Editor’s Note

Dear Fellow Space Elevator Enthusiast,

Adrian Nixon was interviewed by Ex Terra podcast host, Tom Patton, about graphene and it’s uses. Adrian talks about what it is already being used for as well as future predictions, like the Space Elevator. If you are only interested in what he says about Space Elevators, skip forward to 25:00, but the rest of the interview is also very engaging and I enjoy Adrian’s sense of humor, even when he jokes about why he didn’t “take out a contract” on his former boss!

You can watch it here: https://exterrajsc.com/adrian-nixon-editor-in-chief-of-nixene-publishing-2/2021/11/14/

Sandee Schaeffer
Newsletter Editor

President's Corner

by Pete Swan

Definition of a Permanent Space Infrastructure

From the early days of Tsiolkovsky, Artsutanov, and Pearson, space elevators have been perceived as structures from the surface of the Earth to an Apex Anchor. Permanent structures are part of our culture and so obvious, we blow right by the fact of them. In the last year or so, the space community has started to focus on space infrastructure. The next few paragraphs illustrate how we will be permanent space infrastructures while rockets are just vehicles.

From a historical transportation perspective…canals, channels and deep-water ports are infrastructure - ships are vehicles. Likewise, the interstate highway, bridges, and trans-continental rail systems are infrastructures for ground transportation - the trucks and trains are the vehicles that use them. International airports and related facilities are the infrastructures for air travel and planes are the vehicles. From this perspective, rockets, no matter how large and reusable they may be in the future, will always be vehicles - not permanent space infrastructures.

In the Galactic Harbour proposal, the climbers are the vehicles while tethers, Earth Port with several termini and operational platforms, GEO construction - repair garages/stations, and Apex Anchor are the permanent and reliable space infrastructures. These permanent transportation infrastructures define the future space superhighway’s main green road to space.

Visions of a permanent space infrastructures show a total of six space elevators distributed within three Galactic Harbours. Each has one space elevator for up and one for down as well as principle and backup. These commercially developed Galactic Harbours will have competition between themselves and they will be complementary with advanced rockets within a Dual Space Access Architecture. In addition, as the climbers are raised by electricity, the system is also the Green Road to Space ensuring that lifting payloads to GEO and beyond will not impact the fragile environment while delivering massive cargo such as Space Solar Power satellites.

Space Elevators are the Green Road to Space while they enable humanity's most important missions by moving massive tonnage to GEO and beyond. They accomplish this safely, routinely, inexpensively, and daily, while being environmentally neutral.

three galactic harbours

A recent insight references the economics of permanent space infrastructures by two authors at the International Astronautical Congress IAC-21.

“This paper analyzes the economics of Space Elevators as infrastructure and a platform, utilizing relevant historical examples, such as the standardization of shipping containers, the transcontinental railroad, and the Panama Canal to explore its economic value and developmental impact. Infrastructure, at its core, provides value through the reduction of transaction costs. Therefore, trying to close a business case for infrastructure by charging high transaction costs is a doomed venture. However, expanding the picture to view the impact on the economy from increased access to value and more efficient markets through lower transaction costs and infrastructure becomes a very lucrative, stable, and reliable investment. Cost per kilogram is the language of rockets -- strategic investment, ubiquitous access, and uninterrupted exchange of resources are the staples of Space Elevators.” [Barry, K, Alfaro, E.P., “Changing the Economic Paradigm for Building a Space Elevator,” 72nd International Astronautical Congress, 2021]

When placing an economic “value proposition” approach towards development and operations, the logical recognition of tremendous empowering characteristics dominate the statement that we must build space elevators as soon as possible. Now that we have the tether material, the time is NOW. The Green Road to Space must be initiated as soon as possible.

Note: This article was co-authored by Vern Hall, Earth Port Harbor Master.

History Corner

by David Raitt, PhD
ISEC Chief Historian

Space Elevator Sessions at the 2004 IAC - the First of Many!

Although there had been sporadic papers presented on space elevators at various International Astronautical Congresses, it was not until the 55th IAC Congress held in Vancouver, Canada from 4-8 October 2004, that there were dedicated sessions on the topic, jointly organized by Pete Swan and David Raitt, under the auspices of the International Academy of Astronautics, and there have been regular annual sessions on the space elevator ever since. The idea of organizing these sessions, particularly the first few, was to bring the concept of the space elevator to a much wider worldwide audience than was possible with the yearly Space Elevator Conferences which were held only in the United States. Including the first, each of the IAC sessions has been regularly attended by some 50-60 people wherever it was held in the world and the papers presented gave a good overview of the way that current thinking on the design, technology and deployment of the various components and infrastructure of space elevators was progressing over the years.

The first sessions specifically devoted to the space elevator at the IAC in Vancouver in 2004 were included as part of the IAA Symposium on the Far Future: Renewed Visions. Out of the four sessions in that symposium, three were devoted to space elevators. Session 2: Space Elevator Ribbons and Tethers in Space contained ten papers: Session 3: Space Elevators: Systems Architecture and Technology Development also contained ten; while fourth session was a Poster Session on Space Elevators and Advanced Tethers and contained seven contributions. The abstracts of all the papers submitted to the first Space Elevator sessions at the IAC, together with their full titles, authors, and affiliations, can be found at https://iafastro.directory/iac/archive/browse/IAC-04/IAA.3.8/.

The first presentation was an overview of the space elevator program at ISR (Institute for Scientific Research) given by Brad Edwards et al. In his paper Edwards discussed how ISR, partnering with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, had begun an engineering study to define the critical aspects of a viable space elevator. This study was initiated as a result of recent developments in material science and initial work on a space elevator based on current and near-term technology. The major tasks defined for this effort were: 1) systems engineering, 2) high-strength materials development, 3) ribbon design, testing and dynamics, 4) design and construction of a prototype climber, 5) detailed cost evaluation, and 6) technology readiness assessment. These tasks covered the primary issues relating to the development of a viable space elevator including managing orbital debris events, economic value, health issues, performance requirements relative to current performance, survivability issues, and overall program management. The paper also looked at the current status of the development program and future studies required.

Other papers in the first session were on tether deployment ground tests (Kruijff & Heide); tethers as far mission descent-return tools (Rugescu); space elevator radiation hazards and how to mitigate them (Jorgensen et al); partial beanstalks for Mars exploration (Parkinson); and space elevator base leg architecture (Swan).

The second session opened with another presentation by Edwards, this time on the space elevator and NASA’s New Space Initiative. The NSI was announced in January 2004 by President Bush as a plan  to return to the Moon and then go on to Mars. Shortly after this, NASA announced plans to phase out the Space Shuttle, Orbital Space Plane and Space Launch Initiative programs. This left a gap in the transportation infrastructure and NASA’s ability to fulfil the new initiative. The plan was to examine new heavy lift options and make a decision in which direction to pursue in 2004. The new initiative required delivery of thousands of tons of cargo beyond Earth orbit, so any new heavy lift system had to be much more economical and reliable than current systems. Edwards opined that the proposed space elevator could fulfil these requirements better than any chemical rocket system and thus dramatically reduce the complexity and cost of getting to space. In his paper he presented the results of a trade-off study between the space elevator and conventional rocket systems as they related to the new NASA initiative. Cost comparison illustrated the dramatic savings the space elevator could bring and details were provided about how the space elevator could enable the new NASA space initiative to be more economical and self-sustaining.

Other presentations in this session included technology development and demonstration concepts of the space elevator (Smitherman); space elevator’s architectural view (Pullum & Swan); space elevator economics and applications (Raitt & Edwards); lunar transportation scenarios utilizing the space elevator (Engel); space elevator systems engineering analysis (Laubscher); the lunar space elevator (Pearson & Oldson); international cooperation and the space elevator (Verge); and space elevator economics and applications (Raitt & Edwards).

The poster session included some interesting illustrated and graphical summaries of dynamic coupling of tethers in large space mechanics (Toma); thermal issues for thin ribbon space elevator cables (Kare); handling the effects of complexity in space elevator requirements; and easy and low-cost access to space: the space elevator (Nelson).

These were all excellent papers in a wonderful setting and these first three sessions in 2004 at an IAC set the scene for space elevator sessions with their attendant audiences and their papers, presentations, and discussions at these global IAC events to this day.

Tether-Climber Interface

by Dennis H. Wright

Update from the Tether-Climber Interface Study

The ISEC tether-climber interface study is now into its 15th month. The topic of how the space elevator climber will grip the tether and propel itself upward has turned out to be challenging, as expected. We are looking into many aspects of this, that to our knowledge, have never been studied before. These are: understanding the physical conditions that apply where the climber wheels meet the tether surface, how to design a friction-based climber which can lift at least its own weight and how to manufacture a tether composed of 2-D materials that stands up to the shear forces imposed by the climber wheels.

We have coined the term “climbabilty” to refer to the physical conditions required at the interface to allow climbing. These conditions guide the climber design and prescribe the material parameters that a tether must have. Among these are the coefficient of friction between the climber wheels and the tether surface, the maximum shear stress that the tether can withstand, the minimum pressure that must be applied by the climber wheels to the tether and several more. The study has nearly completed the specification of these conditions and estimates of its parameters.

An examination of the possible tether materials has led us to details of how the tether will be constructed. Our preferred material, single-crystal graphene, has a low coefficient of friction (0.03) and so must be augmented in some way to increase this value. We have outlined ways in which this can be done, each of which seems to be leading us to studies of how macro-molecular sheets can be laminated. This appears to be an issue best studied by computer simulation.

Based on the climbabilty conditions, our reference design for a tether climber has reached a rather mature state and we are close to producing a mass budget for it. From the outset of the study, we stipulated the use of off-the-shelf technology for the climber. If the climber mass comes in at too high a value, we will need to project which technologies will be able to provide lighter components.

This study has been productive in identifying areas in material science and mechanical engineering that need deeper investigation, and it continues to do so. For this reason, we have already considerably surpassed in length the previous ISEC studies. We expect to complete our work by the Spring of 2022, but as long as fruitful results are forthcoming, we expect the study to continue.

To view his webinar presentation on this subject from the Members-Only meeting that took place August 14, 2021, click here.

Green Road to Space

by Paul Phister

Green Road to Space ISEC Committee

ISEC is on the Move: Even as ISEC has finished the Green Road to Space study and final report, we are still pushing our “Space Elevator Community” beyond the space community.

To this end, we have chartered a “Green Road to Space (GRtoS) Committee” to spread the word that Earth Space Elevators are GRtoS while recognizing and supporting  our “Dual Space Access Architecture”.

We organized our committee with Dr. Paul Phister as lead and the following high profile members: Pete Swan, Jerry Eddy, David Dotson (leading Space Solar Power thrust), Bert Molloy, and Joshua Bernard-Cooper (our UK contact).

We have done much since we were initially organized, notably:

  1. Created the following mission statement: It is the mission of the ISEC Green Road to Space Working Group to advance and promote the dual space access architecture within the broader space community. We fully support the increased use and decreasing costs of rockets to deliver humans and cargo to low-Earth orbit while moving humans through radiation rapidly. However, for space infrastructure projects dependent on large-scale hardware deployments at geosynchronous orbit and beyond, such as space-based solar power at the scale required to address climate change, space elevators become enabling; if not required, to progress. Space elevators and rockets should form the backbone for Earth-to-orbit transportation in the 21st century to advance these ambitions.

  2. Expanded ISEC reach by working with other people and organizations to stimulate thought on problem and spread the word on SE green road

  3. Created a College/University Interest list. These are top-notch colleges/universities doing space environmental research.

  4. Created a Zotero group called ISEC for assembling and sharing information.

We meet, via Zoom, for approximately an hour on the first Thursday of each month to discuss GRtoS vision and methods in achieving the vision. Our goal is to discuss concepts and have someone run with innovative ideas towards enhancing ISEC’s developmental goals.

If you’d like to join this group, please feel free to contact Dr. Paul Phister at paul.phister@isec.org

ASU Students Present Space Elevator Poster Boards

Arizona State University Students present the results of their research into leveraging Space Elevators on the trip to Jupiter’s moon Callisto.  Three students presented the work of a larger team working under Associate Professor Matthew Peet.  Each year, ASU has a FURI Symposium (Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative) which highlights the efforts of both undergraduate and graduate students looking at “real-world challenges in data science, education, energy, health, security and sustainability.”  Prof. Peet leads a team studying the challenges of interplanetary flight with the help of Space Elevators.  The students and their research are:

  • Benjamin King, “Jupiter Orbital Transfer/Colonization”

  • Derek Gregson, “An Analysis of Callisto Insertion Methods for a Spacecraft Using a Space Elevator Launch System”

  • Gene Luevano, “Study of Direct, Jupiter Insertion Orbits from Space Elevator,”

Matthew Peet, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Dept of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Arizona State University.

Left to right: Pete Swan, Derek Gregson, Benjamin King, Gene Luevano, Matthew Peet. Photo by Jerry Eddy (19 Nov 2021).

Upcoming Events

Space Elevator Conference

Sponsored by the International Space Elevator Consortium
Topics: Tether/Climber interface & Environmental Benefits of Space Elevators
Coming in Spring of 2022
Location: TBD

International Space Development Conference (ISDC)

Sponsored by the National Space Society (NSS)
http://isdc2022.nss.org/
Friday, May 27th through Sunday, May 29th, 2022
Location: Hyatt Regency Crystal City
Arlington, VA

The ISDC is the annual conference of the National Space Society bringing together NSS leaders and members with leading managers, engineers, scientists, educators, and businessmen from civilian, military, commercial, entrepreneurial, and grassroots advocacy space sectors. Information about sponsorships, exhibiting, and volunteering is available at each year’s ISDC website. For the last several years, ISEC has contributed a focus day on Space Elevators.

73rd International Astronautical Congress

Sponsored by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
https://www.iafastro.org/events/iac/iac-2022/
Sunday, September 18th through Thursday, September 22nd, 2022
Paris, France

Contact Us:

You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

Our website is www.isec.org.

Support us:

Sign up to be a member at: https://www.isec.org/membership

You could volunteer to assist with any number of activities...let us know where you would like to help!

You can also give directly using the “Donate” link at the bottom of our website page.

Our unique charity link for Amazon Smile is https://smile.amazon.com/ch/80-0302896.

Does your place of employment do matching funds for donations or volunteer time through Benevity? If so, you can make ISEC your recipient. Our 501(c)(3) number is 80-0302896.