Recently in Conferences Category

The European Spaceward Association is preparing for the Third International Conference on Space Elevator Systems - CNT Tether Design and Lunar Industrial Challenges. The conference will join some of the world's leading researchers and engineers on space elevator systems and carbon nanotube fiber production. An add-on this year will be a session on lunar industrialization challenges.

Four hundred years ago on this day Galileo Galilei, considered by some to be the Father of Modern Science, demonstrated his first telescope to the merchants of Venice. In building his first telescope and with his subsequent observations of the moons of Jupiter he set the stage to later argue in favour of the sun-centered Copernican theory of the universe. Unfortunately for Galileo his work and support of the the sun-centered theory would be considered close to heresy by the Catholic church which would eventually try him and place him under house arrest.

Starting tomorrow enthusiasts, engineers, entrepreneurs and scientists will gather at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond, Washington for the annual Space Elevator Conference. I will be there for the first two days of the conference and will report back early next week.

Today was the first day of the 2008 Space Elevator Conference in Redmond, Washington at the Microsoft Conference Centre.

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.

The 2008 Space Elevator Conference will take place between July 18-20 in Redmond, Washington home of Microsoft who are the title sponsors. The organizers are currently putting a call out for papers so now is the time to get involved and have your ideas heard and discussed. Don't miss this opportunity to get involved and meet your colleagues.

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

Rutgers University will be holding a conference on lunar settlements June 3-7, 2007. The conference will cover all aspects of developing a lunar program and how best to build and establish a manned presence on the moon. This is one of the ultimate applications of the space elevator and because of this Dr. Edwards will be presenting a scenario for development of a lunar outpost that utilizes a space elevator. This presentation is based on a proposal that was submitted by a diverse team in response to NASA's early call for concepts.

The Space Exploration Conference takes place March 25-28 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Today the conference organizers have circulated the conference highlights (PDF)and schedule to date.