In this newsletter, LiftPort discusses their legal issues with the city of Millville, New Jersey, and their attempts to bring a carbon nanotube factory on line.
Patrick Boake, over at the Space Elevator Journal, first broke this story (here and here).
Another story on this issue can be found here.
Do you know how to cook a pizza in zero-gravity? If so, you have a chance to win LiftPort’s latest contest. See the details here.
Also in the newsletter, an announcement of last month’s winner and a request for questions on the hows/whys of Space Exploration; said questions to be submitted to “a future president of the United States.”
Readers of this blog have probably noticed a new logo and message on top of the blog’s sidebar, the logo and link to the MAST (Multi-Application Survivable Tether) mission, the latest project from Tethers Unlimited, Inc. This company, founded by Dr. Robert Hoyt (of Hoytether fame) and Dr. Robert Forward, will be launching a one-kilometer long tether into low earth-orbit. Each end of the tether will be anchored with a picosatellite, with a third picosatellite continuously traveling along the tether from one end to the other (and hey, one of them is named TED, this is a GOOD thing 🙂 ). The potential application here to a Space Elevator is obvious; how does a tether (even though it’s not the carbon nanotube ribbon envisioned by Dr. Brad Edwards) survive in space? Atomic oxygen, radiation, micrometeorites, etc., are all potential dangers. Everything we can learn about how they will affect structures like this will be valuable. This tether experiment was set to be launched on March 27th, but launch problems have pushed that date back to April 17th. Check out their blog (available by clicking on the icon on the top of my blog’s sidebar) for updates.
There is a very good story about this experment at NewScientistSpace.
There is also another tether experiment set to be launched in May; this one a 30 kilometer long tether. From the press release;
“One of the most important aspects of this innovative mission is the deployment of a 30 km long tether to deploy the Fotino mini-satellite and re-entry capsule. . Not only will this be the longest artificial structure ever deployed in space, but it will also be the first time that a tether has been used to return a payload from space. The flight is intended to demonstrate how such a tether can be used to change a satellite’s orbit without attitude control systems or rocket engines.”
This is very cool.
Both of these structures should be easily visible via binoculars or perhaps even the naked eye.
Marc Boucher at the Space Elevator Reference has been following these stories closely (here, here, here and here) including a couple of videos.
In this Redstate article, the author discusses how the Chinese, Japanese and Russians are “interested in developing one (a Space Elevator” and that the “Chinese are working on one.”
My money is still on American business entrepreneurs or a Dubai/Indian Joint Venture…
All together now;
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Space Elevator Blog!
Happy birthday to you!
Yes, I know it’s April Fools day, but this is no joke – one year ago today, I started this blog. It’s been a fun year. Highlights include;
So, what will the next year bring? Who knows? We’re all waiting for the breakthrough in carbon nanotube research that will allow a Space Elevator to be built. If/when that happens, this whole idea will instantly change from an “interesting intellectual exercise” to a real project. I have every intention of being involved in any way I can.
In the meantime, I’ll watch and report everything I can find which is Space-Elevator related and I will do whatever I can to further this project along. In addition to working with Brad Edward’s technology team, I’m planning on attending and live-blogging this year’s Space Elevator Games and will make every effort to attend the inagural EuroSpaceward version of the Games in 2008.
Stay tuned!
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bert, from the NSS Space Elevator Special Interest Chapter has found the earliest web-mention I know of for a Space Elevator, this from June of 1991. You can find it here.
The earliest one I knew of before this was from April of 1995.
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…
In this issue, Tom Nugent discusses thermal issues that will certainly have to be dealt with in the ribbon itself.
The March, 2007 LiftPort General newsletter can be found here. Note that you can also subscribe to the LiftPort newsletters by scrolling down on this blog until the Newsletter subscription form appears in the right hand column, entering your email address and clicking on the Subscribe button.
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…
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.
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.
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.
Nyein has been heard from. Click on the link to view.
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In this undated, but, I think, recent, set of web pages, Nanopedia describes how an earth-based Space Elevator work and the vital role that carbon nanotubes would play.
I’m also going to link to this in my Reference section on the blog’s sidebar…
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…
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…
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…
LiftPort has released their February Contest Newsletter (available here; then navigate to Contests->Newsletter Contests) and this month they’re doing a Scavenger Hunt.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.”
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 🙂
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.
When the Nova Science Now show aired this past January, another video was also made; this of Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michael Laine and Tom Nugent of LiftPort.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyBJvx2FaGw[/youtube]
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).
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.
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…
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)
There are now seventeen teams who have finalized their entry for this year’s Space Elevator games, with more, hopefully, to come.
A complete list of the teams, including both the ones fully registered and ones who’s registration is still pending, can be found here.
Of these seventeen teams, only one is entered in the tether competition; the other sixteen are entered in the Climber/Power Beaming event. Of these sixteen teams, eleven are from the USA, three are from Canada, one is from Germany and one (the only one in the Limited event) is from Japan.
Six teams are returning veterans; USST, MClimber, LiteWon, Kansas City Space Pirates, Centaurus and Astroaraneae (I always have to double-check the spelling on that one). The other eleven teams will be first-time competitors.
Over at The Space Elevator Journal, Patrick Boake gives us an introduction to one of the new contestants in this year’s Space Elevator Games, The McGill Space Elevator Team.
It’s only February 1st – there are at least eight months to go before the games and already I’m starting to feel pumped.
I just received this from Ben Shelef regarding payment information for competing in this year’s Space Elevator Games;
Hello Folks
As the Early Bird registration deadline period nears, some of you have run into last minute delays cutting checks at institutions, processing corporate credit cards, etc.
If you have a per-transaction limit on your CC, you’ll see two new buttons on the web site – $2000 and $500. You can use one of each, or 5×500, and you should be ok.
We will send receipts on checks after tomorrow.
You know your payment has been processed when the “[preliminary]” or “[pending]” label is removed from your team name on the team list.
Under special circumstances, we will allow late payment, as long as:
– The signed team agreement has been faxed in (650-887-2332) by midnight PST today.
– You have asked for and we have given you explicit permission to pay late.In such a case, we will charge a $100 late fee.
Payments received through Google by 2/1, or received by mail with a postmark of 2/1 or earlier will not incur the fee.
Ben
——————————————–
Ben Shelef
The Spaceward Foundation
ben [AT] spaceward.org
650-969-2010
http://www.spaceward.org/
http://www.elevator2010.org/
Well, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this show, but I thought it would be something along the lines of the Science Channel show – a “Space Elevator primer” as it were.
Having said that, I’m glad this was different; there was enough there about the Space Elevator to introduce the concept to the uninitiated, but not so much as to “bore the choir…”
The idea of a lab located on the Space Elevator, 250 miles above the earth, is certainly doable (once you have a Space Elevator, of course) and, one can see that it would be a great place to actually test out Solar arrays (IMHO, the “killer ap”, near-term, for a Space Elevator). And, a joint lab between the Americans and the Chinese is not out of the question.
(sarcasm on) Nice to see the stereotypes though; the “crafty and capitalistic Americans” suggest buying the silence of the Chinese scientist while the leaders of the evil “red menace” (or “yellow peril” – pick your poison) kidnap the Chinese scientist’s wife to ensure his cooperation. But in the end, the American side comes up with the winning plan and the scientific spirit of cooperation between the American and Chinese scientist in the lab triumphed over all – I was almost in tears… (sarcasm off)
Seriously, I thought the show was fun, but they missed an important point. They talked about how a Space Elevator-based solar lab would be able to develop / test new solar power technology, but said not a word about how, once the solar arrays were built, they would be placed in orbit. You need a Space Elevator to do that, rockets would just not be practical.
On the optimistic side, the show did posit that a Space Elevator would be in place by 2057. I’m hoping for a lot sooner than that. The most interesting comment in the entire show (IMHO) was the spoken assumption that the United States and China would be the two preeminent powers in 2057. I wouldn’t count out either the Russians or the Indians. Russia is a country tremendously rich in natural resources and has a long history of technological prowess. If they can ever get their act together, they will be a formidable competitor. I’d also be leery of betting against India – there’s something about this country that inspires respect. They’re not as rich in natural resources as Russia is, but will soon be the world’s most populous nation. If you believe (like I do) that educated people are an asset, then you have to say that their future is bright.
This show will re-air on Saturday, February 3rd at 04:00pm eastern/pacific (note that the time may be am – I think they made a mistake on their website). In any event, please, as they say, check your local listings.
Over at the Space Elevator Reference, Dr. Bryan Laubscher gives a summary of places/locations for previous Space Elevator-themed conferences and workshops. He calls for the Space Elevator community to attend this years 2nd Biennial Space Elevator Workshop in Albuquerque, New Mexico (being held from March 25th through the 28th), just 8 short weeks from tomorrow, and tells us why it is so important for us to be there.
His post is a must-read.
I just received this from Spaceward’s Ben Shelef:
Hello Folks
Most of you probably caught the NOVA segment on the Space Elevator – it was broadcast a while back, but is available online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3401/02.html. It is a real nice segment (12 minutes).
On the same topic, Discovery channel will broadcast tomorrow (1/28, 8pm) a 3-hour special presentation about futuristic concepts. The Space Elevator is featured in the 3rd segment: http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/2057/2057.html
As for next year’s competition, the first team registration deadline is approaching, and the list of teams is growing fast: http://www.elevator2010.org/teams.html
Finally, To those of you asking about dates and location – we’re still working on it, maybe we’ll have some news on the next update.
Sincerely,
The Spaceward Crew.
As posted earlier, the new Discovery Channel series, 2057, will debut this Sunday, January 28th. In it’s The World show, scheduled to air at 10:00pm eastern/pacific, there will be a segment devoted to the development of a Space Elevator.
The website is here. I’d previously posted about this show here (this post also contains a link to a trailer for the show) and here.
This show will re-air on Sunday, January 29th at 02:00am eastern/pacific and Saturday, February 3rd at 04:00pm eastern/pacific (note that the February 3rd time may be am – I think they made a mistake on their website). In any event, please, as they say, check your local listings.
Dr. Brad Edwards said that they did a nice job on this show, so I’m sure it will be worth watching.
Over this past weekend, Clayton Ruszkowski and the USST team demonstrated their climber at Spectrum 2007; “Robots, handmade cars and an elevator to space are all part of Spectrum 2007 being put on by the University of Saskatchewan’s college of engineering. The four-day show gives both engineering students and local companies a chance to display innovative ideas and designs.”
This climber is, of course, the one that turned in the best times at both the 2005 and 2006 Space Elevator Games and just missed being awarded the NASA prize money last year.
Clayton kindly emailed me tonight to let me know that a couple of videos taken at the event demonstrating their lifter are now posted on YouTube.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjaZFq7raaQ[/youtube]
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q4nseq9W1s[/youtube]
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January 19th article in the Star Phoenix.
January 16th article in Saskatoon Home Page.
In the interview with Dr. Bryan Laubscher on The Space Show last tuesday, Dr. Livingston somewhat jokingly talked with Dr. Laubscher about an “Otis” Space Elevator.
This reminds me of this story from Space.com where John Thackrah, vice-president of Engineering for Otis said; “Today we have the technology to create elevator systems for a five-mile-high tower… At the rate of our development efforts we could apply technology we are working on for today’s existing market to the NASA concept within the next 10 years.”
Also, I want to point my readers to a concept picture of an Otis Space Elevator posted on Flickr last October…
This is from Andy Price’s email list;
As an executive recruiter, I have had the opportunity to network with you before, and appreciate your assistance on searches and in identifying qualified candidates for key positions. My client in the Boston area, the world’s leading carbon nanotube electronics company (profiled by Scientific American in 2005 and picked as one of the “top ten” nanotechnology companies likely to go public by both Forbes and Nanotechnology Law and Business Journal) currently has openings for Postdocs, PhDs, and MS degreed individuals with expertise in the CNT arena, particularly those doing nanostructure electronics work. These positions will require U.S. Security Clearances, so UScitizenship is mandatory.
If you are aware of ANY students (with CNT electronics experience) who will be available or graduating in June (or earlier), please feel free to alert them to these openings, and have them submit resumes/CVs to me at;
nickm AT wdsearch.com.
Thank You,
Nicholas Meyler
Ph (818)597-3200 ext. 211
So, if you qualify, what are you waiting for? We NEED you to help get this show on the road… (Thanks, Andy)
Customer Service at the Discovery Channel seems to be akin to that of Yahoo and some other large organizations – non-existent. They have not replied to repeated emails from me requesting information on their upcoming Space Elevator show. However, browsing their website this evening, I found this trailer (which is quite cool) and a notice that the show will air as part of their 2057 series (as Dr. Edwards informed me) at 10:00pm. I have no idea if that is Eastern time or whatever, but check your local listings for Sunday evening and I’m sure you’ll find it. If/when I find more information on this show, I will post it.
One of the most interesting things on the video, IMHO, is in the very beginning when they show the earth-base. There are 3 national flags shown on the launching platform, the flags of the USA, the European Union and China, with the Chinese flag taking center stage. I doubt if this was a political statement by the creators, but is interesting nonetheless…
Update – the link I gave seems to work only sporadically. If you go here, you will get to the Discovery Channel Beyond Home Page. From there, click on the tab on the right – Video Search. Enter “Space Elevator” (no quotes). The trailer will be the first item shown. You can click on the “Play clip” option and it should work for you…
Just a few days ago, I 
LiftPort has just released their latest, February 2007, newsletter. It can be found 