Regardless of one’s personal opinions of the current executive branch leadership, they demonstrate a real and ongoing interest in space issues. In the past, presidents have dropped into a NASA center, made soaring speeches about space, and then moved on. Vice President Pence, on the contrary, has shown ongoing interest… Read more“Reasons to be optimistic The Politics”

In an unprecedented speech to the National Space Council in March, Vice President Mike Pence rebuked NASA and its major contractors for their “complacency” in returning Americans to the Moon. He announced that President Trump decided to accelerate human lunar landings to 2024, four years faster than planned, and that… Read more“Can NASA return astronauts to the Moon by 2024?”

This video is much in the news lately… I first saw this video at the 2014 , gave a short talk at the conference and showed this video.  I’m not sure if the one now viewable on YouTube is an updated version from the one he showed, but it seems… Read more“The LiftPort Lunar elevator”

The folks creating Shoot the Moon – a story about Liftport‘s effort to build a space elevator – have posted another update for their Kickstarter funded project. Hey, everyone! Since our last update, we’ve converged on the Seattle area for a month of shooting. This week alone has been packed… Read more“Shoot the Moon update”

I’ve seen this on a couple of websites lately  but don’t know who to give credit to. The last sentence deserves comment: “If built, a space shuttle that docs [sp] at the top could be reached by the space elevator, thus eliminating the need for the shuttle to travel through… Read more“Peter Griffin learns about the Space Elevator…”

At the recent ISEC Space Elevator Conference, Dr. John Knapman agreed to join the Board of Directors of the.  Dr. Knapman is the Director of the  and has made a presentation at the last couple of Space Elevator Conferences.  His depth and breadth of knowledge are a very welcome addition… Read more“Dr. John Knapman joins the ISEC Board of Directors”

Musk’s statements regarding the space elevator’s complexity and building a bridge from LA to Tokyo are almost certainly true, but I fail to see the relevance.  Just because something is hard to do doesn’t mean it isn’t worthwhile attempting.  And, building a bridge from LA to Tokyo is not going… Read more“Should we give up on the dream of space elevators?”

Today marks what would have been Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s 97th birthday – it’s very unfortunate that this science fiction luminary is no longer with us. In previous years, I have written a lot about what Sir Arthur meant to the science fiction community, to the space elevator community and… Read more“Happy Birthday Sir Arthur!”

Today marks nine full years that I’ve been hosting and authoring the Space Elevator Blog and I’m going to call it quits, at least for the time being.  I have several other projects on my plate and I’m not getting any younger… Being a part of the effort to promote… Read more“Nine years – and that’s enough for now…”

D4.3. Technology Assessment and Space Elevators Components The recently completed IAA study,  looked at engineering, operational, and funding steps towards an operational capability. This session will evaluate the current and near-term potential of the necessary technologies. They will be evaluated with respect to the NASA TRL’s and identify risks associated…. Read more“IAC2015 will have a Space Elevator Track”