"Carbon nanotubes' atomic structure should, in theory, give them mechanical and electrical properties far superior to most common materials. Unfortunately, theory and experiments have failed to converge on the true mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes. Northwestern University researchers recently made the first experimental measurements of the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes that directly correspond to the theoretical predictions. They used a nanoscale material testing system based on MEMS technology."

The new site will provide the following services:

1. Collaborative Space Elevator Open Wiki
- Including Reference Documents and Research Papers
2. Collaborative Space Elevator Developer Wiki
3. Calendar of Events
4. Space Elevator Blogs and latest entries
5. Organizations Working on the Space Elevator
6. Image Galleries
7. Video Galleries

Since the new site is based on the Mindtouch DekiWiki platform it provides a great set of mashup tools and DekiScript scripting language allowing me to incorporate data from many sources. Some of the services provided may be done in collaboration with other sites and I am open to more partnerships.

An impressive group of individuals representing a variety of interests appear ready to come together to create an organization to serve as a coalescing force for those interested in working on the scientific, engineering, economic and policy challenges inherent in constructing the solar system's first space elevator.

While individuals may be pursuing their specific interest in the space elevator, this potential new organization will put forward a united force to disseminate information that is both factual and timely. What's more, by organizing the various challenges ahead this organization will be providing an roadmap of what is being worked on, by whom, what needs to be done etc.

Foreign interest in the space elevator is also growing as was demonstrated at the conference with the strong presence of the Japanese primarily represented by the Japanese Space Elevator Association (JSEA). And in fact JSEA will be holding it's first conference on November 16th and 17th.

Interest in Europe is ongoing with with the 2nd European Space Elevator & CNT Tether Design Conference being held in Luxembourg on December 6th and 7th.

With a new organization in the works several social networking tools will be used to help the organization. There is now a Space Elevator Architect LinkedIn group created, a Twitter channel and I've created a new Facebook group for the organization. This new group, temporarily called the International Space Elevator Facebook group will evolve as the organization is formed and grows. For now I invite you to join this new group.

I spoke with Brad Edwards briefly today who informed me there was a good crowd assembled this morning, most likely at least 60 people for the first few talks. There seems to be a lot of interest from Japan right now according to Brad.

Ted Semon over at the Space Elevator Blog has been covering the conference in person and you can keep up to date with events during the day through our Twitter Channel.

As well there seems to be some good media reports out today. They include;

Local coverage from Kiro TV, Elevator To Space More Than Just An Idea, and Alan Boyle of Cosmic Log fame, Will the Space Elevator Rise?, and from the SeattlePI, There's no stairway to heavens? Take the elevator, and this story from Network World, Going up: Slow progress on 'space elevator'.

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend any of the conference due to a very important family commitment. However I am working with several people including Brad Edwards on the upcoming re-launch of the new Space Elevator Reference, so stay tuned.

I look forward to hearing what progress has been made by the various groups through my contacts.

One last note, a couple of days The Independent newspaper out of the U.K. had a great writeup on the new novel coming out from Sir Arthur C. Clarke, The Last Theorem. It was finished by eminent author Frederik Pohl and includes a space elevator. One last plug for the space elevator from Sir Arthur.

If I am there, I would like to meet with anyone who is interested in taking the Space Elevator Reference to a whole new level. I've had some great volunteers contact me so far but I'm sure I'll need more. And because of family commitments I've been delayed in deploying the new site. The server is now ready and with some final touches the site will be ready to launch within a week.

Marc

The class submitted many great logos but the one below and which now graces this site was selected by myself and my business partner Keith Cowing. The logo selected was created by Joanne Chournos who is available for freelance work. If you need Joanne's services please contact me, her rates are very reasonable.

In other news the Space Elevator Reference will be changing it's format in the coming months. When I first started this site it was with the intent to collect and disseminate resources that would help the community in its goal in making the concept of a Space Elevator a reality.

If you're familiar with Wikipedia then you get the idea of what the Space Elevator will become. However since we're using a combination wiki/mashup platform we'll be able to offer services than a standard wiki.

So please, if you're interested in helping the Space Elevator get built please contact me.

Marc Boucher
marc.boucher < AT > spaceref.com

Conference web site: http://spaceelevatorconference.org/

I had the privilege to meet Sir Arthur in 1997 in Sri Lanka, his home of 52 years. His creative mind inspired many people including myself. He will be missed but his creativity will live on through the people he inspired.

When I met him in 1997 it was for a variety of reason. One of them was to talk about the space elevator. He was so excited to talk about it. We met the at Colombo Swimming Club, he was just finishing up a swim and we had lunch. He was 79 at the time and his mind was as sharp as ever. When we sat down for lunch he presented me with a stack of material he had collected for me on the space elevator. I was astounded that he should do this for me. But this was the nature of Sir Arthur. He was a kind and giving man who would regale you with stories at every opportunity. I enjoyed my brief visit with him.

In 2002 through my work in the high arctic at the Haughton-Mars Project my SpaceRef business partner and I donated a greenhouse and I, with Sir Arthur's permission, named it the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse. The greenhouse now hosts a variety of research which will help future space explorers.

He was widely known as a premier science fiction writer and famous for his collaboration with Stanley Kubrick in taking his book 2001: A Space Odyssey to Hollywood. But he had many other accomplishments as well including a 1945 technical paper setting out the principles of satellite communication with satellites in geostationary orbits, something which would become a reality 25 years later.

But for those his read this blog Sir Arthur is best known for his book The Fountains of Paradise where popularized the concept of the Space Elevator and his 1981 technical paper The Space Elevator: 'Thought Experiment', or Key to the Universe?.

Today teams of scientists and engineers are working on making the Space Elevator a reality. Should this dream be realized it will mostly be attributed to Sir Arthur, and rightly so.

Marc Boucher

For more information on this new community service please visit the Space Elevator Twitter Community page.

Besides myself, Ted Semon of the Space Elevator Blog fame has agreed to have his blog posts appear in the Space Elevator Twitter channel so you can keep up to date with all those golden nuggets he finds.

Marc Boucher

I'll post more details as they arrive.

I wanted to give all of you an early announcement for the 2008 Space Elevator Conference. We have not had a Space Elevator “only” conference for 4 years.

This year the conference will be in Redmond, WA and will begin on Friday July 18th and will conclude on Sunday July 20th.

Please begin the process of spreading the word to your colleagues and Space Elevator contacts. The exact venue will be announced soon as will a suggested hotel in which to lodge.

Sincerely,
Bryan

For space elevator enthusiasts and professionals the service includes a Forum dedicated to the Space Elevator. Notable space elevator figures including but not limited to Spaceward's Ben Shelef and Brad Edwards will be contributing to the forum.

• Space Elevator Forum
• Spaceward Games 2008 Forum Topic

"Building on the results of the 2007 Challenge, the goals for 2008 have been set at 1 km height, 5 m/s minimum speed, for a prize level of $2M.

An intermediate prize level of $900k will be given for a speed of 2 m/s. Additionally, teams that can reach an altitude of 1 km at between 1 and 2 m/s will be awarded a prize of up to $50k.

The 1-km climb will be supported by a unique pyramid-anchored balloon system, providing the teams with a stable tether to climb on. Illustrations of the challenge over two potential sites are shown at www.spaceward.org/elevator2010-pb.html, showing the challenge as it would look if held over Meteor Crater in Arizona, and if held over the 2007 venue."

• Read the complete press release
• Discuss the Spaceward 2008 Games in the new On Orbit Space Elevator Forum

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Hello folks, and Happy New Year!

It's been a while since our last newsletter - seems that whenever something's going on in Space Elevator land, we're always too busy to write. :) Two months after the 2007 games, this is a good time to briefly reflect on this past year, and update you on our next steps for '08 and beyond.

In this newsletter:

A look back at 2007
A preview of our plans for 2008
A new partner
Carbon Nanotube news
2007:

For those who missed the real-time action, the official wrap-up of the 2007 Spaceward Games is posted online at www.spaceward.org/games07Wrapup.html. As usual, you can re-live the day-by-day coverage at the archives at Ted Semon's Space Elevator Blog and Marc Boucher's Space Elevator Reference.

The most significant result of the 2007 games, however, is not measured in units such as kilograms or in meters per second. What we saw in 2007 was a huge leap in the level of technology fielded by the teams. In particular, our two laser-based teams, USST and LaserMotive, designed and built complex advanced systems worthy of an aerospace project, and have acquired a set of capabilities that attracted industry interest to our competition. In terms of fulfilling the charter of the games, we could not have asked for more.

Looking back, you may remember that Space Elevator games did not exist before 2005. Unlike our role models – Solar car races and rocketry clubs, we did not have a rich tradition of games spanning tens of years to rely on. We started practically from scratch, and we are immensely proud of how our teams have grown.

Having wrapped up the games, our next order of business was charting the course for 2008. The immediate choices we looked at were keeping the challenge goals the same as in '07, doubling the speed or height requirements, or doubling both. However, after gathering feedback from existing and potential teams, the Space Elevator community, and relevant industry experts, we decided to go for something a bit more grandiose...

2008:

In broad strokes, the goal of the Space Elevator games is to bring the Space Elevator closer to reality. The goal of the power beaming challenge is to promote power beaming technology. We think that the time is ripe now to move the competition to the next level, addressing real-world power beaming scenarios where the minimum requirements for such systems start at the km range and kWatt power levels.

There's a drum roll missing here. 1 km is the height a jetliner is at when the cabin crew asks you to put your laptop away... To show what a 1 km tall race track looks like, we've posted a preview at the Power Beaming page. (The location shown is hypothetical, of course!) Also note the comparison to the 2007 games – those were held inside the small orange circle just below and to the left of the center-image.

To match the change in scope, we're also increasing the available prize money. As a matter of fact, we will be making the entire $2,000,000 available this year, depending on the speed of the climb. For 2 m/s, we'll be offering the originally scheduled $900k prize, but if a team can reach 5 m/s this year, it will receive the entire $2M purse. If not claimed, we'll keep the prizes and challenge the same for 2009.

The racetrack we're planning, based on a pyramid-tethered balloon, will be the tallest such pyramid ever flown. We're working with industry experts to set this up, and will keep you updated. This is very exciting for us, since this architecture is extendable to 10 km as well – almost a percent of a percent of the real Space Elevator.... In all seriousness though, while obviously all Earth-bound Space Elevator models are vastly shorter than the real thing, as far as reproducing the look-and-feel of a Space Elevator, this setup will go a long way towards demonstrating what the SE will be like.

Registration for the 2008 games is now open, and the first teams have already started working on their entries.

Trumpf, Inc.

We are very excited to announce the participation of Trumpf Laser as a sponsor for competition teams. Trumpf will provide their top-of-the-line laser to qualifying teams to be used as the beam source, easily enabling 1 km power beaming.

CNTs:

Finally, last but definitely not least, we'd like to share this exciting bit of news about Carbon Nanotube tethers: About a month ago, as reported at the Space Elevator conference in Luxembourg, a team from Cambridge University produced the first macroscopic carbon fibers that exhibited the kind of strength we were all expecting so see. These fibers, up to 1 mm long, clocked in at 10 N/tex, or about a fifth of what we need to build the Space Elevator (see here for details) We're looking forward to seeing this team and other CNT labs entering the tether competition next year.

So with this happy bit of news we'll sign off for this newsletter.

Have a happy new year!

The Spaceward Team.

There were approximately 50 attendees from all over Europe, the U.S., Canada and Japan. The talks covered specifics of what was successful at the recent games and where issues arose in the entries, plans for the 2008 games and discussions of the rapid development of carbon nanotubes which are widely expected to be the material to beat at the games in the future. ...

Marcelo Motta from Cambridge presented their most recent work which is to be published in Science this week. Over the last three years they have steadily improved their CNT production techniques and are now able to make threads with strengths as high as 20 GPa. This is a strength improvement of roughly 100 over the last 4 or five years for the group at Cambridge. Marcelo noted the challenges to scaling up the process but this achievement is monumental. It is a large step toward what is needed for the space elevator and demonstrates the basic truth that strong CNT threads can be made.

In addition to the Cambridge work Vessilin Shanov from the University of Cincinnati presented their accomplishments in growing CNT arrays up to 18 mm long. This was noted by Marcelo as an accomplishment that paves the way for even better threads. These two presentations covered the best leading work in CNTs today.

In discussions of the SE Games for 2008 Ben Shelef announced that Spaceward is seriously considering a climber height for next year of 1 km - ten times what it was this year. It was also evident that there is growing interest in the games at NASA and in private industry because of the performance of the teams and particularly USST's laser-powered ascent. Shelef stated an interest in Spaceward providing lasers for teams to use in 2008. This would greatly reduce the expenses on the teams and allow more to compete. Other changes for next year include the ribbon being replaced by a cable, the crane being replaced by a balloon and the prize money going up to $900k for both the tether and climber competitions. An addition to this is that in the last couple days Spaceward has released that it is considering raising the prize purse to $2M for each competition if higher performance is accomplished. With the state of the competitors these requirements are within reach.

In addition to the CNT and 2008 SE Games discussions the workshop provided valuable information from the organizers and the teams on what needs to be done to be a successful competitor. The basic design issues of the climbers and tethers and the tactics of the teams were discussed. There were obvious traits (technical skill) but much time was spent discussing the less obvious and more critical components of how the winning teams tended to focus on their own climber and what they needed to make it happen whereas the less successful teams tended to worry about the other teams, had less organization and more personal conflict issues.

The presentations from the workshop will be posted at eth Eurospaceward site in the coming weeks. From the success of this event it is expected that it could be a regular endeavor.