President’s
Corner
Hype
for Space
March
1, 2018
In
all my dreams about the future, I never saw a Tesla driving to Mars. What an imagination--Elon Musk selling his Teslas
with the test launch of the first Falcon Heavy.
Now we know what our tether climber must look like--red, sporty,
space-suited driver, earth in the background, electric, with David Bowie on the
radio.
But, getting a little bit serious, we now have to expand out thinking if we are going to stay in the game. The future space arena is now filled with dreamers, doers, and believers. We are no longer alone in those categories. We are no longer competing against big government. Now we have to compete against the tenacious commercial innovator. Think Alexander Graham Bell, the Wright Brothers, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. We definitely have to ratchet up our game plan.
Keep Climbing my Friends!
Pete Swan
National Space Society (NSS) And Our Affiliation with Them
by Pete Swan
The ISEC has a special relationship with the NSS. Over the last five years, we have cooperated and developed common activities with their organization. The main similarity is that their mission matches ours:
NSS: Our Vision: 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.
ISEC: Our Vision: A
world with inexpensive, safe, routine, and efficient access to space for the
benefit of all mankind.
In
addition, ISEC is made up of
individuals and organizations from all around the world who share a vision of
mankind in space. With these
similarities, cooperation is smooth and worthwhile. At the present time there are two thrusts; we
are on their website and we have them showing up on ours. In addition, we
participate in their yearly conference and they join us in Seattle. This note is to remind each of the readers
that there will be a space elevator track at their International Space
Development Conference [May 26, 2018, Sheraton Gateway near LAX]. The space elevator track will include:
Architecture
Note #16
The
Preliminary Technology and Engineering Readiness Assessment of the Space
Elevator Transportation System
by Michael A. Fitzgerald
Personal Prolog
This
is an Architecture Note. It is the
opinion of ISEC’s Chief Architect. It
represents an effort to document ISEC’s ongoing science and engineering
discussions, and is one of many to be published over time. Most importantly, it is a sincere effort to
be the diary, or the chronicle, of the multitude of our technical
considerations as we progress; along the pathway developing the Space Elevator.
The
Space Elevator Transportation System
Ready? Let’s Talk!
Introduction
The Architecture Note #14 called for a
delineation of the Transportation System v the Enterprise System. The next formal step will be to assess the
Technology Readiness of each portion of the Transportation System. ISEC is
about to complete a preliminary Technology Readiness Assessment and present substantiation
of that assessment at the SEATTLE conference in August 2018.
As a preview, ISEC’s preliminary Technology and
Engineering Readiness is summarized below.
When one looks at all the various technologies and where they are in the
Technology Readiness Level evaluations common to NASA projects, ISEC sees these
preliminary assessments:
1. The Earth Port is
buildable with today’s available technologies and engineering expertise.
2. The Headquarters
/ Primary Operations Center is buildable today.
3. The Tether
Climber is similar to a today’s satellites, and ISEC sees no technology
challenge to the construction of the Climber.
4. The GEO Node and
Region technology needs are understood and ISEC assesses that the most of the
GEO Node’s Transportation System components can be built now.
5. The Apex Anchor
will be a challenge. Its role is key to
the building of the Space Elevator, but it is neither a technological nor engineering
obstacle. The Apex Anchor can support
the Space Elevator Transportation System; and could be built in the near
future.
6. The Tether
material is the pacing item for the development of the Space Elevator. Currently, there are at least three viable
materials that could mature into the needed “strong enough and long enough”
material for a Space Elevator Transportation Tether; 100,000 kms long and
strong enough to support multiple Climbers.
7. The other voiced
challenge to the Space Elevator Transportation System faces is collision
avoidance. ISEC, and others, have studied the issue, and collisions are much
less likely than most think. Even so, the Space Elevator Transportation System
will be advised of approaching debris; even debris smaller than a pebble – in
sufficient time to avoid it. Further,
the Space Elevator Transportation System will work with the FAA’s Space Traffic
Management program ensuring that the Tether operates only within uniquely
assigned space locations. This traffic management approach will keep other
operating space systems safely separated from the Elevator.
I
need to make some things clear
The preliminary TRA is for the Transportation System.
The Conference theme does NOT say the Galactic Harbour is as
ready. That is so because we lack any Technology
Readiness Assessment for those things going on within the Enterprise. I
will discuss the Technology Readiness of the Enterprise System in next month’s
newsletter.
Because
a major government agency (DARPA) has declared that technology development is
needed for on orbit servicing, and parking lots, and other such things; our
stance is that the Enterprise system is not yet ready (as the Transportation
System).
Because
industry is where the technology REALLY resides, ISEC needs the industry to
openly discuss this topic. We need to get closer with key industry players;
especially those whose future business activities are GEO centric. ISEC also
needs to get those industry players to send their (very proprietary) Requests
for Information to us. We also need
these same industry players to accept us as business partners … soon.
In
closing
It is time to start Verification and Validation
activities! To prepare for that discussion; read the ISEC 2014 position paper; “Space Elevator Architecture and
Roadmaps”
Fitzer
