Space Elevator Journal

The Right Way to Get to Space

Space Elevator Journal Turns Two (Months)

I wanted to thank the 252 visitors that generated 418 page views here on the Space Elevator Journal since November 28, 2006. It may not seem like much to some but it's better than I thought I'd do from a standing start especially considering the two weeks around the holidays when things went dead.

Call for Volunteers

The Space Elevator Search Engine (SESE) isn't doing as well and I'm note sure why. There have only been 9 queries on it in the past month despite the premium top-right placement

It's a Google Custom Search Engine that searches only the sites I index using Google Marker. As I'm surfing around researching articles for the SEJ I use marker to include sites with content relevant to the space elevator in the SESE. In time, I hope to have a comprehensive index of SE-related web content.

That's where volunteers come in. It's an impossible task keeping up with it and I could use some help. If anyone wants to volunteer to collaborate on it just click the collaboration link on the SESE home page.

Take the SESE for a spin by plugging a search term into the box above.

--PB--

Second Biennial Space Elevator Workshop

The second Biennial Space Elevator Workshop takes place at Space Exploration 2007 (SEC 2007) - a four day conference on the theme of “Humankind in Space: Competition or Collaboration.”

According to conference organizers, The Space Engineering and Science Institute, SEC 2007, held Sunday, March 25 to Wednesday, 28 March 2007 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, "will draw together an international array of scientists, engineers, educators, managers and entrepreneurs and students."

The conference offers keynote talks, planning sessions and panel discussions on a broad array of topics;

• planetary exploration,
• bases,
• habitation,
• space station,
• engineering and construction in space and on the Moon and Mars,
• space access,
• space transportation,
• space elevator technologies and advanced concepts,
• entrepreneurial ventures in/for space,
• space power,
• space resource development,
• NEO’s,
• space commerce, law, education

There will also be a Student Robotics Competition in the form of a space elevator (SE) climber challenge the goal of which is to design and build a climber able to climb a 30-foot ribbon with ground-based beamed power carrying a detachable payload representing SE cargo or, in the case of a moon-based SE, the command module components of a lunar base.

SEC 2007 is looking for multi-disciplinary student teams from high schools, two- and four-year colleges to participate and there are four already signed up;

• Intelligent Distributed Multi-Agent Robotics Systems Lab at the University of New Mexico
• Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN (headed by the SEC 2007 Robotics Chair Ahad Nasab)
• Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Akron (Ohio)
• Department of Advanced Technical Education (ATE), Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute

Conference rates at the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North are available until February 14 by calling the hotel directly at (505) 821-3333 (Toll-free: 1-800-262-20430) or via the Marriot's online reservation system. Mention SEC 2007 or use Group Code 'spespea'.

Labels: space colonisation, Space commerce, Space elevator, space habitat, Space Law, space policy

Super Honeycomb CNT's: New Hope for Space Elevator Tether?

Beijing -- Hope for the space elevator was set back when Nicola Pugno of Politecnico di Torino published a study in August 2006 pointing up problems with the proposed tether design. When Coluci et al proposed the existence of super-nanotubes in August 2006 Signor Pugno turned the problem into an opportunity publishing an evaluation of the strength, toughness and stiffness of super-nanotubes in October 2006 predicting "huge toughening mechanisms [that suggest] the feasibility of 'super-composites'" comparable to nacre (AKA mother-of-pearl).

Building on these previous works Tsinghua University scientists Min Wang, Xinming Qiu, and Xiong Zhang released a paper (abstracted here on the Institute of Physics site) on their study modeling the Mechanical Properties of Super Honeycomb Structures Based on Carbon Nanotubes. Their report shows a super honeycomb network configuration of hexagonal patterns made from periodically repeating carbon nanotube Y junctions "increases the ductility of the nanomaterials" so that they not only keep the "renowned strength and elasticity" of straight nanotubes but have "great flexibility and outstanding capability" to transfer force to other parts of the structure when broken.

Their paper concludes, in part, that "the network structures are expected to provide useful applications not only in nanoelectronics but also in fiber-reinforced composites."

In December, 2006, Signor Pugno told the Space Elevator Journal by email that he was "developing a theory to design a flaw-tolerant megacable."

Labels: carbon nanotube, CNT, nanotechnology, Space elevator