LiftPort Staff Blog

This is the first draft (and my favorite version) of what went into the Discovery.com Blog.  The final version, edited and cut down is here: http://twurl.nl/omfjff)

What I did on summer vacation – “Space Camp in Barcelona”

This summer went by entirely too quickly.  I have never had so much fun or learned as much or played as hard.  It was a blur of nonstop activity, but that frenzy had a purpose – to teach ‘space’ and the many facets and aspects of it, from as many perspectives, as fast as possible.

Let me tell you a bit about the International Space University, Founded 21 summers ago, by Todd Hawley, Rob Richards (Odyssey Moon) and Peter Diamandis (X PRIZE Foundation, Zero Gravity Corp, SEDS, Space Adventures).  Its founding credo states, among other things:

“ISU is an institution founded on the vision of peaceful, prosperous and boundless future through the study, exploration and development of Space for the benefit of all humanity… dedicated to international cooperation… where students and scholars seek to understand the mysteries of the Cosmos and apply their knowledge to the betterment of the human condition.”

Does that sound ambitious?  Good.  It is.  And the really spectacular thing about the program is that it fulfills this vision, and then some.  I spent a summer, but what I learned will last a lifetime.  If this sounds like a sales-pitch for the program, it’s not.  It is simply this, the program had a profound impact on me, and if you are lucky, skilled and determined enough to attend; then I suspect it will also make a difference in your life as well.

To do it justice however, I have to set the scene.  I had been working on LiftPort, the Elevator to Space companies for several years now.  In April last year, we hit a financial roadblock that looked like our role in building the Space Elevator was at it’s end.  No matter what I did, I could not seem to work around this problem.  It affected me, my team, and the worldwide Space Elevator research community.  And I was stuck.  To be perfectly candid, I was considering closing the company, and giving up.  (Some of you reading this would probably encourage that!)  What I needed was a personal ‘reality check’.  I was asking myself if I really cared enough to work this hard on something that most people think is impossible.  In short, I was having a ‘crisis of faith’ in what I believed in regarding space – and it’s potential to make a positive impact on the people of this planet of ours.

So, I thought I’d take some time off, and see if it was simply a case of being tired, or if I was completely burnt out.  So, I went to ‘space camp’.

Disclaimer – the admin of the school are not really pleased when you call it ‘space camp’, because it is in fact a serious school with difficult program.  I guess they think that by calling it ‘space camp’ it somehow demeans it.  On the other hand, to me, ‘space camp’ is a term of endearment, and as such, I will continue to use it.  This is the same quality that I use when I call (ex) girlfriends by nicknames – it might get on their nerves, but it’s a way of telling whether I care or not.  In this same light, Boston University did not get a nickname from me.

So, space camp.  I went because I had to know something about myself.  I also knew that the space community worldwide was not that big, and that if my goal of an String stretching into the sky was ever going to happen, then ISU was the place to start.

The Space Studies Program was held in Barcelona Spain this year.  This component of the school ‘floats’ to different campuses around the world.  Last year it was in Beijing, The year before that, Vancouver, and next year it will be at NASA Ames, near San Francisco.  That is an important aspect of the school.  By floating, it really does live up to the expectation of being an international program.

Barcelona is an amazing place.  I’ve lived in 9 states, and 5 countries, and traveled to 49 states and 9 countries.  I can honestly say that Barcelona ranks in the top 5 places to visit – and maybe to live.

My classmates – friends now! – number about 120, plus 50 or so staff and instructors and various other support personnel.  In short it was a tight knit community.  We come from 26 nations; have a variety of backgrounds and talents (some very surprising – belly dancing, Rubik’s cube in 4 minutes, and singing/musical instruments as well as other skills I’m not going to mention here!) and age ranges from 20 to 52.  I think I was the 4th oldest in the program, and no, I can’t solve the Rubik’s cube any more.

Most (56%) of the students have educational or work experience in engineering.  There is also a sprinkling of life sciences, physical sciences, information technology, humanities, policy and law, and of course, my area, business and management.

I will spend the next couple blog entries talking about my experiences over the summer, the things I learned, people I met, places I went to, and some of the things I went there to figure out.  I also learned some things about the Space Elevator that I really really wish I had known 6 years ago, when I started all this.  There were moments this summer that made me say “ah ha” and others where all I could think of was ‘oh shit!’

But most of all, it was the people.  Professors who provided moments of clarity and insight to the problems that had hindered me for years.  Staff who had understanding and patience with me. (Did I mention that I’m the sort of guy who actually believes he can build an Elevator to Space?  Imagine the stubbornness and strength of will that a guy like that must have…) Staff with grace in the midst of chaos.  And most importantly, students that start out as strangers, and become friends you know you can count on.  Students that turn out to be teachers.  Students that broaden their horizons, and by so doing, they broaden my own.

I went to Barcelona, to space camp, to the International Space University Space Studies Program as a ‘test of faith’.  I returned committed, healed and ready to wrestle tigers.

Thanks to everyone that made this summer what it was.  And I’d like to make a special thanks to the two scholarships I received.  One from ISU directly, and the other, from C. Ann Souza Family Trust.

Written by Michael Laine and posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 10:04 pm and is filed under 1.3. Engineering, 2. Communicate, 3.2. Political, 4.1. Legal / Insurance, 4.2. Global Environment, 4.3. Operations, International, MJL Personal, Where in the World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.