Associates and competitors…

“If the Space Elevator is our best option [for an alternative way to space], it’s going to be a long, long road” – so says Dr. David Livingston in this very interesting interview from July of 2006 with Dr. Jordin Kare, the same Dr. Kare who is part of LaserMotive, one of the entrants into this year’s Space Elevator Games.

In this interview, Dr. Kare’s describes using Laser propulsion for getting payloads into orbit differently than using lasers to power a Space Elevator.  Dr. Kare touts the capabilities of “Laser Launch”, using a ground-based laser to power a spacecraft by heating up a propellant it carries rather than the Space Elevator concept whereby a ground-based laser, again aimed at the space craft (the climber) would power a photovoltaic array, generating electricity for the Climber to use.

In this interview, Dr. Livingston asks Dr. Kare for his opinion of the Space Elevator.  Dr. Kare replies that he considers people working on the Space Elevator to be “associates and competitors”…

Competitors indeed.  Dr. Kare also stated in the interview that the highest any device had been sent using the “Laser Launch” approach was a couple of hundred feet.  So, perhaps he and the LaserMotive team will beat this in the competition this year.  At the Games, I’ll be sure to seek out Dr. Kare and ask him his opinion of the Space Elevator now and to see what the status of “Laser Launch” is at this time…

In the show notes, Dr. Livingston also states: “Certainly [Laser Launch] can be brought on line faster and cheaper than the space elevator.”  We shall see…

While poking around the ‘net, I came across this article, describing using the concept of Laser Launch to dispose of nuclear wastes, a potential use of the Space Elevator, too…