International Astronautical Conference, FAA, Documentary & Bracelets

Heya!  Here’s a rundown since Friday: 

1) We got notified that 5 of our technical papers have been accepted to the International Astronautical Conference. This is kind of a big deal. It is (arguably) the largest, most prestigious gathering of its kind – anywhere in the world. This is also the very first time that our technical papers have been accepted! So it was especially surprising to have five! I’m very pleased. I know some of you think I’m not focused enough on the Kickstarter rewards or the experiment, and that’s true; I spend most of my waking moments trying to get the actual Lunar Elevator developed. These papers are a step in the right direction. We have several more documents in development. Being accepted in this environment allows other professionals to evaluate our plans, and the public scrutiny is an important part of the overall process. 

2) I wrote up (but have not sent, yet) the documentation for the FAA, for our site location. I’ve not sent the paperwork because I’m still unclear on the exact dates. But I can tell you this, if things go the way I want, we will fly this experiment in June. I’ll send more details to the folks that purchased the “Walk on Parts” in a separate message – as soon as I have those details. 

3) I coordinated with one of the camera / documentary crews. They will be out here for about 2-3 weeks. We’ll condense this as much as possible, but they want to be onsite for these 5 stages: 1) communications integration 2) final robot build 3) treadmill/freezer testing 4) balloon prelaunch/training 5) launch! The other camera team, from the Discovery Channel will only be onsite for the launch itself, and that requires far less coordination. 

4) Of the 356 people that are to receive the “Friendship Bracelet” only 127 have responded to the survey – please check your email. The survey would have come through the Kickstarter servers, and directed you to a SurveyMonkey account.   Of the ones that did, I was VERY happy to see your positive comments.  Considering the hostile responses posted here in Kickstarter, I was expecting scathing/angry/frustrated/pissed-off messages.  Instead, I got a lot of friendly/encouraging support.  That was a nice surprise!  Thanks!

Take care, Mjl

Here's a sketch of what we think the Lunar Elevator might someday look like: