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No, this is not going to be my last post on events at this year’s Space Elevator Conference, but I wanted to let people know that\u00a0the conference has ended and\u00a0to\u00a0summarize it a bit…<\/p>\nNo, this is not going to be my last post on events at this year’s Space Elevator Conference, but I wanted to let people know that\u00a0the conference has ended and\u00a0to\u00a0summarize it a bit…<\/p>\n
I will be doing additional posts about presentations and goings-on at the Conference over the next few weeks, interspersed with other Space Elevator-related news as it happens.<\/p>\n
We also had\u00a0a few\u00a0other non-American presenters,\u00a0but not many.\u00a0 This is something we have to change in the future.\u00a0 We\u00a0need this to be more of an international effort – and that leads me to the subject of the Four Pillars, a\u00a0topic which consumed much of Saturday’s Conference proceedings.<\/p>\n Basically the concept of Four Pillars is this; to build a Space Elevator (or any other large infrastructure project) requires that various interest groups support and ‘sign-off’ off on the project.\u00a0 There is the Technical \/ Scientific\u00a0Pillar\u00a0which has to do the work to show the project is feasible.\u00a0 There is the Legal\u00a0Pillar\u00a0which has to\u00a0show that legal, regulatory and insurance issues are dealt with.\u00a0 There is the Business\u00a0Pillar which is tasked with putting together a plan showing how the project can make money.\u00a0 And finally, there is the Public Outreach Pillar which must create a climate among the public (which, in turn, creates a climate among Government, Special Interest groups, etc.) to support this project.<\/p>\n The “Four Pillar” concept is certainly not new.\u00a0 It’s been used\u00a0for other infrastructure\u00a0projects, and it’s even been tried before for the Space Elevator.\u00a0 LiftPort unsuccessfully tried to get some traction with this idea and it was also started (and then\u00a0died out) at last year’s Space Elevator conference.\u00a0 But the idea is too good to be discarded, even in the face of previous failures.<\/p>\n There was a new committment evident at this year’s conference and, for the first time, we have a very realistic possibility of enlisting international resources to help make this happen.\u00a0 In addition, the technology to build a Space Elevator, especially in the carbon nanotube arena, is rapidly maturing.<\/p>\n![](\"\/media\/2008SEC\/2008SECDay3%20062.jpg\")
<\/a>IMHO,\u00a0the Conference\u00a0was a big success.\u00a0 The enthusiasm level of the\u00a0attendees was quite high, aided especially by the Japanese contingent.\u00a0 I’ve blogged about their contribution before, but want to emphasize it again.\u00a0 This group is very serious about building a Space Elevator.\u00a0 The Japan Elevator Association (JSEA)<\/a> is holding their own Space Elevator conference this year\u00a0on November 15th and 16th and I’ve all but committed to go.\u00a0 I’ll be doing a separate post about some of the things they proposed.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>If you would like to get involved with this\u00a0effort, please email me at Ted [AT] SpaceElevatorBlog.com.\u00a0 There will be much more information about this Four Pillar effort posted on this blog in the coming months.\u00a0 This picture is of Dr. Swan, one of the co-chairs of this\u00a0Pillar (along with yours truly)\u00a0–\u00a0I’m sorry it’s a bit blurry, but the guy never stands still!\u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n![](\"\/media\/2008SEC\/tn_2008SECDay3%20002.jpg\")
<\/a>I want to wind up this wrap-up post with a big “Thank You” to all of those who organized this year’s Conference.\u00a0 Doing something like this is a huge and largely thankless task.\u00a0 I’ve signed up to help organize next year’s conference and I’m sure we’re going to be leaning on the expertise of this year’s organizers.\u00a0 This photo shows those six people who we can thank for\u00a0making this conference a success.\u00a0 From left to right they are Bryan Laubscher, Carla Sabotta, Maurice Franklin, Martin Lades, Ruth Richter and Phil Richter.\u00a0 Each and every one of these people deserve a tremendous “Thank You” from all of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"