Elevator?
  • Can it be Done?
  • How would all the elements fit together to create a system of systems?
  • What are the technical feasibilities of each major space elevator element?

This study benefited from review and comments by numerous members of the Academy, as well as the International Space Elevator Consortium.  The study could not have been completed to this level of detail without the timely and invaluable efforts of a diverse collection of experts from around the world who contributed not only their time and knowledge, but also provided material as well as their technical expertise for the study.  There were 41 authors and five editors.  The sponsors of this study report are:  International Academy of Astronautics and the Heinlein Foundation Trust.  To order a copy visit:  www.virginiaedition.com or call (713) 861-3600.  The prices are $29.95 for hardcopy and $9.95 for electronic version.

As noted in the press release, visit The Virginia Edition to purchase the hardcopy version or Amazon to purchase the Kindle eVersion.

ISEC November, 2013 eNewsletter now available

The current month’s email summarizes the availability of the pdf version of CLIMB, Volume 2, reminds everyone of the dates and venue for the 2014 Space Elevator Conference, a summary of the third of the workshops held at the recent Space Elevator conference and more.

You can access it here.

You can also sign up to be on the ISEC email list here if you want to have the eNewsletters sent directly to you.

Historian wanted!

The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) has formed a History Committee to document the invention of the concept of the Space Elevator and the ever-increasing research and design which is taking place relating to this idea.  Dr. Peter Swan, the President of ISEC, puts it this way:

“We are at a point in human history where there is activity to move off planet.  As most of the world is limited by cost to orbit, we in the space elevator community believe we can make a difference in the future.  However, as we go forward, we should also look back and record the progress that has occurred in the space elevator community.  No one else will, until much later; so, we must step up and record our own history now.”

An initial team has already been formed and an aggressive agenda has been set, but Dr. Swan is looking for someone to head up the effort.  The first Conference call of the History Committee is set to occur next Tuesday, November 12th.  If you are interested in joining the team and/or heading up the effort, please contact Dr. Swan at pete.swan [at] isec.org.

EUSPEC 2012 Revisited

One year ago, the 2012 European Space Elevator Challenge (EUSPEC) was held in Germany, at TUM Campus Garching.  A “highlights” video was created, which the EUSPEC team posted on its website.  They recently re-announced it and it makes fine/fun viewing.

You can view it here (Post by European Space Elevator Challenge (EUSPEC)) on Facebook.

The organizers of the competition have this to say about it:

 It has now been almost exactly one year since the last European Space Elevator Challenge. Take a trip down memory lane with this little video which was so far buried on our website.

We had a lot of fun during the event even though it was freezing cold at the time. In contrast, we had almost 20 degrees two days ago! Weather can be unpredictable…

We are hoping to bring back EUSPEC for 2014 or 2015. Stay tuned for any news on this site!

Looking forward to it!

ISEC October, 2013 eNewsletter now available

The current month’s email discusses the new “Historian” initiative by ISEC, dates and venue for the 2014 Space Elevator Conference, a summary of the second of the workshops held at the recent Space Elevator conference and more.

You can access it here.

You can also sign up to be on the ISEC email list here if you want to have the eNewsletters sent directly to you.

KCSP writes about their success

I received this email today from Brian Turner, captain of the Kansas City Space Pirates.  It was sent out to all of their supporters:

We successfully beat the Laser Powered flight endurance record by double. Our flight time was 25 hours, 0 Minutes and 35 seconds. This was done at the VOX theater in Kansas City Kansas. We used a highly modified AR-Drone Quadcopter. We did this with 500 watts of laser power and non-exotic photovoltaic cells. Our total systems hardware costs were less than $30,000. I estimate this is well less than 1/3 of the 2009 record. Much of the hardware would cost even less if purchased today. This shows the exponential increase in human technological abilities is alive and well and that commercial laser powered flight applications are only a few years away. We can look forward to flying cell towers, autonomous shark patrols and countless other applications that only become practical with beam powered flight.

Achieving the record was not without drama. The planed for 48 hours got trimmed back to 24. We continued to 25 so we could double the previous record. Turns out that human endurance plays a role as we became tired human mistakes became a prominent concern. The lasers themselves worked flawlessly. The optics needed adjustment at the start. The quadcopter behaved like the finicky result of hacking a toy for purposes well beyond those it’s creators ever imagined. The Kansas City Star article covered all this well with this article.

We are on the cover of the online version of the paper today. We also have 3 of the top photos of the day.

We are in the Monday print version.

Thanks to all our supporters and sponsors. We would not be here without you.

Lasers by TRUMPF
Optics by Thorlabs
Control software by National Instruments

Brian Turner
Captain
KC Space Pirates

Congratulations again to KCSP!

KCSP succeeds in their record attempt

Over the past 25 hours, the Kansas City Space Pirates have been continuously flying a quadcopter, powered solely by laser beam.  At about 4:11am this morning, they passed the LaserMotive unofficial record time of 12 hours and 27 minutes.  Once they got the new record time, their goals shifted to double the previous record, or about 24 hours and 54 minutes.  They then slightly modified this goal to run a full 25 hours – and succeeded!

It was a very boring event, as you might imagine – watching a quadcopter hover a few feet above a target mounted on a table.  Very boring that is until about 9 hours into the record flight.  I had just tuned back in and noticed that the uStream feed was down (they DVR’d the entire run, but also broadcast it live on uStream so that people could watch in real time while it was happening).  I called Brian Turner, captain of the Space Pirates who, unbeknownst to me was taking a quick nap.  I apologized for waking him and he went to see what was wrong.  Once he fixed the problem (the cable modem for their internet feed to uStream had to be reset), he decided to sit with the crew and watch what was going on.  It’s a good thing he did because at about 9 hours and 10 minutes, a random air-current knocked the quadcopter off its target.  It started searching, moving in wider and wider swings, sending out messages about “Target Lost” and, more ominously, “Battery Low”.  Brian quickly grabbed the manual controls and brought the quadcopter back over the target.  Things settled down and the rest of the run was fairly uneventful.  I’m glad I woke Brian up!

No one officially judges or keeps tracks of records like these (their was no representative from Guinness at the original LaserMotive record flight or at this one), so the records are unofficial.  But they’re real nonetheless.  Having an aircraft continuously fly, non-tethered, for 12 hours as LaserMotive did or 25 hours as KCSP has just succeeded in doing, is very impressive and shows how reliable this type of technology can be.

KansasCity.com, the online version of the Kansas City Star, just published a story about this – a very nice summary of the entire event.

Congratulations KCSP – now let’s see how long this record stands!

(The photo thumbnail is a snapshot of the uStream presentation and you can click on it to see a larger version.  The video in the top left-hand corner is from above and a bit behind the quadcopter – you can see it hovering over the target on the table.  The video in the top right-hand corner is from in front of and slighly below the quadcopter.  You can clearly see the overlapping laser beams (there were five, I think) on the photo cells and the shadow on the target board behind the quadcopter.  The video in the lower left-hand corner shows the 90 foot distance from the lasers to the quadcopter.  The timer in the lower right-hand corner ran continuously.  This snapshot was taken just a couple of minutes before the end of the run, just when they had doubled the previous time.  Once it got to its first 24 hours, it recycled to zero, so the timer is actually showing 24 hours, 56 minutes and 55 seconds).

If at first you don’t succeed…

The Kansas City Space Pirates are now making their fourth attempt to break the unofficial power-beaming record set by LaserMotive.  Brian Turner, captain of the Space Pirates, gives us this update:

  • Recap. We have flown 3 previous times. 1 hr, 2 hrs, 5 hrs.
  • First run failed because the laser aim was out of adjustment.
  • Second run failed when drone lost track of it’s bottom target and drifted into the wall causing crash.
  • Third run failed when we moved our broadcast system and interfered with the Drone comms.

They’ve also had some “environment” issues (had to partially open some shades to create better airflow) and they think that the simple act of people walking around was causing an issue.  They’ve pretty much stopped that now and things are very stable.

As of this blog post, they are about 3 hours into run #4 and, if all goes well, they hope to eclipse the old mark of 12 hours and 27 minutes about 4:12am, Sunday morning, CST.

You can view the live broadcast and participate in the chat session by going here.

Going for the record…

The Kansas City Space Pirates are going to be going for an unofficial record this coming weekend, the record set by LaserMotive Technologies in late October of 2010.  What LaserMotive did then was make a quadrocopter (an AscTec Pelican) fly continuously for 12 hours and 27 minutes. powered solely by laser beam.  A video of that flight can be found on the LaserMotive website.

Brian Turner, captain of the Kansas City Space Pirates writes the following:

All is set for this weekends record attempt. You can tune in live and check it out at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brianturner

Launch is set for Friday 6:30 PM CDT We plan to fly till 6:30 pm Sunday. The previous record of 12 hours 27 minutes should be passed at about 7 am Saturday.

Helping me with this record are Chad, Don, Frank, Quinn, Ravi, and Joe. Ustream has a chat function that we will be active on during the flight.

If you visit the ustream channel, you can see a couple of videos from previous tests run by the Space Pirates.

Ah, this brings back memories of the “glory years” of power-beaming competitions, culminating in the victorious run by LaserMotive.

I’ll be posting further news as I receive it – good luck to Brian and his team!

(The picture thumbnail is picture of the KCSP computer screen with the quadcopter’s view of the hall – click on it to see a larger version.)

Science writer David Appell writes about Space Elevators and the recent Space Elevator Conference

Science writer David Appell attended all 3 days of the recent Space Elevator Conference and, in the current issue of Pacific Standard, he writes about the Conference and what he learned there.

It’s a very good overview article and accurately summarizes where things are in this effort at the moment.  He also talks about the exciting LiftPort effort to build a Space Elevator on the moon.

Thanks David!