The Space Elevator: What it is and how to Power it
Larry Bartoszek, P.E.
Embedded Files
This talk will cover the basic concepts of the Space Elevator as conceived by Bradley Edwards and Eric Westling in their book “The Space Elevator—a revolutionary Earth-to-Space Transportation System.” Once we have a space elevator, the cost to get to orbit should plummet and the colonization of space can begin.
Larry Bartoszek has done some original design work on the first construction climber needed to strengthen the space elevator after its initial deployment, and on multi-tonne commercial climbers. Climbers are electric vehicles that roll straight up the elevator ribbon and out of Earth’s atmosphere.
There are many subtleties in climber design, particularly in how to deliver power to the climber. This talk will also cover some recent work using lasers or a conductive tether to send power to the climbers.
Larry Bartoszek has a dual degree in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from the University of Illinois and is an Illinois Licensed Professional Engineer. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Welding Society, ASM International, the Chicago Society for Space Studies, the National Space Society, and is Vice President of the International Space Elevator Consortium. He is also a Space Ambassador for the NSS.
Larry Bartoszek owns Bartoszek Engineering, a consulting firm which specializes in mechanical designs for the nuclear and high energy physics research community world-wide. Bartoszek Engineering has worked for many national laboratories, universities and governments on experiments all over the world. He has built machines up to three stories tall and 120 tons, as well as table top devices.
His website is www.bartoszekeng.com.
A chronological history of the projects BE has worked on can be found at: http://www.bartoszekeng.com/STEM/All_projects.pdf
Larry started working on the Space Elevator as a hobby in 2004 developing conceptual designs for climbers as outlined in “The Space Elevator” by Edwards and Westling. He has given presentations at several Space Elevator Conferences, including Washington, DC, 2004, the Space Elevator Conference in Seattle in 2013, and the ISEC Annual Conference in Chicago in 2023 and 2024. Larry has created original designs for the climbers for the Space Elevator which have been published in two annual ISEC study reports. He became a Director on the Board of the International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC) in April, 2021. In July of 2024 Larry was elected Vice President of ISEC.
A webinar he gave for the International Space Elevator Consortium in April of 2022 can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q8cMGxIccI&t=2s
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse