The 2010 Space Elevator Conference is a three-day conference to be held in once again in Redmond, Washington at the Microsoft Conference Center on August 13-15, 2010. The conference, focusing on all aspects of Space Elevator development, will engage an international audience of scientists, engineers, educators, managers, entrepreneurs, enthusiasts and students. Registration is now open.
Markus Klettner at EuroSpaceward has released the flyer for the 2nd International Conference On Space Elevator & Carbon Nanotube Tether Design being held on the 6th and 7th December in Luxembourg.
Flyer cover page
Flyer inside page
Distribute them far and wide.
In other conference news the Spaceward Games which includes the tether and power beaming challenges has been pushed back to early next year, most likely in February as a suitable venue is currently under discussion with the contract details being worked out. If all goes well the Spaceward Games of 2009 will be an event not to be missed.
The games are almost upon us (www.spaceward.org). Marc Boucher is already on the road to Salt Lake City and I (Brad Edwards) will be heading down in a couple days to help with the set-up and endless final details prior to the opening next Friday (October 19th). The endeavor has been developing and growing and this year will be interesting. It is not a backyard tinkering event for geeks, it is getting serious and turning into a fun event for all.
Opening at the Davis county fairgrounds the event has been expanded. There will be the climbers racing up a ribbon hung from a 400 foot tall crane and the tethers being broken at an inside event alongside light racers (beamed power-driven remote controlled race cars). In between climber runs, racing cars and tether pulls a jumbotron will be showing various space elevator-related videos including the Discovery and NOVA specials and the newest from Japan and several other activities and experts will be available to give the uninitiated an understanding of the space elevator. All of this is now packaged in a colorful fair-type environment complete with food vendors. The center of the activity will be the climbers that race and those that fail. With plenty of room and cameras on the climbers and following their ascent it will be easily accessible to all. As in past years spectators will be able to get close to the competitors at climber row and see what’s been built and talk to the teams. The serious part is that the climbers now have backers, years of development and power. The first two years the power sources were strictly spot lights and reflected solar and though there will be some of these this year, the ones to watch may be those with the multikilowatt lasers (a million times more powerful than a laser pointer) and the microwave systems. These could race at speeds easily enough to win the prize but they are complex systems and certainly a smoking “agony of defeat” is a real possibility in some cases.
Ben Shelef at the Spaceward Foundation informs us today that registration is now open for the 2007 Climber (Power Beaming) Competition and 2007 Space Elevator Tether Competition. If you register by February 1st the fee is $500 for limited registration and $2500 for full registration for the Power Beaming (Climber) competition and $2500 registration fee for the Tether competition.
The rulesbooks have been updated and comments are now being accepted with a further revision expected by the end of the month.
For the new few weeks I'll be blogging from Toronto. Today I came accross a notice from Punkworks about their open house here in this weekend. I don't think I can make it but if you're in TO why not check them out.
"You are invited to an open house at the Punkworks headquarters, the Moshpit, on Saturday, September 30. We will be exhibiting Jack, our entry into the Space Elevator Games this October 20-21 at the X-Prize Cup. The location is 100 Hymus in Scarborough (Warden and Eglinton).Directions by car: DVP to Eglinton and go east on Eglinton. Turn right onto Warden (south) and past two lights. Just before the train tracks, turn left onto Hymus until you reach 100. The unit we're in is a corner unit with a side door entrance.
Directions by transit: get onto Bloor/Danforth line east (towards Kennedy). Go all the way to Warden and get off. The 68 bus will take you north on Warden to Hymus. If you get tired of waiting for a bus, then I can come pick you up from the station.
You can reach me by cellphone at 647-892-6477 should you have any questions. Support our team!
Allen Atamer"
Another promo for the upcoming Space Elevator games.
"Together, NASA, Spaceward, and X PRIZE are looking to jumpstart safe and efficient space exploration using prizes for private research; much like the Orteig Prize which was won by none other than Charles Lindbergh in his Spirit of St. Louis. The competitions have a total purse of $400,000 sponsored by NASA's Centennial Challenges program, quadrupling the amount of prize money of last year's event. Two prizes will be awarded to teams who can build the strongest tether, and the fastest moving vertical robot. Over twenty teams from different universities and research groups will be competing for a piece of space travel history."
The Space Engineering and Science Institute has issued a call for papers for the Second International Conference and Exposition on Science, Engineering and Habitation in Space and the Second Biennial Space Elevator Workshop.
Abstracts are due September 15th. Of note I just received my copy of the proceedings from the last conference and it makes for a great reference book. This is a conference I recommend for anyone who wants to participate in making a Space Elevator a reality.
The conference is between March 25-28th in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Ok, I announced this in early May but the official press release is now out.
The X PRIZE Foundation and the Spaceward Foundation have signed an agreement that will bring the Space Elevator Games, a NASA Centennial Challenge, to the 2006 X PRIZE Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico. More than 20 teams are expected to compete for $400,000 at the Las Cruces International Airport on October 20-21, 2006.
This was announced about a month ago but it's well worth mentioning here. The Spaceward Foundation has once again teamed with NASA for the Mars Robotic Construction Challenge. This is really exciting news as it adds another piece to the exploration to do puzzle.
Here's some of the reasoning behind this challenge. You can read the rest and the rules on their web site.
WhySuppose we want to build a fuel/oxygen generation plant on Mars, comprised of an ore processor, a reactor, and storage tanks. Or suppose we want to build a human habitat, comprised of several interconnected habitation and support modules...
With today's technology, we already know how to build the basic machinery, and we also already know how to send payloads to the Martian surface... The problem is that we can only send up to a ton or two at a time. (The Spirit and Opportunity packages only weighed about half a ton each), and so have to assemble the structures on the Martian surface - with the human operators still on Earth!
The annual International Space Development Conference starts this Thursday through Sunday in Los Angeles and will feature 15 talks and 2 panels on the Space Elevator. Speakers include Brad Edwards, Ben Shelef, Tom Nugent, Geoff Landis, Blaise Gassend and many more. There will also be space elevator mock up by the SpaceWard Foundation and an update on the Space Elevator Games.
The conference is hosted by the National Space Society and the Planetary Society and I expect there will be a good turnout, perhaps more than 700 people. Other featured speakers include;
Buzz Aldrin
Apollo astronaut
Shana Dale
Deputy Administrator, NASA
Burt Rutan
Designer, X Prize winning SpaceShipOne
Bill Nye
The original 'Science Guy'
Elon Musk
President, Space Exploration Technologies
Peter Diamandis
Founder and Chairman, X PRIZE Foundation
Rusty Schweickart
Apollo astronaut
Dennis Tito
The first space tourist
Gregory Olsen
3rd private citizen to visit ISS
Charles Elachi
Director, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Director, Hayden Planetarium
I'll be there so if you want to talk about anything just ping me.
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