Daily Archives: July 25, 2008

The Space Elevator as a “Slender Structure”

From July 23rd to July 25th, the University of Maryland Baltimore County is holding MOSS2008 a Symposium on the Mechanics of Slender Structures.  I think a Space Elevator would qualify, in spades, as a ‘Slender Structure’ and, to that end, Ben Shelef of the Spaceward Foundation is giving the closing lecture; ‘The Story of the Space Elevator’.

At the recently concluded 2008 Space Elevator Conference, there were several discussions about ribbon harmonics; how longitudinal and transverse waves would affect each other on a Space Elevator tether.  Dr. Blaise Gassend gave a talk on “Space Elevator Dynamics through Simple Approximations“.  At MOSS2008, this issue is also being visited in a presentation, “Analog Equation Method for coupled Axial and and Transverse vibration of Automotive Belts“.

If you’re in the Baltimore County area and this is your kind of thing, you might want to stop by.  You can find the conference program here.

26JUL08 Update – I just received this comment about the conference from Ben Shelef: This conference is just amazing – what a find!”