Emerging Asia

During the recently completed SESI2007 conference, I gave a presentation on who, IMHO, would build the first earth-based Space Elevator.  I identified several likely candidates and then narrowed it down to two possibilities; a consortium of US businesses which had struck a deal with the US Government or a Joint Venture between the governments of Dubai (part of the UAE) and India.  Without going through the whole presentation, my reasons for this conclusion were this; while the Space Elevator is a source of enormous potential wealth, no government (Dubai/India excepted) would take the risk to build it.  Rather, I had identified American business entrepeneurs as people who might well take this risk, but also thought the same about the government of Dubai.  This government has much in common with corporations, being flexible, adaptable and able to make decisions without resorting to a myriad of committees.  With them having the vision to drive the project (and the finances to pay for it), they need a partner.  India struck me as the right one; they are an emerging country, possessing an increasingly well-trained and technological-savvy work force.  They are a nuclear power and have a real military and a real space program.  They also have direct sea-lane access to two of the six potential Earth Port sites, including a favored one off the west coast of Australia.  But I had one more reason for picking them, their long-standing rivalry with China.  I think India would do much to leapfrog China and participating in the building a Space Elevator would be a perfect project for them.

I bring this all up now because of this blog posting from Centauri Dreams.  Scientist and Sci-Fi author Gregory Benford recently took a trip to the Asian subcontinent and wrote an absolutely fascinating account of his journey.  It has several connections to the Space Elevator (though none are explicitly mentioned).  First, he meets with Arthur C. Clarke, the person who is most responsible for the popularization of the idea.  Second, he describes India as an awakening giant and has this to say about their rivalry with China;

“Similarly, the Indian space program sees itself as a rival to China, not to the US or Europe. It will be amusing if audacious moves in space come from Asia as a regional competition, just as the US-USSR contest drove the first decades.”

This strikes me as absolutely accurate, though not very amusing.  And, as an aside (and something I forgot to mention in my presentation), India will be hosting this years International Astronautical Congress (for the second time), a convention that, in the past, has had a Space Elevator theme as one of its tracks.

Finally, as I blogged about many months ago, I attended a Skeptics conference last year, one where this same Gregory Benford was a speaker.  In a Q&A session after his presentation (and in a private conversation after that), he and I talked about a Space Elevator.

Just an interesting coincidence perhaps…

Read the blog entry; it truly is fascinating.  And remember what I predict about Dubai (UAE) and India – you heard it here first.

SESI2007 – Conference Wrapup

The Second International Conference and Exposition on Science, Engineering, and Habitation in Space, and the Second Biennial Space Elevator Workshop (heck of a title, yes?) wrapped up yesterday afternoon.  The afternoon session was dedicated to putting together a roadmap / plan / whatever you want to call it whereby about 20 or so of the conference participants vowed to work together to further the effort to build a space elevator.

Four teams were formed, each having a responsibility to explore one of four categories; Science & Technology Development, Political and Public Support, US and World Legal Considerations and Financial Funding and Market Drivers.  Four leaders were selected to lead the teams; from left to right, Brad Edwards, Peter Swan, Tom Nugent and Brad Neumann.  Some preliminary brainstorming was done and we’ll be hearing more from these teams in the not-too-distant future.

The final topic discussed was a conference analysis.  Many of the participants filled out a questionnaire that conference chair Phil Richter had distributed.  At this conference analysis, Phil led a discussion as to what could be done better in future conferences.  Many suggestions were given, but it came down to the fact that more volunteer help was needed, and will be needed at future conferences.  If you want to help get a Space Elevator built, but don’t have a PhD in Physics or deep pockets to sponsor someone, something you can do is to help out at a future conference.  All of these conferences have specific needs and tasks to be met and, when something isn’t picked up by a volunteer, a conference leader or chair inevitably has to pick it up.  This prevents them from concentrating on the major issues and will, sooner or later, cause things to get dropped.  You don’t have to be in close proximity to help.  When Ben Shelef was organizing the Space Elevator Games last year, many of the volunteers (yours truly included) would get together on a weekly phone call.  Tasks were assigned, discussed, analyzed and moved along by people who didn’t live anywhere near where the games were being held.

I’ll say it again; if you want to contribute to the effort to build a Space Elevator, volunteer to help out at one of the conferences – it will help us all.

The conference also hosted a Student Robotics competition.  Entrants constructed Climbers that were to climb a 20 foot tether.  The winner was declared based on calculations that included distance traveled, speed and payload as factors.  Three teams entered, two from Middle Tennessee State University and one from a (local, I think) High school.  The two teams from MTSU took first and second while the High school team finished third.  I would have posted more about this competition and posted it during the conference, but Patrick Boake’s Space Elevator Journal is supposed to keep the “official chronicle” of this event – he should be posting on this sometime soon (hint, hint).

In the meantime, here are 3 pictures from the Student Robotics Competition;

The tether, mounted from a scissors-lift.

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The anchor

Simple is good!

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Mounting the Climber

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I think that wraps it up.  I truly enjoyed this conference, it was a very worthwhile experience.  As I had mentioned in an earlier post, there are things going on, exciting things that I’m not at liberty to divulge at this time.  But more news should be coming foward very soon, in the weeks to months time frame.

Stay tuned !

(As always, click on the thumbnails for a larger version of the picture)

SESI2007 – Day 4 Update

The first of the morning sessions has just finished.  Brad Edwards had to do double-duty this morning, giving a talk on the current state of Space Elevator development and then giving Ben Shelef’s speech on the Space Elevator Games (Ben couldn’t be with us for this conference, unfortunately).

Nothing really new on the Space Elevator front from Brad.  He gave the status and listed the current problems, the biggest of which is funding.  He did, however, make the statement that he thought that the development of sufficiently strong carbon nanotubes was only “one or two years away.”  I sure hope he’s correct – this would change everything.

He then gave a summary of the Space Elevator games.  The “new news” is that there should be an announcement in the next week or two about the venue and timing for this year’s games and there was a well-received suggestion that perhaps a conference be held at the same time.  We’ll see.

I’ll wrap up in my next post.

Click on the thumbnail for a larger version of the pictue.

SESI2007 – Day 3 Update

Day 3 of this years SESI conference has come and gone, and I’m sorry it’s over.  I’ve learned several interesting new things, none of which, unfortunately, I’m free to publish.  But news on these items should be coming out soon, hopefully on this blog.  Sorry for the tease, but there are some good and interesting things in the works.

Several Space-Elevator themed presentations were given today.  Tom Nugent of LiftPort started it off with a talk on the “Rationale behind LiftPort’s Beta Roadmap.”  Tom gave a persuasive case of why this was important to do; that it was important to try and get a “real” date out there and to show the justification behind it.  One can argue with the details all they want (in fact this is encouraged), but the roadmap (Project Plan, if you will) is a necessary step.

Bryan Laubscher, of Black Line Ascension (and other things too, I think – I’ll have to check) then gave a talk on “Space Elevator and Rocket Cost Comparison.”  Bryan ran through the numbers on the best efficiency that can be expected from chemical rockets and showed why the Space Elevator was just a better way to get things out of our gravity well.

After a break, Bryan then gave a talk on “The Space Elevator and Planetary Defense”.  Bryan talked about the very real threat that comets and asteroids present to our planet and the role that the Space Elevator can play in mitigating this threat.

Brad Edwards then gave a presentation on a new organization, the “European Spaceward Association”.  This organization is so new, they don’t even have a website up.  (Correction – yes they do.  As noted in a comment, their new site is at www.eurospaceward.org)  They’ve been organized to help foster interest in Europe towards developing a Space Elevator.  My readers may recall an article I posted a few weeks ago on the German Space Elevator games, scheduled for next year.  One of European Spaceward Association’s activities is going to be working with the Germans on organizing these games.  I think I have a very good reason to visit Germany next year !

A talk was then given on “Some Aspects of Space Elevator Ribbon Elastic Stress and Length Reduction.”  Unfortunately the authors, Armenian by nationality, were unable to attend (visa problems, perhaps).  so one of the other attendees, Paul Edelman, had to fill in.  He did a noble job on a very difficult assignment.

The next talk was on “The Space Elevator: What’s in it for me” and was presnted by Brad Neumann.  Brad’s talk was really interesting and, IMHO, very timely.  Brad told us that if we wanted to get people excited about building a Space Elevator, we had to demonstrate the urgency ourselves and to engage other people in this by asking them what benefit THEY think they could get out of it and then LISTENING to the answers.

Next up was Tom Nugent, combining his presentation of the “Space Elevator Questions Database” and Michael Laine’s presentation of the “Four Pillars of Infrastructure Development to the Space Elevator” into one extended talk (Michael was unable to attend the conference – the rumor is that he fell down the stairs and injured himself – Tom denies any involvement in this 🙂 )  Tom talked about what the Questions database is and why it could be an important resource if properly used.  He then discussed the “Four Pillars” necessary to get something like the Space Elevator (or any large infrastructure project) built; Technology, Finance & Business, Legal and Social/Political support.  Without all these players on board, LiftPort contends that the Space Elevator won’t happen.  It’s a good argument.

Fred Cowan of Raytheon then gave a presentation on “A Different Space Elevator Approach”, a most informative and stimulating presentation.

Finally, Bryan Laubscher wound up the day’s presentations with “The Space Elevator and its Role in Mitigating Threats to Earth.”  Bryan talked about some really far out possible threats to earth (black holes, Novas, neutron stars, etc.).  He contends that, once we have put into place adequate defenses to guard the earth against the more imminent threats of comets and asteroids, we should then use the Space Elevator’s capabilities to begin to think about how we deal with these longer-term issues.

A full day and a truly enjoyable one.  If you believe in the concept of a Space Elevator, like I do, the stuff presented today was truly “red meat”.  Tomorrow’s presentations promise to be just as stimulating.

More tomorrow – but probably very late as I’ll be traveling back home after the conference.

As always, click on the thumbnails for a larger version.

SESI2007 – Day 2 Update

Presentations for today, including one by yours truly, have finished.  After I finish putting up this post, time to go downstairs and have a beer or two…

My presentation went well (I think).  No one laughed (at least none that I could hear) and no one threw anything at me.  I also was asked several questions and have had two other conference participants stop me in the hall and tell me that they enjoyed my presentation.  So I guess it went OK.  Huge thanks to Marco Benassi, my speech teacher…

The picture is of Brad Edwards (on the right) and Haym Benaroya.  Haym, from Rutgers University, gave a couple of presentations today; “Lunar Base Concepts” and “Why the moon?”.  Brad makes his two presentations tomorrow.  I’m hoping that we hear something (anything) about Black Line Ascension, his new venture with Bryan Laubscher.

As always, click on the thumbnail for a larger version.

SESI2007 Underway

Today was the first “real” day of this year’s 2007 SESI conference.  Yesterday evening, there were some talks given to the public about astronomy, and all that was cool, but today is when we start getting into the scientific presentations…

Bryan Laubscher, one of the driving forces in the Space Elevator “movement” gave one of the keynote addresses this morning.  He brought the audience (most are not here for the Space Elevator portion of this conference, rather for “The Second International Conference and Exposition on Science, Engineering, and Habitation in Space”) up to speed on the current concept of the Space Elevator, the “Brad Edwards version”.  This will be one of only two Space Elevator related presentations made today (lots more are made tomorrow).

My presentation; “Who will build the first, earth-based Space Elevator?” is scheduled for this afternoon.  I was glad to see that nothing Bryan said in his presentation this morning contradicted anything I’ve written 🙂

Also attending the conference is Patrick Boake, of the Space Elevator Journal.  He’s the “official press guy” for this event.  Here is a picture of him trying to combine relaxation and work…

Much more on this conference over the next 2&1/2 days.

Click on the thumbnails for larger versions of the pictures.

Private Rocketship Falcon 1 Flies, Reaches Space, But Fails to Reach Orbit

Though not directly applicable to the Space Elevator, this Planetary Society article does have relevance because of the future plans for SpaceX.  One of their future models, the Falcon 9 Heavy, is to be designed to hoist 62,500 pounds to LEO and 27,400 pounds to GTO (Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit).

Dr. Edwards projects that the initial Space Elevator configuration will weigh about 80 tons, so that puts this well into range of just a few Falcon 9 Heavy lifts.

If SpaceX can pull this off, this would make it the second private company (in addition to Zenit) to be able to boost these heavy payloads into orbit.

NASA grounds its ideas factory?

By now, I’m sure many of you have heard the rumors that NASA is planning on cutting off funding for NIAC, NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts.  This is the agency that has funded, among other things, Dr. Brad Edwards groundbreaking research into designing a practical Space Elevator.

There’s still nothing official, but, as several stories about this proposed cut have appeared on NIAC’s website (without refutation), it sure doesn’t look good.

Several others have posted on this, among them NASA Watch and The Guardian.  In addition, the Space Elevator Journal’s Patrick Boake contacted Dr. Edwards for his comments – they are on the Space Elevator Journal posting covering this story…

Eating your “seed corn” is never a good idea.  I’m just glad it’s happened after Dr. Edwards had completed the studies that NIAC funded and not before…

You can find links to the Edwards-NIAC reports on this blog’s sidebar, under Reference Sites.

To Infinity … and beyond!

This is a fine article from MachineDesign.com, discussing power beaming via lasers.  It discusses both the history and current developments in this technology, including possible applications for a Space Elevator.

The efforts of the Canadian Snowstar team, veterans of the 2006 Space Elevator games, are mentioned.  While their team is not yet listed in the Elevator2010’s 2007 entries, they do sound like they are going to enter the competition this year.  It would be cool to see them (or somebody, anybody) use something other than white light as a power source.  You can view the Snowstar website here.

Buzz Lightyear would be proud…

Dave Barry comments on the Space Elevator

Search engines are weird sometimes; yesterday they found this Howard Lovy June 27, 2004 blog entry on Space Elevators.  It’s an interesting blog entry in and of itself and it links to a video I hadn’t seen before, an interview with Brad Edwards.

But the real prize in this blog entry was its mention of a Dave Barry column on the Space Elevator.  The link to the column doesn’t work anymore, but I hunted around and found an archived copy of it – you can view it here.  It’s typical Dave Barry stuff – pretty funny…

Detailed Conference Program for SESI2007 released

The final, detailed, program for the upcoming SESI2007 Conference has just been released.  This schedule includes the papers that are going to be presented at the conference.  The original Word Document can be found here and an .htm version can be found here.

Astute viewers will note that yours truly will be giving a presentation on Monday afternoon at 5:10pm.

I will discuss this more in some upcoming posts but, for now, just wanted to get it out there for people to see.

If you haven’t registered to attend, it’s still not too late to do so by visiting the SESI Site.  Only 9 more days…

Horizons – Book Review

It’s always a treat to find a new author to enjoy, and I think I’ve accomplished that in discovering Mary Rosenblum, the author of Horizons.  This book is about how human civilization might develop and evolve in space, in places which are connected to earth via Space Elevators.

I don’t want to spoil the plot, so I’m not going to summarize the book here – you can find a summary, if you want it, at the Amazon.com site.  But I do have some comments about how the Space Elevator is used in the book.  First of all, Ms. Rosenblum has done her homework on how a Space Elevator might actually function; indeed, she gives credit to Dr. Bradley Edwards “…extensive work on the realities of the Space Elevator…”.  The Space Elevator she envisions seems to be the same one that Dr. Edwards has laid out.  The amount of time it takes to travel between the Earth and the Elevator-based colonies is both realistic and significant in the story.  She also has postulated four Space Elevators, each with their own colony, each run by a different organization/government and all is close proximity to each other, again quite believable.  Finally, she has painted scenarios where the inhabitants of the Space Elevator colonies could actually threaten Earth and makes this fact, too, integral to the story.

Other future possibilities she posits, including hard-wired links in the brain to a future version of the Internet, are both possible and probable.  And she foresees a huge, perhaps even leading role for China in the future, again something that is quite possible.

Her grasp of technology is solid and her extrapolation of how it might evolve was truly well done.  IMHO, however, I don’t think her development of the characters quite matches it.  Some character changes and outcomes were just too convenient, or too jarring at times and somewhat marred an otherwise excellent effort.  However, in the relative scheme of things, that’s a small complaint.

Overall, however, I quite enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who wants to see how a future, Space-Elevator based civilization might develop.

(Click on the thumbnail of the Cover to see an enlarged version)

Nanotechnology in Aerospace

Over at the Space Elevator Reference, Marc Boucher tells us about the Ninth Nanoforum Report on Nanotechnology in Aerospace, recently released by Nanoforum, a European nanotechnology network.

In chapter 4 of this extensive (150+ pages) of this report (chapter 4.7.1 to be exact), there is a brief mention of the concept of a Space Elevator, Dr. Bradley Edwards and the Space Elevator games.

This report can be downloaded for free once you register (again, for free) at the site.  You can download the entire report (which is interesting reading) or just chapter 4 if the Space Elevator mention is all you’re interested in.

Can U Say … Tower of Babel?

I can’t remember when I have enjoyed a comment thread more than the one attached to this Blog posting.

Jeremy is convinced that current efforts to build a Space Elevator are a sign of the imminent return of Christ.  Brian Dunbar, from LiftPort, tries to gently engage him in some rational conversation.  For his pains, he’s told that he’s trying to interpret scripture with a “carnal mind” and that he’s persecuting Jeremy…

For shame, Brian… 🙂

Germans plan on holding a Space Elevator Contest in 2008

Arthur Shay, from Team Zero G (the latest qualified entrant into the 2007 Space Elevator Games), forwarded a VERY interesting email to me yesterday.  It seems that the Germans are now going to have their own version of the Space Elevator Games in February of 2008.  These games are being organized by the Max Born Project, the people behind the German Turbo-Crawler entry into the Spaceward 2006 Space Elevator Games.

The length of the racetrack is 50 meters and the (undetermined) prize(s) will be awarded to the top 3 finishers.  If I’m reading the rules correctly (I’m reading the not-so-good English translation, but I’m sure the German version is fine), teams only get three days to put their climbers together, with the sponsors providing the light beam energy source.  So, this version of the Space Elevator games is not as ambitious (yet) as the ones being put on by the Spaceward Foundation.

But these are the Germans.  Their entrant into the 2006 Space Elevator games was one of only four that made it all the way to the top (along with MClimber, Litewon and USST).  They have another entry (not Turbo-Crawler) into this year’s competition.  If this idea catches on in Germany, it could be fun…

A .jpg version of the email can be found here and a .pdf version of the rulebook can be found here.

LiftPort Newsletters

I’ve added the capability for readers of this blog to be able to directly subscribe to the LiftPort Newsletters.  If you scroll down and look on the sidebar, you’ll see it, after the various link categories.

LiftPort is making a major push to increase their Newsletter subscription and asked if I would help – I’m very happy to do so.

So, if you want to be able to get the news from LiftPort “hot off the presses” without having to wait for me to mention it out on this blog, I highly recommend that you sign up.  I’m hopeful of many good things coming from LiftPort in the near future and you’ll be among the first to hear it them if you subscribe.

Megastructures

Readers of Arthur C. Clarke’s Fountains of Paradise or 3001 know of a structure he proposed; essentially a giant ring around the earth connecting multiple space elevators together.  Something like this would provide an enormous increase in living space and a save haven for millions in the event of a planetary wide catastrophe.

Paul Lucas discusses this and other megastructures in this very interesting web posting.  People who “think big” enough to be comfortable with the idea of a Space Elevator should also be comfortable with other concepts Mr. Lucas discusses.

Site maintenance – Phase 3

It seems that the WordPress development team inadvertently allowed a hacker into their midst and he/she included some unauthorized (and potentially dangerous) modifications to WordPress 2.1.1, the version I had just upgraded to last weekend.

So, I’ve had to scramble and install their new, “safe” release, 2.1.2.  If you’ve noticed anything funky with this blog over the past hour or so, that’s probably why.  Everything seems to be working now – let’s hope it stays that way.

On the bright side, I’m getting pretty good at the upgrade process…

2006 Space Elevator Games Video posted

Over on this Blog’s sidebar, in the Images & Animation section, I’ve posted a video summary of the 2006 Space Elevator Games.  It’s the best one I’ve found and I’ve had hopes that it’s producers would put it up on their website, in archives or something.  Alas, it has not happened and they have refused to respond to repeated emails on my part.

So this evening I traversed some of the interesting challenges in converting DVD-Video to Flash with the result that you can see here or by clicking on the link in the sidebar.

Yes I know it’s not well integrated into the site, no background or common theme, etc.  Maybe later, if/when I decide to tackle that challenge I’ll make it look better.  For now, I’m just happy it’s there.

Please check it out – it’s worth a look (thanks, Brian)…

LiftPort Lift Tickets now available

Over at the LiftPort website, they are now selling Lift Tickets, priced at $25.00 / one ounce.  I’m not sure what one ounce item I would send up to orbit, but I’d think of something.  I guess it would depend if I get it back or not (I’m assuming I would).  Perhaps one ounce of plant seeds to see what radiation would do to them.  Any other creative ideas out there?

What one ounce (or less) item would YOU send up to orbit if you could?

$25/ounce works out to $400/pound.  If you’re going to send yourself up there, that means a diet now REALLY makes sense – every ounce you lose saves you 25 bucks…  Kind of drives it home, doesn’t it…

You can also bid on ticket number one over at eBay…

Planetary Society interview with Ben Shelef

One of the organizations I belong to is The Planetary Society.  I support them because they actually DO stuff, not just sit there and talk about it.  They also have great podcasts.  Each week their host, Mat Kaplan, does a truly fine job in interviewing his guests.

I recently became a first-time entrant to their weekly Trivia contests.  Mat took the time to personally reply to me and I found out that he was well aware of the concept of the Space Elevator.  He had interviewed Ben Shelef in 2005, before the first Annual Space Elevator games occurred.  That interview can be found here and is well worth your time to listen to.  It really is well done and it gives you a window into the how and why that the Space Elevator Games exist.

This is also notice to my readers that if future Trivia contests have a subject that can, at all, be related to a Space Elevator, I’m going to post it on this blog and will urge my readers to respond to it.  Several weeks ago, their Trivia Question was “What is the altitude of Geosynchronous orbit?” – something that all Space Elevator afficianados should know by heart.  I somehow missed this show and by the time I heard it, it was too late.  It won’t happen again…

(Note: You can click on the Planetary Society picture of a Solar Sail and see a larger version – be warned – it’s a 5MB file)

Twenty-two teams now registered for the 2007 Space Elevator Games

Yet one more team has passed the financial and paperwork hurdles and is now officially registered for the 2007 Space Elevator Games.  Two teams are in the tether competition (we need more!!!), three teams are in the Limited Lifter/Power Beaming competition and fully seventeen teams are now signed up for the $$$ Lifter/Power Beaming competition.

In perusing the team web sites, I came across the attached picture – I’m not sure if this is a nose acting as a tie point for two tethers or what, but it’s cool nonetheless…

Click on the picture for a (slightly) larger version…

Early Space Elevators

This “future history” description of (eventually) four space elevators being built is, IMHO, quite interesting.  It also shows how technology can quickly change things.  The Space Elevators described in this 2003 web piece are 1) land-based, 2) were not launched for a long time after the technology was available because of the “cost of transporting the vast mass required” and 3) the fear of equatorial countries of having “thousands of kilometers of cable falling on their heads”.  All of this thinking has changed, of course, thanks to Dr. Edwards and his cohorts…

Click on the picture or visit the website for a larger version…

Site Maintenance – Phase 2

It looks like WordPress version 2.1.1 is now up and running.  It took nearly six hours to do the upgrade.  The majority of time was spent figuring out that the WordPress developers, for whatever reason, decided to combine the Posting Categories with the Link Categories.  God knows why – I certainly don’t.  This breaks one of the cardinal rules of system/program development – using one entity for two purposes.  Only a bad end can come to it (and I predict it will).  I’ve had to install some Category hierarchy in order to get my sidebar to display properly.  Stupid.  When I go to post now, all of the Link Categories show up in my Posting Category options too.  Stupid.

On the plus side, the theme that I’m using, Blix, has been upgraded to Version 2.1 by it’s author.  This means that I was able to just load it, put in the changes I’ve made to customize it, and go (once I figured out the Category nonsense).  It’s also been re-titled to BlixKreig (the developer is a German – clever, eh?).

So, I think it’s all working, but I haven’t examined every single post.  It looks like the plugins are working too…

Please, please, please – if you run into ANY kind of problem reading a post, accessing a link, or whatever, let me know.  I want this blog to be problem-free for it’s users.

Thanks for your patience everyone…

Site Maintenance – Phase 1

I’m going to be upgrading my WordPress blogging software from 2.0.2 to the latest release, 2.1.1.  So, if anything seems funky, that’s probably the reason why.

Everything is fully backed up (I think) so, if worse comes to worst, I’ll just restore…

Detecting Radiation

Radiation is one of those “gonna’ have to worry about it” issues for Space Elevator passengers (and possibily some of the cargo), but one that can, hopefully be dealt with.  If I’m in a climber, I would like some sort of positive reinforcement that whatever shielding has been provided is working and that I’m not getting pinged with too much radiation.

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute, in cooperation with faculty and midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy, is developing a portable measuring device for measuring radiation.  They’re targeting it for Lunar and Martian missions, but I see no reason why it wouldn’t work on a Space Elevator.

Register now for the 2007 Space Exploration Conference

Phil Richter, the Administrative Chair for the Space Engineering and Science Institute, was Dr. David Livingston’s guest on the Space Show this past Tuesday.  The podcast for the show is available here.

Phil discussed the upcoming SESI2007 Conference with Dr. Livingston and various call-in guests.

Of special note: discounted Hotel rates are available only until the end of the month for the 2007 Space Exploration Conference to be held in Albuquerque, NM from March 25th through the 28th.  The current rates ($70/night I think) for this hotel really are cheap, but they’re only available through February 28th.  If you haven’t booked your room yet, now is the time to do so.

A new look for LiftPort

LiftPort has recently upgraded their website and are also sporting a new logo.  They’ve done in this in conjunction with moving to a up-to-date Content Management System (Joomla) and this should make their future web considerations much less of a pain.

I like the new look, and the new logo…

Self-healing carbon nanotubes

This rocks!  According to this article, carbon nanotubes may have the capability to spontaneously repair themselves.

One of the major concerns about a carbon-nanotube space-elevator ribbon is, of course, the damage it will receive when deployed.  Meteors, atomic oxygen, radiation, salt water (at spaceport level), etc., all have the capability to wreak havoc with such a structure.

This article seems to indicate that there are some inherent properties of the material itself which would offset/mitigate these problems.

Carbon Nanotubes

Regular readers of this blog know that I have limited my postings (with very few exceptions) to those items which are directly related to the concept of a Space Elevator.  There are already enough other excellent blogs out there which touch on other “space-related issues” – we don’t need another one…

However, I’m going to branch out a bit, though, and begin covering carbon-nanotube news items that are, IMHO, space-elevator related.  I don’t think it’s a stretch; we’re not going to have a Space Elevator until carbon-nanotube technology gets to the point where we can build one.  News in this area is relevant to all of us who believe that a space elevator is a much more sane way to get out of earth’s gravity well.  LiftPort continues to tease us with their nanotube factory; the Federal government continues to fund Nanotube technology (more on this later) and nanotechnology, in general, shows up more and more in both news items and in actual applications.

I’m not going to post about nanotube or nanotechnology as it relates to medicine or global warming or anything that cannot be conceivably related to the development of a Space Elevator, unless, of course, I think it’s monumentally cool…

So, to begin with, here’s a site that has absolutely nothing directly to do with building a space elevator, but is monumentally cool and is worth a look by space elevator aficianados, nonetheless…

Reminder: SESI’s Phil Richter to appear on The Space Show tomorrow

As I blogged about earlier, the Administrative Chair of SESI, Phil Richter, will appear on The Space Show tomorrow, Tuesday, February 20th, from 7:00pm to 8:30pm Pacific Time.  Tune into The Space Show to hear it live or else catch the podcast later.

From The Space Show’s announcements;

“We welcome Phil Richter to the program to discuss Space Exploration 2007, the space elevator conference and much more. Mr. Richter is a structural engineer with expertise in lunar structures.”

Twenty-one teams now registered for the 2007 Space Elevator Games

On February 1st, I posted that seventeen teams were now fully registered (i.e., they’ve done the paperwork and have paid the entrance fee) for the 2007 Space Elevator Games.  That number has now increased to twenty-one.  At this rate, we’ll have seventy-seven and a half teams registered by the times the Games start… 🙂

Two of these teams are registered in the Tether competition (Astroaraneae, last year’s winner, and a team from MIT) while the other nineteen are in the Climber/Power Beaming event.

Of these nineteen, three are in this year’s new event, the “Limited Competition”.  Entrants in this competition are essentially playing by the rules of the 2006 Space Elevator Games; 50 meters of travel at an average speed of at least 1m/s.  There is no money to be awarded for the Limited competition, but it’s a great way to get some experience in this event while working towards the 2008 Space Elevator games.  The three teams in the Limited event are from Japan, Iran and Spain.  The Spanish team, Recens, was the victim of a shipping snafu with UPS and their climber never made it to the 2006 Space Elevator Games.  I’m glad to see that they haven’t been so put off by this that they gave up.  One has to like their chances this year as they had a climber ready and working for last year (they’ll probably charter an Iberia Air plane direct to wherever the competition is going to be held this year).  You can see pictures of it by clicking on the “Photos” link at the top of the blog.

One also has to have respect for whatever the Japanese are going to attempt to do – they are not exactly technological neophytes.

The mystery team, for me, is the one from Iran.  I await their arrival and entry with great anticipation.  The Islamic world has been a technological backwater for centuries.  I lived and worked in Saudi Arabia for eight years in the 1980’s and saw little native technological advancement in my time there.  There’s nothing inherent about it, it’s just the way it’s been.  But it’s only a matter of time before this changes and perhaps the Iranian entry is a manifestation of that.

I’m disappointed that we’ve seen nothing from India, China or Australia – maybe I’ll write their Presidents and ask them why they’re chicken 🙂

SESI’s Phil Richter to appear on The Space Show

Phil Richter, the Administrative Chair of the Space Engineering and Science Institute (SESI), will appear on Dr. David Livingston’s The Space Show on Tuesday, February 20th.  The show’s broadcast time has not yet been posted, but the Tuesday shows are normally aired from 7:00pm to 8:30pm Pacific Time.

SESI is hosting this year’s Second International Conference and Exposition on Science, Engineering and Habitation in Space and the Second Biennial Space Elevator Workshop (SESI2007), in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from March 25th through the 28th.

Some weeks ago, Bryan Laubscher appeared on The Space Show and discussed some of the events at this conference.  Since then, SESI has released its Program Highlights and Schedule.  Mr. Richter and Dr. Livingston are sure to discuss this and other ongoing developments for this conference.

You can tune in to the show here, or, if you can’t catch the broadcast, all of The Space Shows are available afterwards via podcast.

Carbon Nanotube-based tether may debut at 2007 Space Elevator Games

I’ve started email conversations with some of the teams registered to participate in the 2007 Elevator Games.  It’s much too early, of course, to know exactly what everyone is going to be doing, but I received this interesting bit of information from Michael Remington of Team Astroaraneae, an entrant into this years tether competition.

For those of you who don’t know, Team Astroaraneae produced the strongest tether in last year’s competition, though not strong enough to win the prize.  I asked Michael if they were planning on using carbon nanotubes in this year’s entry and this was his reply;

We are glad to be back competing as the reigning champion of the Tether Competition.  With an increase of the House Tether’s expected load carrying capacity jumping, from 1,300lbs in 2005 to greater than 1,660lbs in 2006, we have no other choice but to compete with a tether composed with nanotubes…if we intend to win the Grand Prize.  I will leave it up to you to speculate as to what we truly intend to do. 🙂

     And

Do keep in mind one thing though: anyone can compete with a tether made of nanotubes.  All you need is $100 of nanotubes and some glue.  The trick is to make one that is stronger than the state of the art, and no one in the world has displayed this capability…yet.

So, we’ll have to wait and see.  As I assume they’re interested in winning the Grand prize ($500K this year – that’s real folding money…), I would take his words to mean that they WILL introduce a carbon-nanotube tether this year (of what percentage nanotubes and how constructed, I haven’t a clue).  But a winning tether, composed of carbon-nanotubes, would give a real kick to Space Elevator development…

NASA’s not interested in Space Elevators…

On the Sunday, February 11th edition of The Space Show, Ken Davidian of NASA was interviewed.  Ken is the man behind the seven Centennial Challenges currently being sponsored by NASA.  The Beam Power and Tether competitions at the Space Elevator Games comprise two of these seven Centennial Challenges.

The interview was really enjoyable to listen to; Ken is obviously committed and passionate about Centennial Challenges.  He gave us a history of how they came about, how they are being funded (or not), why they are set up the way they are and what NASA is looking to get out of them.

I was surprised to learn that NASA is NOT interested in the Beam Power Competition to power a Space Elevator, nor are they interested in the Tether competition to build a Space Elevator.  Ken put it quite bluntly: “NASA’s not interested in Space Elevators…”, at least not as far as the Centennial Challenges are concerned.  NASA is looking at the results / winners / new technologies developed out of the Beam Power competition for Lunar exploration purposes and they are looking at the Tether competition for fundamental materials research.  However, by partnering with the Spaceward Foundation for these two challenges, NASA is getting what it wants while helping us Space Elevator believers further our goal.

The other really interesting thing he said was that if a Space Elevator is ever built, then NASA would want to be a “good customer” (along with many others) for it.

Ken also described, in some detail, how the funding for these Centennial Challenges has happened (and not) and touched on many other subjects.

A fascinating interview, well worth your time (it’s an hour and half long, but it goes by quickly).

Reminder – NASA’s Ken Davidian to appear on The Space Show tomorrow

Remember, Ken Davidian, the man behind NASA’s Centennial Challenges (including the Space Elevator Games) is scheduled to appear on The Space Show this coming Sunday, February 11th, from 12:00 noon to 1:30pm (Pacific Time).  For more details, check my previous post on this subject.

I’m very interested to hear what Ken has to say about the number of teams already registered for this years competition and NASA’s stance on funding these Centennial Challenges in general.

Tune in – I think you’ll enjoy the show.

SESI2007 Program Highlights and Schedule released

The website for the upcoming Space Exploration 2007 conference has been updated with a new document; “Program Highlights and Schedule”.  You can find it on their website (under the Current Conference tab) or you can find it here.

This conference will have presentations from both the “Space Elevator” and the “Science, Engineering and Habitation in Space” communities  It’s a single-track conference; i.e., it will be possible to hear all the presentations.

The Program is exciting; addresses from such Space Elevator stalwarts as Dr. Brad Edwards, Dr. Bryan Laubscher, and Ben Shelef are scheduled.  In addition, other Space-Elevator-themed presentations will occur.

I plan on being there as both presenter and blogger (hopefully live-blogger).

Dr. David Livingston from The Space Show will also be there; I’m very much looking forward to meeting him.  Dr. Livingston interviews luminaries from across the “Space” spectrum.  He has interviewed Dr. Brad Edwards and Liftport’s Michael Laine and has recently interviewed Dr. Bryan Laubscher, one of the organizers of this conference.  And, don’t forget, he will be interviewing Ken Davidian (NASA’s man behind the Space Elevator Games) this coming Sunday.

Make your reservations soon.  If you want to know what the current state of affairs in the “Space Elevator world” are and you want to discuss them with those in the know, this is the place to be.

It’s going to be an exciting 3&1/2 days…

Arthur C. Clarke on the Space Elevator (and Star Trek and other things)

My all time favorite Sci-fi author is Sir Arthur C. Clarke.  I do believe I’ve read every story he has written and am eagerly awaiting the completion and release of his “last novel” (The Last Theorem).  His Fountains of Paradise was what introduced me (and countless others) to the concept of a Space Elevator.

A couple of weeks ago, he wrote a tribute to Star Trek and, as part of that, a general greeting to all of his fans.  You can find both of them here, at the American Antigravity blog.  It has a great opening line;

“Friends, Earthlings, ETs – lend me your sensory organs!”

Sir Arthur Clarke discusses the Space Elevator and the Space Elevator Games at the XPrize Cup.  We also learn that as the inventor of the satellite telecommunication industry, he received the “astronomical sum of 15 pounds sterling” for his efforts.  He needed a better attorney…

A fine read from a real visionary.  Sir Arthur Clarke turns 90 this year, on December 16th.  We should be marking this event with nearly the same enthusiasm as Yuri’s night is…

(Click on the thumbnails to view larger versions)

(07OCT07 – Update – I stand corrected.  Sir Clarke’s birthday is on December 16th, not the 17th as I had originally posted.  I apologize for the error)