I missed this one…
Last Monday, Dr. Bryan Laubscher appeared on David Livingston’s The Space Show. Bryan and David discussed the state of Space Elevator ‘affairs’ and the upcoming Space Elevator Conference (Aug 13-16).
Dr. Laubscher’s bio:
Bryan E. Laubscher received his Ph.D. in physics in 1994 from the University of New Mexico with a concentration in astrophysics. In 2008 Bryan left Los Alamos National Laboratory to pursue new adventures in the Redmond, WA where he and his wife now live. In 2006 Bryan spent a year on Entrepreneurial Leave to Seattle. There he started a company to develop the strongest materials ever created. These materials are based upon carbon nanotubes – the strongest structures known in nature and the first material identified with sufficient strength-to-weight properties to build a space elevator. At LANL he is was a project leader and has worked in various capacities for 17 years. His past projects include LANL’s portion of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey , Magdalena Ridge Observatory and a project developing concepts and technologies for space situational awareness. Over the years Bryan has participated in research in astronomy, lidar, non-linear optics, space mission design, space-borne instrumentation design and construction, spacecraft design, novel electromagnetic detection concepts and technologies, detector/receiver system development, spectrometer development, interferometry and participated in many field experiments. Bryan led space elevator development at LANL until going on entrepreneurial leave in late 2005.
And, thanks to the miracle of podcasting, none of us missed the show (though we did miss a chance to call in and ask Dr. Laubscher questions). Click here to listen to the show or visit The Space Show’s website.
I have some contentions with some comments Bryan had made:
No disclosure had ever been made as to the fabrication of the best performing tethers by Team Astroaraneae. So, I do not know where Bryan got the knowledge to assert that they were made with off the shelf materials? It makes me wonder what other speculations of his may be being touted as fact….
Furthermore, I don’t see how he thinks that the current format of the Tether Challenge was well thought through. If so, there should be a load of competitors right now, right….?
One last thing…
Team Astroaraneae was creating carbon nanotube based materials; and were making serious pogress. We would have continued to do so, if we had won some prizes, because our sponsors would have continued to provide us with funding.
If the Tether Challenge would have stuck to the 2005 requirements and rewarded teams for incremental improvements, I think the competition would have turned out much better. There was real potential for success.