This annual event will be held at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington from Friday, August 21st through Sunday, August 23rd.

Come experience learning, brainstorming, and international collaboration in an atmosphere of history, invention, and discovery! A Family Science Fest day will be held in conjunction with the conference.

3-Day Technical Conference

The twin themes of this year’s conference are “Carbon Nanotube Tensile Strength Progress” & “Marine Node Design Characteristics”. Papers will be presented on these and other space-elevator related topics. There will be mini-workshops on Research Activities and Global Cooperation, Marine Node Design Concepts, and Space Elevator Architectures and Roadmaps as well as the ever popular Shotgun Science Session and “Elevator Speech” competition.

ISEC is very pleased to announce that Mr. Mark Haase, PhD student (Chemical Engineering) at the University of Cincinnati will give the Keynote address at this year’s conference. His talk will address:

“Advanced Materials are critical for the development of the Space Elevator. Most prominently, the elevator cable will require a material with a much greater tensile strength than current materials. Carbon nanotubes are an exciting material for this purpose, showing high tensile strength at the nanoscale. Despite this promise, they have not yet achieved the needed strength. Nonetheless, meaningful progress has been made.

In this presentation, we will consider the recent progress in high strength materials; focusing on carbon nanotubes, but also considering other materials. We will also consider the progress in other properties of these materials, such as conductivity. While these properties are not directly related to the development of the Space Elevator Tether, they are likely to be important in the design and development of other elevator technologies. Further, demand for these properties in other sectors will drive broader material development, making them important in enabling technologies.”

We are very excited to have Mr. Haase with us this year and we’re sure that his insights will be fascinating.

Family Science Fest

The Family Science Fest on Saturday, August 22nd will also be held at the Museum of Flight. This event is open to the public (no registration required) and is included in the museum admission price. The Family Science Fest includes Space Elevator 101 and 201 presentations, a youth robotics competition, exhibits from science organizations and clubs, and much more.

More details of the conference program and the Family Science Fest events are posted at http://spaceelevatorconference.org, including information on registration for the technical conference and lodging. Registration for the technical conference closes August 15th.

The Space Elevator is one of the most magnificent Engineering projects ever conceived. It promises abundant access to space and a multitude of benefits for humanity. Come to the conference and hear presentations and join discussions with people who are working to make space elevators a reality!

About The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC)

The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) is composed of individuals and organizations from around the world who share a vision of humanity in space. Our Vision is a world with inexpensive, safe, routine, and efficient access to space for the benefit of all mankind. Our Mission is to promote the development, construction and operation of a Space Elevator (SE) Infrastructure as a revolutionary and efficient way to space for all humanity.

To learn more about ISEC, please visit our website at http://www.isec.org.

Media Contacts

Name: Ted Semon
Title: Director of Publicity
Phone: (630) 240-4797
Email address: ted.semon@isec.org

Name: David Horn
Title: Conference Chair
Phone: (206) 229-1856
Email address: david.horn@isec.org