One of several images from Hoffman's article showing different power beaming applications
There will be no space elevator without practical laser power beaming.
MachineDesign.com's Senior Editor Jean M. Hoffman put together an excellent article on laser power beaming for the March 8, 2007 issue the magazine explaining how "a range of experimental efforts give promise that lasers may, in the not too distant future, provide cheap, safe, and reliable access to space."
The article covers the history of laser power beaming, its current status, the way forward and provides a list of contacts for the researchers and companies in the field.
[And, yes, I DO read the whole Internet each morning over breakfast while discussing the day's plans with my family. ADD does have its advantages. --PB--]
One of several images from Hoffman's article showing different power beaming applications
Labels: "Solar Power Satellite", "Space Elevator", laser power beaming, power beam, power beaming, Space Elevator Competition, Space Exploration
Collateral Damage
"Due to funding constraints beyond NIAC's control, the 2007-2008 Call for the NIAC Student Fellows Prize (original due date April 16, 2007) has been canceled."
NIAC's Student Program awarded $9000 fellowships to several students every year allowing them "to investigate revolutionary ideas for space exploration."
The 2006 - 2007 winners were searching for answer to questions like; "Will we be able to identify water on other planets using neutron physics? Can space travelers rely on asteroids to protect them from dangerous radiation? Can near-earth objects like asteroids be harnessed and combined with space tethers to allow for faster travel to the Moon, Mars and beyond? Would large orbiting mirrors bring a small part of the Martian surface closer to Earth-like temperatures? Is it possible to develop tiny, bug-like flying robots to explore planetary surfaces?"
Now this stream of knowledge will fall silent.
While there's no official announcement yet, the word is out that NASA is killing the budget for the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) the organization that funded Dr. Brad Edwards' study to "produce an initial design for a space elevator using current or near-term technology and evaluate the effort yet required prior to construction of the first space elevator." (Source: The Space Elevator - NIAC Phase II Final Report)
"The closure of NIAC is extremely disappointing," comments Dr. Brad Edwards by email. "As many of us know and was stated in the presidential commission report a few years back, NIAC is one of the bright lights of NASA.
"Over the years though I have realized that such things like the closure of an excellent program are to be expected.
"NASA is a large federal institution driven more by political forces than by an interest to create the best space program. I think we need to stop looking to NASA for space-related activities and focus on independent programs."
The Futures Channel has an excellent video on NIAC that shows the excellent value that can be had for a few million dollars when the right people are given the resources to think freely. NIAC's funding (~$4m/year) is a minuscule percentage of the total NASA budget (~$16B/year) and the institute historically applies well over 70% of that budget to research.
The credit for breaking this story goes to Keith Cowing, writer and editor of NASA Watch (and astrobiologist, journalist, former rocket scientist, and recovering ex-civil servant) who was unreserved in his judgement of this move "This is just plain stupid. Let me repeat this for clarity's sake, Mike, ([or] whoever made it) this is A STUPID DECISION."
NIAC Director Robert Cassanova, PhD was somewhat more circumspect in his email response but no less heartfelt.
"We were very disappointed to hear that NASA will not be continuing the NIAC due to constraints on the NASA budget. However, NIAC has generated a legacy of advanced concepts that may have a significant impact on future activities in aeronautics and space.
"Possibly more importantly, NIAC will leave a legacy of a process which encourages creative
scientists and engineers to intellectually venture beyond the evolutionary concepts the dominate the near term and to creatively explore potentially revolutionary concepts. These concepts may be the genesis of emerging technologies that enable these and other revolutionary concepts.
"The NIAC process has inspired the technical community to reach for the stars with credibility and integrity.
"We appreciate the opportunity that NASA has given us for the past nine years to explore the possibilities for future space exploration that are limited only by our imagination."
The NIAC Timeline that laid out its "vision for space exploration" and the integration of those ideas into NASA's future programs has four streams. The space elevator was the only one common to them all.
Collateral Damage
"Due to funding constraints beyond NIAC's control, the 2007-2008 Call for the NIAC Student Fellows Prize (original due date April 16, 2007) has been canceled."
NIAC's Student Program awarded $9000 fellowships to several students every year allowing them "to investigate revolutionary ideas for space exploration."
The 2006 - 2007 winners were searching for answer to questions like; "Will we be able to identify water on other planets using neutron physics? Can space travelers rely on asteroids to protect them from dangerous radiation? Can near-earth objects like asteroids be harnessed and combined with space tethers to allow for faster travel to the Moon, Mars and beyond? Would large orbiting mirrors bring a small part of the Martian surface closer to Earth-like temperatures? Is it possible to develop tiny, bug-like flying robots to explore planetary surfaces?"
Now this stream of knowledge will fall silent.
Labels: NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, NIAC, Space elevator, Space Exploration
Although this has been in the works for some time, I can only now reveal the exciting news that the Space Elevator Journal will be covering Space Exploration 2007, including the Second Biennial Space Elevator Workshop live and in person. The plan is to provide as much live coverage as time permits and record as much of the proceedings as possible and make it available in various forms afterwards.
Feedback from you, the reader, will help shape the coverage. Tell me what most interests you by clicking the 'Leave a Comment' link in the footer below.
I also need to know if people are interested in a CD or DVD with audio and video of the proceedings and PDF copies of the papers presented.
Your intrepid scribe also plans to get one-on-one interviews with as many of the space elevator pioneers present as time and scheduling will permit. I just won't sleep is all. :)
Many thanks to Phil Richter, President of conference hosts Space Engineering and Science Institute and Administrative Chair, Space Exploration 2007 for making this possible.
Labels: Space elevator, Space Exploration, Space Media
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