President's Corner

by Pete Swan

Elevate & Participate

Participate

2023 was an exciting time for the Modern-Day Space Elevator. We regained our footing and had the latest Space Elevator Conference in Chicago while participating in many other outreach activities. I would personally like to challenge you to participate in one or more of the events we support actively:

  • International Space Development Conference – our session on Saturday, 25 May, in Los Angeles, entitled: “Space Settlements Enabled by Transformational Permanent Infrastructures." Note the new date, changed from 23 May!

  • ISEC Conference in Chicago in mid-September [Call for Papers in this issue; dates still tbd]

  • International Astronautical Congress, in Milan this year – October; however, abstracts due 28 Feb! https://www.iafastro.org/events/iac/international-astronautical-congress-2024/

We are on the brink of a “breakout” with the progress of tether development and our recent study looking at our tether climbers (with today’s technology) being able to lift very heavy payloads. We have many events within ISEC such as research studies, Zoom outreach events, publications, and especially, attendance at major conferences. Please look over these events and consider participating and contributing through papers and presentations.

Elevate

One of the problems we have is the ability to quickly explain the concept of space elevators and why they are critical to humanity’s future. Please look at the following and give me feedback on how to improve this paragraph to use when meeting someone new who “needs” to know about space elevators. The following is a strawman:

“Space elevators will provide a transformational capability as a permanent space access infrastructure to “Elevate” massive cargo -- daily, efficiently, inexpensively -- to GEO and beyond. These permanent infrastructures, with parallel strengths as terrestrial bridges, will be distributed around the equator, each raising payload beginning at 14 tonnes to GEO daily -- without impacting the environment as climbers are raised by electricity. In addition, space elevators deliver unmatched efficiency with 70% of their pad mass to GEO and beyond vs. less than 2% for rockets. This capability will have initial operations in the last half of the 2030s and cooperatively join advanced rockets in delivering customers’ needs. As initial operations become real, the capability to GEO is roughly 30,000 tonnes per year. This is more than humanity delivered (to LEO) between 1957 and 2022. This breakout technology will provide space leadership to the operators while helping to improve humanity’s future.

Submit any suggestions to: info@isec.org.

Pete

Call for Papers

International Space Elevator Consortium
Space Elevator Conference 2024

The International Space Elevator Consortium invites the submission of abstracts for papers to be presented at its 2024 conference in Chicago in September. Papers should cover space elevator topics including design, dynamics, applications, scientific value, and economic impact.

Abstracts should be between 200 and 400 words in length and briefly describe the contents of the proposed paper and its importance to the development of space elevators. Abstracts must be in PDF format and submitted before 31 May 2024 to the review board chairman: 

Dennis Wright (dennis.wright@isec.org)

Authors will be notified of abstract acceptance by 15 June, at which point they will be invited to submit a paper on the topic and make a 20-minute oral presentation at the conference. Authors may opt for a 10-minute oral presentation which does not require an accompanying paper. All oral presentation materials, such as PDF or ppt slides must be submitted before the conference. Papers should be a minimum of 2,000 words in length, including supporting figures, and will be considered for publication either in the ISEC conference proceedings or other journal.

Important Dates

important dates

Please send questions or requests for details to the e-mail address above.

SpaceFlight Editorial

This month’s edition of SpaceFlight magazine featured this piece:

Letter From the Editor

SpaceFlight Vol 66 Feb 2024

by Rob Coppinger

It will not be a topic that can be avoided, the environmental impact of rocket exhaust plumes on the atmosphere is going to become a more prominent part of the climate change debate. The number of launches needed for mega-constellations and Musk’s Mars goals are extraordinarily high. Emissions by the civil air transport industry are only about 2% of humanity’s carbon dioxide output yet private jets, which are a tiny fraction of that tiny fraction, are routinely held up as a global polluting villain. China still uses the very toxic hypergolic propellants, many rockets use solid rocket boosters with their dirty fuel, and some use kerosene which is no better than petrol or diesel. Starship uses methane and New Glenn, natural gas, which is mostly methane. Methane’s advantage is it is more dense than hydrogen and can be made on Mars.  But methane’s exhaust species include many problematic elements. A pure liquid hydrogen and oxygen rocket still has the issue that it leaves water vapour high in the atmosphere and that moisture helps warm the planet. But there is an answer, the space elevator. Elon Musk could send far more payload to Mars in a year than any Earth based rocket ever could with an elevator. Mr. Tesla could also once again be hailed as an environmentalist. 

Ad Astra

Tether Materials

by Adrian Nixon, Board Member, ISEC

How Radiation from the Sun
Could Affect a Space Elevator Tether

I was invited to a discussion on LinkedIn to answer a question about how radiation from the Sun would affect a space elevator tether. Dear Reader, it occurred to me that you might find this of interest too, hence this newsletter article that explores the topic in more detail than the discussion thread. We will consider a tether made from Graphene Super Laminate (GSL) or carbon nanotubes (CNTs).

In the discussion thread, we referred to electromagnetic radiation. As you will know, radiation from the Sun has more variety than this….

sunlight reflected from tether

Image created by AI using the prompt “Sunlight reflected from a space elevator tether above the Earth."

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) defines four types of radiation, alpha, beta, neutrons, and electromagnetic waves [1].

Solar radiation is predominantly electromagnetic at the surface of the Earth; however, in space energetic alpha and beta particles and neutrons are also present [2].

Alpha radiation: (I’ll include protons and neutrons here)

Protons and neutrons are the components of the atomic nucleus. The Sun emits them singly or as pairs of protons and neutrons that comprise the nucleus of the helium atom. NASA also identifies galactic cosmic rays that come from supernovae beyond the solar system and can be the atomic nuclei of any atom in the periodic table moving at incredibly high speeds [2].

A variety of atomic nuclei will therefore collide with the tether causing localised atomic level damage. These collisions can eject electrons from the atoms in the tether causing localised ionisation and breaking of bonds. Provided the bond breaking is at the atomic level it is probable that these broken bonds will spontaneously heal as the ionised atoms are very reactive. Larger holes may remain as localised vacancies and these could reduce the strength of individual layers within the tether.

These collisions will also cause the tether to heat up. Graphene and carbon nanotubes have very high melting points and are excellent conductors of heat, so this is unlikely to affect the integrity of the tether. For more information about the effect of heat on a GSL tether please refer to a previous newsletter article in the references section [3].

A much rarer event could be transmutation. This is where a neutron or a proton collide with and change the structure of the nucleus. Neutron transmutation could create either carbon-13 or carbon-14. This is unlikely to affect the strength of the tether. Proton transmutation would be even rarer (references for this in the literature are hard to find.)

Beta radiation: Defined by NASA as electrons and positrons [2].

Most beta particles are very lightweight compared to the carbon atoms in GSL or CNT and will probably bounce off the material. However, very energetic particles will penetrate the structure. Electrons or positrons that penetrate the tether material will produce Bremsstrahlung radiation (braking radiation) [4]. The kinetic energy of the particle is converted into electromagnetic radiation. The higher the energy of the particle, the shorter the wavelength.

A study at the University of Leeds (UK) on nuclear-grade graphite found that the amount of sp2 hybridised carbon (graphene) was reduced by intense electron bombardment. The authors suspected but did not prove that amorphous carbon was being formed [5]. So, beta radiation must be of extreme intensity to cause damage to a tether made from GSL or CNTs. Less intense radiation will probably result in heating up the tether material, and the tether can withstand heating [3].

Electromagnetic radiation:

Electromagnetic radiation is a term that covers a wide range of wavelengths of which a tiny fraction is visible light. Longer wavelengths include everything from red light through infrared to microwaves. At the blue end of the spectrum, there are ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma radiation.

At the red end of the spectrum, graphene tends to be more reflective as the wavelength increases. This reflection will protect the tether. At the blue end of the spectrum and beyond, the shorter wavelengths penetrate most materials including graphene and carbon nanotubes. As the wavelength becomes shorter it has enough energy to remove tightly bound electrons from the orbit of an atom, breaking bonds and causing atoms to become charged or ionised. This is known as ionising radiation. The most extreme form is gamma radiation.

A previous newsletter article explored the effects of ionising radiation on the tether and concluded that damage could be sustained by the tether by changing the sp2 bonding of graphene and carbon nanotubes to the sp3 form. However, this depends on the intensity and duration of the irradiation [6].

NASA’s analysis of the solar wind:

The solar wind is composed mainly of electrons and protons. Larger alpha particles make up about 8% of the total [7]. The Earth’s magnetic field screens out most of the charged particles. This means that inside the magnetosphere a tether will be protected from bombardment by these particles.

However, a space elevator tether is an extremely large structure that will extend beyond the magnetosphere. NASA also points out that where the solar wind meets the magnetosphere these charged particles are deflected like water around the bow of a ship on the side of the Earth facing the Sun. The concentration of alpha and beta radiation at this point is going to need a lot more study to properly understand potential impacts on the tether material.

In summary, the effect of radiation from the Sun on tether materials such as GSL and CNTs depends on the type of radiation and its intensity. A tether has yet to be made, however, we know from laboratory studies that the radiation must be extremely intense to cause significant damage. Our current view is that tether materials will be able to withstand damage from the radiation environment in space. However, we are aware that this is a working hypothesis that will need testing at varying distances from the earth’s surface once tether materials start to be manufactured in useful quantities. We also await reliable data on the radiation intensity at various altitudes all the way from the surface of the earth out to 100,000 kilometres. In the meantime, a reasonable assumption can be made that the thicker the tether, the longer it will last.

References:

1. Anon (2020). What Are The Different Types of Radiation? [online] NRC Web. Available at: https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/science-101/what-are-different-types-of-radiation.html#.

2. Anon (2017). Why Space Radiation Matters - NASA. [online] NASA. Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/analog-field-testing/why-space-radiation-matters/#:~:text=Non%2DIonizing%20versus%20Ionizing%20Radiation&text=Examples%20of%20ionizing%20radiation%20include [Accessed 16 Jan. 2024].

3. Nixon, A. (2023). International Space Elevator Consortium Newsletter 2023 June: A Graphene Super Laminate Tether may be More Resilient to Heating than We Thought. [online] International Space Elevator Consortium. Available at: https://www.isec.org/space-elevator-newsletter-2023-june/#tether [Accessed 16 Jan. 2024].

4. Anon (2020). Bremsstrahlung. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsstrahlung [Accessed 16 Jan. 2024].

5. Mironov, B.E., Freeman, H.M., Brown, A., Hage, F., Scott, A.J., Westwood, A., Jean-Pierre da Costa, Weisbecker, P. and Brydson, R. (2015). Electron irradiation of nuclear graphite studied by transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy. Carbon, 83, pp.106–117. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2014.11.019.

6. Nixon, A. (2023a). International Space Elevator Consortium Newsletter 2023 August. [online] International Space Elevator Consortium. Available at: https://www.isec.org/space-elevator-newsletter-2023-august/#tether [Accessed 16 Jan. 2024].

7. Langford, M. and Holt, J.G. (2023). NASA - Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG) Web Site. [online] srag.jsc.nasa.gov. Available at: https://srag.jsc.nasa.gov/spaceradiation/what/what.cfm#:~:text=The%20solar%20wind%20is%20mainly [Accessed 17 Jan. 2024].

ISDC Space Elevator Technical Track 

Attention: new date!
Our Technical Session at the NSS
International Space Development Conference
is now Saturday!

We have changed our session to Saturday afternoon which ties into our Saturday Reception sponsorship. As such, the following expands on the basic details: Title: "Space Settlements Enabled by Transformational Permanent Infrastructures" Room: Laguna Saturday, May 25th from 2:00 PM until 6:00 PM.

We are looking forward to an exciting round of discussions with a focus on the transformational access to space when permanent infrastructures are operational in the late 2030s. Modern-Day Space Elevators are moving into their second phase of development and will enable the rise of new, exciting, and revolutionary endeavors at GEO, cislunar, and beyond. This revolutionary approach has three components:

1. Efficient delivery of supplies to GEO and Apex Anchors for assembly into larger space systems (70% of liftoff mass to GEO and beyond)

2. Release towards the Moon (14 hours) and Mars (as little as 61 days) with very high velocities (7.76 km/sec)

3. “On-time delivery” of logistics to destinations with the ability to release each day towards Mars (no 26-month wait for the next window) and beyond.

These transportation traits are inherent in a permanent infrastructure enabling commercial enterprises to accelerate their growth. The complexities and difficulties of developing commercial and government activities in and around space will be moderated by stimuli for growth with routine, daily, efficient, safe, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly permanent bridges to GEO and beyond.

Please join us in Los Angeles. Also, please submit abstracts to help us expand our discussion: https://nss-ops.org/isdc-call-for-abstracts/.

ISDC: https://isdc2024.nss.org

ISEC: https://www.isec.org/events/isdc2024 

Project Ascensio

by Jordan William Hughes

Hello! I’m a British Architect and Concept Artist, who has created a speculative concept for a space elevator, noting the challenges such a project would face, while also striving for a luxurious and bold design.

The project was produced for the Jacques Rougerie Competition -- an annual international design and research competition that challenges designers to think radically about both ocean and space architecture. The 2023 edition was contested by 750 designers, from 150 different nationalities. The jury was comprised of architects, artists, engineers, and a former astronaut. Projects had to produce a wide array of images, videos, research, and speculation.

The competition brief stated: “Your projects should be bold and forward-looking. Enthusiastic rather than standardised, they will demonstrate that inspiration, when it combines form, function, and environment, can take a simple idea to places where it is least expected.” These words resonated with me and sparked the project. Initially, I hoped to design spectacular space architecture, the likes of which we see in today’s science fiction. However, I was soon unable to ignore the question: “How do we build such mega-projects in space?” Rockets seem to truly limit our ability to expand beyond our planet and the historical concept of a Space Elevator seemed the most logical, yet exciting answer.

Building upon the plethora of research and speculation on the subject, I wanted to inject my passion for design to create something bold and exciting. While I expect the first space elevator will likely be hyper-efficient and bare-bones, my background in interior design and my research into existing space architecture brings into focus the human experience. In my opinion, for space architecture to be sustainable in the long-term, we must champion wellness and produce welcoming and spacious environments in which people can relax, live, and play…with human experience at its core.

"Project Ascensio" as I named it, included a mobile ocean-based spaceport tethered to an asteroid counterweight in geostationary orbit, with a bold, ringed Space Station along the way. The imagined space station supplies contrasting areas of construction and deluxe space tourism, with varying levels of artificial gravity. The all-important climbers were designed in two styles: cargo and passenger. The cargo climbers focus on efficiency, while the passenger climbers aim to produce a glamourous, emotional experience.

The response to the project this month has been unexpected and at times overwhelming! The project has been featured nationally on websites and radio in the BBC, Daily Mail, TheSun, and Dezeen, as well as internationally in countries such as Poland, Spain, the USA, United Arab Emirates, etc.

I am so grateful that people seem to have received the project positively. As a result of all the PR, I’ve been contacted by a wide array of enthusiasts, experts, and dreamers. I don’t claim to be an expert, and receiving both praise and constructive criticism has been wonderful. Many individuals and groups have contacted me about their concepts, some suggesting that a captured asteroid is not necessary, others suggesting new materials like Amorphous Silicon Carbide, etc. I’ve enjoyed learning more about the concept of a Space Elevator and becoming part of this group and seeing all the great work that has been carried out has been a great highlight that has opened my eyes to an exciting future!

Editor's Note:

You can view the amazing artwork that accompanied Jordan's submission at:

https://www.jacquesrougeriedatabase.com/explore-database/

(Narrow your search to 2023 by clicking on "Filter Projects" and look for the laurel wreath.)

ISEC members can find full-resolution copies of Jordan's work in the ISEC Zotero library; look in the "2024" collection. For access, you need to be an ISEC member. (This is not the same as registering for this newsletter; go to https://www.isec.org/membership to join.) 

If you joined before 08-Jan-2024 you should have received access instructions, if you joined more recently, contact peter.robinson@isec.org

Academic Challenge 2024: Update

Remember, we have two challenges that the students need to address: The first challenge focuses upon the strengths of Space Elevators -- the Green Road to Space. They are encouraged to assess the strengths of Space Elevator by applying its principles to hypothetical future missions while illustrating the major characteristic of being the Green Road to Space. The second challenge encourages the student to expand their imagination by exploring the use of AI technologies towards particular aspects of Space Elevators. This challenge has three rounds: Abstract, Paper, and Video. Abstracts submitted in the initial round will be selected to advance to the semi-final round. Semi-finalists will be asked to author a paper and selected semi-finalists will be invited to advance to the final round to create a 10-minute video.

As of December 20, 2023, we have accepted a total of fifteen entries as follows:

academic challenge chart

Our next step was for the students to submit their papers to the team by February 1, 2024.

We will evaluate the papers and select our finalists by February 15, 2024, at which time they have to submit their 10-minute video by April 1, 2024. We will select the winners by April 15th, 2024.

Prizes are as follows:

  1. High School: 1st prize = $2,000USD, 2nd prize = $1,000USD, 3rd prize = $500USD

  2. University: 1st prize = $2,000USD, 2nd prize = $1,000USD, 3rd prize = $500USD

The winners will have the opportunity to provide a poster to the NSS Conference May 24-27, 2024, in Los Angeles, CA.

Around the Web

The first space elevator could possibly be a lunar elevator if SpaceX has its way: https://phys.org/news/2023-12-nasa-astronauts-spacex-elevator-concept.html.

Here’s an article from this month’s Northeastern Global News titled, “Are Space Elevators Possible? Physicist Says They Could Transform Humanity into a ‘Spacefaring Civilization’” by Tanner Stening.

There’s also a video with a similar title called “Are Space Elevators Possible?” from Real Engineering from three years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa_xteu_Mts.

A student at The University of Colorado named Jonathan Garbrick presented his paper, “Mars Trajectories Using an Earth-Departure Space Elevator” at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech conference in Orlando, Florida, USA. https://communique.uccs.edu/?p=153750 

Upcoming Events

Atlanta Space Education Summit ***CANCELLED***
Sponsored by ARES Learning
https://www.areslearning.com/atlanta
Saturday, February 24th, 2024
FCS Innovation Academy, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA

42nd International Space Development Conference
Sponsored by the National Space Society
https://isdc2024.nss.org/
Thursday, May 23rd, through Sunday, May 26th, 2024
Sheraton Gateway, Los Angeles, California, USA
Theme: “No Limits”

7th International Conference on Tethers in Space
Sponsored by Lassonde School of Engineering, York University
and the International Academy of Astronautics
https://lassonde.yorku.ca/conf/tis2024/
Sunday, June 2nd, through Wednesday, June 5th, 2024
Toronto, Canada

8th Annual Nanotechnology Conference
Sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry
https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/77700/8th-annual-nanotechnology-conference-nanomat2024
Sunday, August 25th, through Wednesday, August 28th, 2024
Hotel Arcotel Wimberger, Vienna, Austria

Space Elevator Conference
Sponsored by the International Space Elevator Consortium and Slalom, Inc.
https://www.isec.org/events/isec2024
Saturday, September 14th, through Sunday, September 15th, 2024 (Dates still to be confirmed)
Downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA

75th International Astronautical Congress
Sponsored by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
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
International Convention Centre, Sydney, Australia

77th International Astronautical Congress
Sponsored by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
https://iac2026antalya.com/
Theme: “The World Needs More Space”
Proposed Dates: October 5th through October 9th, 2026
Antalya, Turkey

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