#1 - During the US State of the Union address, President Obama endorsed going to space "TO STAY."  "He stated that we were going to space to Stay, and then amplified the statement with an invited guest [astronaut Scott Kelly] to symbolize his commitment." [reported by Rick N. Tumlinson in SpaceNews on February 6, 2015].

#2 - Commercial Projects to put people on the Moon.  In the study, "Economic Assessment and Systems Analysis of an Evolvable Lunar Architecture that Leverages Commercial Space Capabilities and Public-Private Partnerships," the proposal is made that America could go to Mars with an economic approach by first going to the Moon for fuel and water.  This effort would require movement of people to the surface of the Moon and the suggestion is that it be accomplished though a commercial contract, similar to the movement to the International Space Station [cargo and humans].  This study was just completed [July 13, 2015] and was conducted by NASA experts and several commercial companies.  They agree that humans on Mars could be accomplished in a reasonable time period with current funding IF they used a commercial space approach.

#3 - The International Academy of Astronautics just completed a study on Space Mineral Resources suggesting that commercial mining of resources on asteroids and the Moon could lead to the robust transportation of people and robots throughout the solar system.  This could be achieved in a reasonable future because the commercial world would be driving the activities for profit.

Each of these activities is suggesting that we will be going to Mars in the near future and that commercial space will contribute heavily.  This matches the needs of the space elevator community.  A commercial thrust for space developments will demand large movements of material and people off-planet.  What would be more fitting than the development of space elevator transportation infrastructures to enable this activity with large routine movement of mass at reasonable prices.  Space Elevators do fit into the needs for human expansion into the solar system.  

Keep Climbing my Friends --  Pete Swan

Registration closes August 16th for the 2015 ISEC Space Elevator Conference.

The Conference will be held from Friday, August 21st, through Sunday, August 23rd.

You can read the official Press Release announcing the Conference here.

One of the themes for this year's conference will be the state of strong materials and Mark Haase, long-time proponent of strong materials and the space elevator and a PhD student at the University of Cincinnati, will be giving the Keynote address.  A synopsis of his planned talk:

 The Venue will the same place we've had the conference the past three 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!

A Space Elevator is included in a new Interactive Flight Exhibition which will begin touring August 1st, 2015.  From the article:

"With space shuttles now housed in history museums, innovators in aerospace are thinking of newer, better ways humans could reach space. One idea: What about a space elevator?

Designers at Evergreen Exhibitions in San Antonio, Texas, have been developing the new exhibition "Above and Beyond: The Ultimate Interactive Flight Exhibition" with Boeing, NASA and the Smithsonian to explore new innovations and ideas. It uses immersive videos, simulations, virtual reality, touch-tables and a 180-degree theater experience to create a hands-on, immersive experience. Curators said it is more interactive technology than the Smithsonian has ever had in an aerospace exhibit.

"Above and Beyond" will debut at one of the nation's most popular museums. The National Air and Space Museum draws nearly 7 million visitors each year on the National Mall. The exhibit runs until early January and then begins a worldwide tour through 2020. Stops will include museums in Dubai; St. Louis; Charleston, South Carolina; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; London, Tokyo and Chicago.

One exhibit capsule will simulate the idea of a space elevator with video screens surrounding visitors to give them the feel of rising above Earth. Researchers are developing such an idea to see if it's possible to create a real capsule that could crawl up a cord from the ground to the level of orbiting the Earth."

ISEC Director David Horn worked with the Design Team on the Space Elevator scenario.

The official website for this exhibition can be found here and the official Press Release can be found here.

National Space Society Update - "The annual International Space Development Conference (ISDC) is the keynote event of the National Space Society (NSS), bringing together leading managers, engineers, scientists, educators, and business people from civilian, military, commercial, entrepreneurial, and grassroots advocacy space sectors. ISDC has been held in various locations throughout North America since 1982, featuring renowned speakers such as Buzz Aldrin, Eric Anderson, Charles Bolden, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Peter Diamandis, Lori Garver, Richard Garriott, Bill Nye, Elon Musk, Seth Shostak, Simon 'Pete' Worden, and many others. ISDC also features plenary talks, keynote speakers, multi-disciplinary tracks, exhibit hall, design contests, book signing, and more.

The 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. For 2014-2015, ISEC has two themes; The Marine Node and a Materials Review.

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 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 our website at www.isec.org.  There you can join and 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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