The official newsletter of the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC)

 

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..."
ISEC e-Newsletterwww.isec.org
April 2014
In This Issue
The President's Corner
Leonard David to Keynote the 2014 ISEC Space Elevator Conference
Registration now open for the 2014 Space Elevator Conference
Deadline reminder to submit a presentation to the ISEC 2014 Space Elevator Conference
ISEC and NSS join hands...
What is ISEC?
ISEC Corporate Sponsors
Visit ISEC on the Web
Follow ISEC!
Quick Links
Dear Friend,

 

Welcome to the April, 2014 edition of the ISEC eNewsletter.

 

In this issue's President's Corner, ISEC President Dr. Peter Swan likens the new year's activities with the hope felt by all baseball fans as their season starts.  We have many activities ongoing and planned for 2014 and it's shaping up to be a great year!

 

Also in this issue, ISEC is very pleased to announce that long-time science journalist Leonard David will be giving the Keynote address at this year's ISEC 2014 Space Elevator Conference (registration is NOW OPEN).  We are very excited to have Mr. Leonard with us this year and we're sure that his insights will be fascinating. Finally, this issue reminds everyone that the deadline to submit a presentation proposal for the Conference is quickly approaching.

 

And don't forget to LIKE US on Facebook, FOLLOW US on Twitter and enjoy the photos and videos that we've posted on Flickr and YouTube - all under our Social Identity of ISECdotORG.

 

Thank you! 

 

ISEC
The President's Corner

Baseball season starts with such hope for all the fans of each club.  Whichever team you cheer for, it is always the same on opening day - This is our year!

That is the way we feel within the ISEC community - This year will be another great one!  We have many things to celebrate and enjoy: the yearly conference with keynote speakers, new committees to become involved in [history and research teams have kicked off activities], CLIMB Journal focused upon Sir Arthur C. Clarke, and this year's study - Architectures and Roadmaps.    As a reader of this newsletter, we invite you to cheer for, and become involve with, your team supporting space elevator development.  Go Team!

"Keep Climbing my Friends!"  Pete Swan
Leonard David to Keynote 2014 ISEC Space Elevator Conference 

ISEC is very pleased to announce that Leonard David, space journalist for over 45 years, will give the Keynote address at the 2014 ISEC Space Elevator Conference.  Anyone who has followed the space industry (and/or the Space Elevator) is almost certainly aware of his many contributions.  His official bio states:
 
He is co-author with Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin of Mission to Mars - My Vision for Space Exploration released in May and published by the National Geographic Society.

Mr. David is the 2010 winner of the prestigious National Space Club Press Award, presented this honor during the Club's annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in April 2011 that was held in Washington, D.C.

Currently, Leonard is SPACE.com's Space Insider Columnist, as well as a correspondent for Space News newspaper and a contributing writer for several magazines, specifically Aerospace America, the membership publication of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Leonard David has been reporting on space exploration for nearly five decades. Over those years, his writings have appeared in numerous websites, newspapers, magazines and books, such as the Financial Times, Foreign Policy, Private Air, Sky and Telescope, Astronomy, SPACE.com and Space News newspaper, as well as Aerospace America and in supplemental writing for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine.

Mr. David has been a consultant to NASA, other government agencies and the aerospace industry. In the mid-1980's he served as Director of Research for the National Commission on Space, a U.S. Congress/White House study that appraised the next 50 to 100 years of space exploration.

Leonard is co-author of Extreme Flight: Rocket Science, Sundance/Newbridge Educational Publishing issued in 2006. As a Contributing Essayist, Mr. David's writings can be found in the National Geographic`s Encyclopedia of Space, published in 2004. Leonard is also a co-author of the book Chaos to Cosmos - A Space Odyssey, published by the Denver Museum of Nature & Space in 2003.

In past years, Mr. David has served as editor-in-chief of the National Space Society`s Ad Astra and Space World magazines, as well as the newsstand publication, Final Frontier.

For NASA, Leonard completed the task of writing a majority of the highly regarded Spinoff 1997, Spinoff 1998, and Spinoff 1999 publications. In the past, Leonard has assisted the audio/visual branch by interviewing and writing scripts for the monthly NASA radio program, "The Space Story".

Mr. David has worked with the NASA exhibits branch on public outreach displays, writing text and carrying out photo research on both the commercial uses of space and infrared technologies for astronomy, Earth remote sensing and spinoff applications.

Leonard served as research and technical advisor for the PBS-televised, Living and Working in Space - The Countdown Has Begun, an hour-long science fact/fiction look at careers in space that was premiered on PBS on March 31, 1993. Leonard was contracted by the producers of the video, the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education (FASE), to work on the project through 1992 into early 1993.

Mr. David served as a technical consultant to the widely acclaimed Bouncing to Mars: The Inside Story of the Mars Exploration Rover Missions, produced by Passport to Knowledge made possible, in part by the National Science Foundation and released in summer 2003.

Mr. David was also honored to receive the internationally recognized Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) Award for Best Space Submission at the Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards in England in 2006 and in Paris in 2003.

In 2006, Leonard received the Orbit award for Space Media from the Space Tourism Society honoring his writings over the decades on the burgeoning space tourism industry. Later that year, he won the 2nd Annual Space Journalism award for best article on human spacefaring for January-September 2005 for his article, "Space Tourism: Keeping the Customer Satisfied". In 2001, Mr. David won the National Space Society's Space Pioneer Award for Media.

Leonard David lives in Golden, Colorado with his wife Barbara where the clear, nighttime sky fuels the imagination about space travel to other worlds...as well as concern over lost luggage at Mars.

In addition to his accomplishments listed above, Mr. David has also written about the Space Elevator on numerous occasions (most recently here).  We are thrilled to have Mr. David Keynote our conference!
Registration now open for the 2014 ISEC Space Elevator Conference

ISEC is very pleased to announce that Registration is now OPEN for the 2014 ISEC Space Elevator Conference.

The Conference will be held from Friday, August 22nd, 2014 through Sunday, August 24th.

The Venue will the same place we've had the conference the past two years, Seattle's Museum of Flight.  This has turned out to be a wonderful venue for the Conference and we are thrilled to be able to host the Conference here again.

Mark you calendars now - be there or be square!
Reminder - Deadline to submit a presentation to the 2014 Space Elevator Conference is coming up quickly...

If you're interested in submitting a presentation for the upcoming ISEC Space Elevator conference, the deadline, May 21st, is only a few weeks away.  Topics should fall into one of six categories:
  1. Space elevator Architectures and Roadmaps
  2. Science, engineering, and technology topics relating to space elevators
  3. Carbon nanotube and strong material research relating to space elevators
  4. Operations, maintenance, ROI, and other business topics relating to space elevators
  5. Space elevator impact on the future and public outreach to societal institutions; government, media, unions, the educational system, etc.
  6. Treaties, laws, insurability, and other legal issues and topics relating to space elevators
Full details can be found at the Conference Call for Papers webpage.
ISEC and NSS join hands...

The National Space Society and the International Space Elevator Consortium signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 15 August 2013.  This understanding between these 501(c)(3) organizations illustrates the strength of ideas and committed volunteers.  Recently the NSS released a "Milestones to Space Settlement," or a roadmap to the future.  The presented vision is:

The National Space Society ("NSS") is a nonprofit educational organization whose Vision is: "People living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity."

This Vision embraces both space as a future second home for humanity and the resources of space (such as the Sun's energy for space-based solar power, extra-terrestrial minerals for raw materials, and low-gravity for manufacturing) being used for the benefit of all of us on the Earth. These two elements of the Vision are intertwined: development of space products and services for the people of Earth will both require human presence in space and will enable and motivate expansion of our species away from the home planet.

The partnership of two visionary organizations should strengthen each other's activities.  As the ISEC has a similar mission, the two organizations should have many common projects and ideas.  

"... ISEC promotes the development, construction and operation of a space elevator as a revolutionary and efficient way to space for all humanity ..."

Due to their shared interest, as shown by their mission statements and vision, the two organizations, working together, should be able to contribute even more to the widespread economic development of space and the betterment of mankind.
What is ISEC?

ISEC LogoThe International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) is the result of a coming-together of many 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.

Our Mission Statement says it all:

"ISEC promotes the development, construction and operation of a space elevator as a revolutionary and efficient way to space for all humanity"

Each year we adopt a theme which we use to focus our activities for that year.  For 2009-2010, our theme was Space Debris Mitigation - Space Elevator Survivability.  For 2010-2011 our theme was Research and thought targeted towards the goal of a 30 MYuri tether.  For 2011-2012, our theme was Operating and Maintaining a Space Elevator.  For 2012-2013, our theme was Tether Climbers and for 2013-2014, our theme is Architecture & Roadmaps.

If you agree that building a Space Elevator should be a priority for all of us and you want to help make this happen, please Join Us !  Benefits include eNewsletters (such as this one), the ISEC Journal CLIMB and other items listed on our Join page.

Come and join us and help make the future happen!

The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) is a registered 501c3 charitable organization (EIN 80-0302896)
Thank you, Corporate Sponsors !

The lifeblood of any organization such as ours is the support we receive from our members - and we thank them all.  We especially want to thank our Corporate Sponsors who have contributed funds and resources to ISEC at a higher level.



Visit ISEC on the Web
  
Visit our website at www.isec.org.  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!

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