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The official newsletter of the
International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) |
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Our mission statement:
"... ISEC promotes the
development, construction and operation of a space elevator as
a revolutionary and efficient way to space for all humanity
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The ISEC e-Newsletter - Issue #1 -
July, 2009 |
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The Space Elevator Games are ON! |
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The Spaceward Foundation and NASA have
announced that the Space Elevator Games Climber / Power-Beaming
competition has been scheduled for August 5-7 at the NASA Dryden Flight Research
Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
From the Press Release: "We are thrilled to be
working with the people at NASA HQ and Dryden” said Ben Shelef,
Founder of the Spaceward Foundation, host of the Space Elevator
games. 'NASA is a symbol of mankind’s quest to explore space and
Dryden is the symbol of beyond-cutting-edge technology
development. The people and atmosphere here are everything the
‘Right Stuff’ was all about. This year’s challenges will feature
several teams from the US and Canada competing for $2,000,000 of
prize money, and it promises to be a spectacular race. Most of
the teams competing this year are veterans of past competitions
and they are now the experts in this field.'"
The official website for these games is
http://www.spaceelevatorgames.org. Because this
competition will not be open to the public (due to the secure facility where it
is being held), it will be televised on NASA TV and via a webcast
at the official website. In addition, the official website
will show interviews, team standings, blog posts from the
competition, clips from previous year's competitions, etc. - in short, everything you need to stay on top of
the Games. Ben Shelef, the
CEO of the Spaceward Foundation (host of the Space Elevator
Games), gives us this latest update: |
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"The latest and greatest in Space Elevator gamesland!
We’re almost, almost, almost there. For those of you not
following the Games blog
(http://www.SpaceElevatorGames.org), the Power Beaming
challenge is scheduled for August 5 through 7, (Wed – Fri)
coupled with a Space Elevator symposium on site on Tuesday,
August 4. The Tether Strength challenge will be held on Aug 13th
at the Space Elevator conference in Redmond, Washington.
The last few weeks have been filled with excitement as we ramped
up testing both at Dryden and at individual team facilities.
Scroll down the blog and you’ll see images from testing at
LaserMotive’s digs in Seattle (yum!) and further back the
results of Kansas City Space Pirates’ test runs at the lakebed
at Dryden.
We flew the helicopter/tether configuration, but didn’t get to
finish the test 100% due to a mechanical problem, and so have to
re-fly the tests. In addition, we’ll have another qualification
window for laser testing – all will happen between July 21 and
July 24. This will be the chance to see what
USST (winner of all
previous Games) have up their sleeves. (Due to a string of
issues, they could not get qualified last time, having driven
from and back to Saskatchewan basically for nothing - though we
did all get a chance to admire the paint job on their truck!
Once we’re through this set of tests, it is full steam ahead for
the Games – there will be very little at the Games that we
didn’t test previously, so we’ll have a high degree of
confidence that things will go as planned and the teams will see
the fruits of their labor – between 2 and 4 years in the making!
More soon!" |
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You can read the complete Spaceward press
release here
(note that the dates of the competition have changed since the
press release date. Check the
official website
of the Games for the latest information and schedule). |
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What is ISEC?
The International Space Elevator
Consortium (ISEC) is the result of a coming-together of leading
figures and organizations who have worked long and hard over many
years to promote
the concept of a Space Elevator. With organizational members
in the United States, Europe and Japan and individual members from
around the world, ISEC's goal is nothing less than to get a Space
Elevator built.
From our bylaws:
"... ISEC promotes the development, construction and operation of
a space elevator as a revolutionary and efficient way to space for
all humanity ..."
Our plan of action is based on four pillars: Technology, Law,
Business, and Outreach:
Each of the pillars is headed by a pillar lead, who functions much
like a university's department head. Their job is to start
initiatives (projects), pursue collaborations, guide project leads
and prospective project leads in pursuing their individual projects,
and generally increase the activity level of their pillar.
If you agree with us that building a
Space Elevator should be a priority for all of us and you would like
to help make this happen, please
Join Us! Benefits
include e-newsletters (such as this one), an e-magazine and
e-journal and other items listed on our sign-up page.
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Come and join us
and help make the future happen! |
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Why should you join ISEC?
#5] You want to know where your mother’s yarn has
gone.
#4] Bragging rights – be the first on your block to be a card
carrying member
#3] Great Pick-up lines at Cocktail Party
#2] Develops your unassailable credibility as a rocket scientist
and
#1] Self Satisfaction at furthering space exploration – Actually you
ARE!
(*With thanks to Peter Swan and apologies to Mr. Letterman...)
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The Japan Space Elevator Games
 Japan, too, is holding their version of the Space Elevator Games.
This is their first-ever competition and is entitled the Japan Space
Elevator & Technical Competition (JSETEC) - "Climb me to the moon".
This competition will be held on Saturday, August 8th, and Sunday,
August 9th at Nihon University in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. For
more details, you can visit their website at
http://jsea.jp/en/node/455. |
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The 2009 Space Elevator Conference
The 2009 Space Elevator Conference will be held from Thursday, August 13th through
Sunday, August 16th, at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond,
Washington. A full and varied set of activities are planned;
everything from "Family Day", where the concept of a Space Elevator
is presented to families and others who may be new to the idea, to
Roadmap workshops to in-depth presentations on the state of the
various technologies necessary to build a Space Elevator.
Corporate sponsors so far include the Space Engineering and Science
Institute (SESI), the JPL Space Foundation and the Microsoft corporation.
The official conference website is
http://www.spaceelevatorconference.org and here you can stay current
with the latest conference developments and register to
participate or attend. We hope to see you there! |
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EuroSpaceward to hold its third
annual conference in December
On December 5th and 6th, 2009,
EuroSpaceward will host
it's 3rd International Conference on the Space Elevator, CNT (carbon
nanotube) Tether design & Lunar industrialization challenges.
More details on this conference will be coming soon. Visit the
EuroSpaceward website to register. |
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Visit ISEC on the Web!
Visit our website at
http://www.isec.info.
There you can join learn more about what is happening in the
Space Elevator community and what is being done to advance the
concept of a Space Elevator. Please consider joining
ISEC - we foster research and sponsor Space Elevator-related
causes, but to do so takes money. Your contributions are
crucial to our success. Thank you!
If this newsletter has been forwarded to you,
you can also sign up to be on our mailing list so you don't miss a
thing! |
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You are receiving this newsletter because you have signed up
at our website (http://www.isec.info) or were a member of the Spaceward Foundation
mailing list (ISEC now maintains this list). If you wish
to change your profile or you wish to unsubscribe, please
follow the instructions at the bottom of this email.
Thank you. |
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ISEC is a certified California
charitable corporation. |
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