Dear Friend,

The opening of a new year brings excitement and hope for the future!  Luckily, the space elevator was highlighted during the first full week of January at the Heads of Space Agency Summit, in Washington DC on January 9th.  I presented the conclusion of the International Academy of Astronautics' study during a full day of broad space presentations.  32 Heads of the world's space agencies met and discussed the state of the space arena and where it is going.  The space elevator was discussed across the two days at all levels of organization.  The thrust was "the Academy concludes Space Elevators seem feasible."  

In addition, our new year brings hope that the progress towards an operational space elevator will leap forward with events such as the International Space Elevator Conference [22-24 Aug, Seattle] and the ISEC yearly study.  The 2014  study focuses upon space elevator architectures and roadmaps.  The journal, CLIMB, will be gathering peer reviewed articles and focusing on Sir Arthur C. Clarke while the global research community will be moving forward in areas such as carbon nano-tubes and light weight, highly efficient, solar arrays.  This new year should be eventful and rewarding.  

"Keep Climbing my Friends!"  Pete Swan

The window is now open for authors interested in submitting papers for Volume 3 of CLIMB, the only Journal devoted solely to the Space Elevator.

Abstracts may be submitted between now and February 28th, 2014 to [email protected]. 

ISEC is interested in publishing both technical papers, subject to peer-review along with "Additional reading" papers; documents that might be of interest to a reader interested in the Space Elevator.

Volume 1 of CLIMB was dedicated to Yuri Artsutanov, the Russian engineer who was the original inventor of the Space Elevator structure that is the model today, while Volume 2 of CLIMB was dedicated to Jerome Pearson, the American engineer who independently invented this concept and put into place much of the scientific and mathematical underpinnings for this tensile-based structure.  Volume 3 of CLIMB will be dedicated to Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the person who more than anyone else has popularized this concept.

Volumes 1 and 2 of CLIMB were well-received and may be purchased at the ISEC store.  CLIMB is also a benefit for ISEC members; members at the Professional level and above receive both the print and electronic versions of CLIMB while student members receive the electronic versions of CLIMB as part of their membership benefits.

Information about how to format the Abstract can be found at the ISEC website, along with the Paper template and a publication schedule.

ISEC is very pleased to announce a new membership initiative for the month of February, 2014.  During this month new members may join and current members can renew at a reduced rate!

Those who join or renew at the Professional level will only have to pay $58, a $10 discount from the normal $68 rate.  Professional level members are entitled to receive both the print and electronic versions of the 2014 issue of CLIMB, the Space Elevator Journal, along with the 2014 ISEC Poster.

Those who join or renew at the Student level will only have to pay $20, a $5 discount from the normal $25 rate.  Student level members are entitled to receive the electronic version of the 2014 issue of CLIMB along with the 2014 ISEC poster.

So, take advantage of the reduced rates, visit the ISEC member join/renew page and join or renew your membership in February!

Thirty-two Heads of Space Agencies and their delegations gathered, in company with policy makers, government representatives, distinguished scientists, and leading Academicians from all over the world, on January 9 and 10, 2014, in Washington, DC.  This meeting was an International Academy of Astronautics [IAA] Heads of Space Agencies Summit on space exploration. Renowned leaders from space-faring nations engaged in dialogue on topics of international concern: Planetary Robotic and Human Space Flight Exploration.  Space elevators had two presentations:  Dr. Peter Swan [President of ISEC] presented:  "Academy Cosmic Study on Feasibility of Space Elevators" while "Road to The Space Elevator and Beyond - Proposal for International Corporation on Space Business Development" was presented by Mr. Yuichiro Nogawa.  

This IAA Summit took place in cooperation and conjunction with the ministerial International Space Exploration Forum, a policy dialogue on space exploration, hosted for the first time by the US Department of State with Ministers and government representatives from the US and around the world.  The first day, while Ministers gathered for the restricted ministerial conference, the IAA held the pre-Summit Space Exploration Conference on planetary robotic and human spaceflight exploration. The following parallel sessions were held:

1. Human Aspects in Spaceflight
2. Scientific Goals in Robotic Missions
3. Technical Factors: Enabling Technologies /Common Requirements
4. Private Industrys' Role in Space Exploration and Exploitation: Technical, Policy and Legal Considerations
5. Space Exploration: The Imperative of Global Cooperation
6. Space Stations Utilization for Robotics and Human Spaceflight Exploration

In the evening, the IAA commemorated this unique and historic event with a Reception and Gala Dinner that brought those communities together. Ministers and their delegations, Heads of Space Agencies and their delegations as well as government officials, distinguished scientists, Summit participants and special guests gathered in formal attire. The second day was the Summit day where Heads of Space Agencies discussed the Summit Declaration, follow-on implementations, and new fresh ideas on international cooperation. Heads of Space Agencies discussions and roundtables interactively addressed the following exploration topics:

1. The Importance of International Cooperation
2. Space Stations
3. Space Exploration: LEO & Beyond
4. Benefits of Space Exploration

During this meeting Dr. Swan received the first copy of the study report his team has been working on [Space Elevators: An Assessment of theTechnological Feasibility and Way Forward].  The image thumbnail is of him with the new book (click on the thumbnail to see a full-size picture).