Editor's Note

Dear Fellow Space Elevator Enthusiast,

We are seeing more and more articles about space elevators with varying levels of speculation on the part of the authors ranging from genuine endorsement to calling us “Boffins.” I won’t be supplying the article, but if you really want to support an e-zine version of a rag publication, do a search for Space Elevators with the word “Boffin” and it will pop up. For links to the more serious entries, see “Around the Web,” below.

Sandee Schaeffer
Newsletter Editor

President's Corner

by Pete Swan

Revolutionary Phrases

Space elevator development is emerging from its embryonic stage. During the modern-day space elevator revolutionary development, many aspects are coming to the fore. Modern-day space elevators are becoming recognized as a necessary permanent transportation infrastructure supporting space activities. As such, we have broken the mold of “how we do space things” by showing how things will change. This is reflected in our terminology, so I have listed some phrases that bring out transformational capabilities when space elevators go operational. Let’s talk about these concepts at our ISEC conference next month. This should enable us to recognize the big revolution that will occur when we go operational. Please think about these phrases and how they change how we do business in and around space. 

Revolutionary Phrases:

+ Green Road to Space
+ Climb to GEO
+ Slide to Apex Anchor
+ Release to Mars (no fuel required)
+ Daily departure to Mars (as fast as 61 days)
+ Bus Schedule to Mars
+ No wait for planetary alignment (no 26-month windows)
+ Assemble massive satellites at Geo and Apex Anchor
+ High velocity with massive satellites sent beyond Pluto (100 AU within 19 years)
+ Planetary Defense Garages at Apex Anchors for rapid response
+ Astronaut Rescue Garages at Apex Anchors for rapid response

President’s encouragement to all:

We are going to have a remarkable conference in August in Chicago. I hope you can make it as we will have conversations on the general topic while focusing on the authors’ presentations. I am hoping that each of you can:

+ Bring and then share your thoughts on Space Elevators
+ Volunteer to speak at the conference (submit presentation abstract)
+ Support our workshops: Tether climber, Dual Space Access Strategy, and Apex Anchor
+ Present a paper on your favorite topic

I personally look forward to seeing each one of you at the conference!

Pete

Space Elevator Conference Update

Registration is now Open
for the Annual ISEC Conference!!

The conference is being held at the Aon building in downtown Chicago Saturday, August 12th and Sunday, August 13th, 2023.

Join us to listen to the top voices in the Space Elevator community. Some topics include the Dual Space Access Architecture and the Apex Anchor. We are excited to have a number of other presentations on various topics related to the Space Elevator.  

Please register at https://www.isec.org/conference-registration. Once registration is complete, you will be sent a payment link for the conference.

We are very pleased to offer an extra special rate for accommodations at the Fairmont Millenium Park for $209 per night + taxes. There is a direct pedway from Millenium Park to the Aon Building, which you can use to access the conference. The hotel link with the special rate will be in the confirmation communications after you have submitted payment. 

If you would like to join the conversation, and share your perspectives, please complete the call for proposal, as we have recently added a section for 15-minute mini-presentations and we would very much like to hear your thoughts! https://www.isec.org/call-for-proposals.

If you have any questions about the conference, please contact Conference Co-Chair, Karyn Gleeson at Karyn.Gleeson@ISEC.org. 

What to expect while you are there:

  • Continental breakfast both days

  • Lunch both days

  • Engaging presentations about Space Elevators

  • The opportunity to give input during mini-sessions

  • Physical copies of the latest publications

And for the very first time, attendees will receive a SWAG bag with unique souvenirs of their visit to the SEC this year!

Winners of the International Space Elevator Consortium’s Academic Challenge Announced

THE CHALLENGE WAS ISSUED: “Can you contribute to the future of humanity with great ideas developed from recent discoveries?" This challenge focuses on the strengths of the Space Elevator—the Green Road to Space. This challenge encouraged students to expand their imagination by exploring, and making a case for something that the Space Elevator can do for humanity.

The Academic Challenge winners for 2023 are:

1st Place: Henrique Etrusco Ribeiro Moreira (Vanier College) : “Space Elevator: Applications of GEO Stations and Microgravity.”

2nd Place: Ryo Kuzuno, Yukito Kodama, & Yuki Furusho (Tohoku University) and Shota Arai (University of Tokyo) : “High-Level Nuclear Waste Disposal System Using Space Elevator.”

3rd Place: Juan Koike, Nanako Doi, Shingo Toyoda, & Ryota Yoshimura (College of Science and Technology, Nihon University) : “High-degree-of-freedom Orbital Deployment of CubeSats by Space Elevators.”

Congratulations and best wishes for future research in each of their careers after college!

History Corner

by David Raitt

Space Propulsion Dreams

In a discussion of spacecraft propulsion in the 2007 Wikipedia Selection for Schools in the UK, the space elevator is listed as a launch mechanism with the advantage of having the availability of infrastructure on the ground to assist it. It is also listed as a technology requiring further research. Propulsion is a space system well-described by science fiction writers and artists who have predicted satellites, spaceflight, Moon landings, etc., well before they were actually possible. Indeed, early methods of spacecraft propulsion include "A True Story," written in Greek in the second century AD (about 160) by the Syrian author Lucian of Samosata—a satirical novel of outlandish tales that had been reported in ancient sources, particularly those that presented fantastic or mythical events as if they were true. Blown off course by a storm, Lucian and his fellow travelers aboard a sailing ship are caught up by a whirlwind, and after seven days and seven nights, are thrown onto the surface of the Moon—arriving in the midst of turmoil. The book is reputed to be the earliest known work of fiction to include travel to outer space, alien lifeforms, and interplanetary warfare. It has also been described as the first known text that could be called science fiction.

Quite some centuries later, Johannes Kepler wrote a tale in Latin, "Somnium" ("The Dream") in 1608 (published by his son in 1634) about a voyage to the Moon in which he noted that the Earth's atmosphere did not extend infinitely. Shortly after that, Francis Godwin's story "The Man in the Moone, or Discourse of a Voyage Thither" appeared in 1638, in which a character named Domingo Gonzales is transported to the Moon in a chariot towed by a flock of geese. Also, in 1638, John Wilkins discussed flying chariots to the Moon driven by manpower, or towed by exotic birds, and even by an engine to be contrived on the same principles as the legendary mechanical doves and eagles. His book, "A Discovery of a New World…in the Moon", also includes a chapter dedicated to exploring the challenges and mechanics of a potential journey to the Moon. In 1640, he added a "Discourse" to the second edition of his book to challenge this thinking. Then in 1657, Cyrano de Bergerac wrote a satirical story in French about his namesake Cyrano attempting to fly to the Moon by strapping bottles of dew to his body. The attempt failed, and he tried again—with a flying machine to which he attached firework rockets. Considered to be one of the earliest science fiction stories, the book was credited by Arthur C. Clarke as the first description of manned rocket-powered flight.

Although early writings on spaceflight were fanciful and often wildly inaccurate in many areas, though sometimes based on some semblance of fact, a number of the predictions made in them did come to pass. Some of the systems and technologies described in science fiction literature, artwork, and films, based on the limited scientific knowledge available at the time, were subsequently successfully developed. Indeed, there may not have been a space programme without a nod to science fiction as it inspired several generations over the ensuing centuries to dream about spaceflight and Moon landings and, in doing so, prepared the public to spend millions for the subsequent achievements.

Ideas play an important role in science and technology, even when they do not have an immediately testable aspect and thus, science fiction predicts change, explores consequences, and studies potential futures. It provides a different perspective on our own world by trying to speculate and go beyond facts without giving up logic. It is essentially the "what if" genre, but it is still a viable vehicle with which to introduce the world of tomorrow to today's students and also make them more interested in, aware of, and able to learn about science—particularly physics, chemistry, and biology. Much of the science in science fiction is real and is often presented more accessibly than science is sometimes presented in the classroom.

Although the loose concept of the propulsion system we now call a space elevator goes back just less than 130 years ago and was only an abstract imagining of a way to get into space—though based on actual research, mathematics, and calculations—the idea was later taken up independently by others, including both serious scientists & engineers and writers of science fiction stories. And while the number of novels and artworks describing and depicting space elevators may have slowed, today there are still many conference papers, journal articles, and technical reports being written, and videos created on YouTube and elsewhere that are not just keeping the concept of a space elevator alive, but taking it substantially further to the point where soon we may see the dreams of much earlier minds actually turned into reality.

Tether Materials

by Adrian Nixon, Board Member, ISEC 

Engaging with the Space Industry
and General Public in the UK

“Hello, Adrian? We have been following your work on graphene and the space elevator. Would you like to present at Farnborough this year?”  

The event turned out to be the Space Com Expo 2023, UK. I would get to present in a fireside chat format with Dr. Aphrodite Tomou, head of technology for Goodfellow. I know Aphrodite well, and make a point of associating with very bright people, so I said yes.

Then I realised what I had agreed to.

Space Comm Expo is the biggest space industry exhibition and conference in the UK; it is full of rocket scientists and space professionals. This audience could potentially be one of the most sceptical faced so far. 

We were presenting in the Small Sats theatre on the first day of the event. The theatre area was packed with a full audience; well over a hundred people came, and from the stage, I could see even more were standing at the back.

Adrian Nixon and Dr. Aphrodite Tomou at Space Comm Expo

Adrian Nixon and Dr. Aphrodite Tomou at Space Comm Expo

As you will know by now, I was pleasantly surprised by our reception. There is a growing awareness that the current methods of accessing space cannot scale to achieve the ambitious goals of the big actors.

access ti space

A dual method of access to space is going to be needed. Rockets are required to lift people and urgent items through the Earth’s radiation belts rapidly. However, another method is required in order to lift large amounts of mass because rockets can only deliver fractions of the launchpad mass to the destination

+ In the entire history of spaceflight, since 1957, only about 20,000 tons have been placed in low earth orbit (LEO) [1]

+ Rockets can only deliver 4% of the launch pad mass to LEO and 2% of the launchpad mass to geostationary orbit (GEO) [2]

+ A single space elevator can lift about 30,000 tons to GEO every year [1]

The other issue that people in the space industry are starting to consider is the pollution rockets create. 

+ In 2021, rockets put one million kg of black carbon pollution directly into the stratosphere [3]

No one knows how this will affect our planet, particularly as more and more rockets are launched through the earth’s atmosphere.  

I expected to be treated with polite disdain by the space industry professionals. I was pleasantly surprised to find that many people in the audience had heard of the latest developments in tether materials and were prepared to consider the possibility that the space elevator could be built.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene, are already being made in industrial quantities. The companies engaged in this endeavour have yet to create tether quality material, but the groundwork is being laid.

Companies such as Galactic Harbour Associates (GHA) have even started to create realistic images of what a tether made from 2D materials would look like [4].

Galactic Harbour illustration of space elevator

At the end of the presentation, many people stayed behind to ask questions. There was no hostility or skepticism; the mood was one of excited curiosity.

The messaging is getting through!

References:

1. Swan, C. (2023). Modern day space elevators. SpaceFlight, 65(6), pp.18–19.
[online] International Space Elevator Consortium. Available at: https://www.isec.org/s/spaceflight-june-2023-4-modern-day-space-elevators.pdf [Accessed 23 June 2023]

2. Swan, P., Swan, C., Phister, P., Dotson, D., Bernard-Cooper, J. and Molloy, B., 2022. The Green Road to Space. ISEC Position Paper # 2021-1. 
[online] International Space Elevator Consortium. Available at: https://www.isec.org/s/GreenRoad.pdf [Accessed 23 June 2023].

3. O’Callaghan, J. (2022). Emissions from rocket launches could affect Earth’s weather systems.
[online] New Scientist. Available behind paywall at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2324367-emissions-from-rocket-launches-could-affect-earths-weather-systems/ [Accessed 2 June 2023].

4. Hall, V., Fitzgerald, M. and Swan, P. (2023). THE GALACTIC HARBOUR.
[online] Galactic Harbour Associates, Inc. Available at: https://galacticharbour.com/about/the-galactic-harbor/ [Accessed 17 Jun. 2023].

Around the Web

Acta Astronautica has published another article by members of ISEC! (See the May 2023 issue of the newsletter for details about previous publications.) Titled “Conditions at the Interface Between the Space Elevator Tether and its Climber” is a collaboration among TEN members! You can see the Abstract and portions of the article here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094576523003466?via%3Dihub. For the full article, you must purchase the PDF using the link at the top of the page.

Alejandro Forero is being featured for the third time in the newsletter. (For previous mentions, see March 2023 and June 2023.) He has been prolific with his video productions. This one is called “Space Elevator: Climber Episode.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m_goYsQ-CI. While on his YouTube channel, you can also check out his three other features on the Space Elevator. 

Freethink.com published a recent article called “Space Elevators are Inching Closer to Reality” by Kristin Houser. While that sounds optimistic, the subtitle is “But Can We Build One Before We No Longer Need It?” To see why the tone turned pessimistic, click this link: https://www.freethink.com/space/space-elevator. 

An article called “What Would it Take to Build a Tower as High as Outer Space?” referenced by Kristin in the above article from 2018 by Sean Sun and Dan Popescu proved to be scientific and thought-provoking. Check out their article at the Aeon.co website here: https://aeon.co/ideas/what-would-it-take-to-build-a-tower-as-high-as-outer-space. 

A concise article that does an excellent job of summarizing the history of the space elevator concept and presenting current challenges was recently published in AnyUAKMedia.com: https://anyuakmedia.com/introduction-to-space-elevator-a-revolutionary-concept/ 

Upcoming Events

Space Elevator Conference
Sponsored by the International Space Elevator Consortium and Slalom, Inc.
https://www.isec.org/events/isec2023    
Saturday, August 12th through Sunday, August 13th, 2023
Downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA
Theme: “Permanent Space Access Transportation Infrastructure”

74th International Astronautical Congress
Sponsored by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
https://www.iafastro.org/events/iac/iac-2023/ 
Theme: “Global Challenges and Opportunities: Give Space a Chance”
Monday, October 2nd through Friday, October 6th, 2023
Baku, Azerbaijan

42nd International Space Development Conference
Sponsored by the National Space Society
Thursday, May 23rd through Sunday, May 26th, 2024
Los Angeles, California, USA

75th International Astronautical Congress
Sponsored by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
Announcement: https://www.iafastro.org/events/iac/international-astronautical-congress-2024/ 
Theme: “Responsible Space for Sustainability”
Monday, October 14th through Friday, October 18th, 2024
Milan, Italy

76th International Astronautical Congress
Sponsored by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
Monday, September 29th through Friday, October 3rd, 2025
Sydney, Australia

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