Modern-Day Space Elevator Involved with International Astronautics Congress – Sydney 29 Sept – 3 Oct 2025

Each year, the International Astronautical Congress is sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics, the International Astronautical Federation and the International Institute of Space Law.  The space elevator has been featured as a futuristic approach to access Space.  Jerome Pearson, in 1975 Introduced the engineering approach which could be achieved.  Since 2004, the International Space Elevator community has come together and sponsored at least one technical session sharing research and reaching out to other space organizations.  The ISEC has been leading the activity since 2004.  This year’s technical sessions ware designated as D4.3, as shown with this year’s description:

•  D4.3:   The Modern-Day Space Elevator as a Permanent Transportation Infrastructure:  Space elevators position humanity to address Earth’s challenges from a new vantage point.  We are on the brink of transforming our relationship with space, offering an eco-friendly, cost-effective, and efficient logistics method to transport large cargoes.  This gateway will provide unparalleled opportunities in space exploration, resource utilization, and satellite assembly.   Starting in the late 2030s, space elevator infrastructures will deliver satellites and other payloads to GEO, the Moon and Mars at the rate of 30,000 tonnes, every year. This surpasses the total tonnage launched between 1957 and 2022. Indeed – a seismic shift! By harnessing electricity for lift, each space elevator promises daily deliveries of up to 14 tonnes to geostationary orbit (GEO) and beyond, dramatically reducing the environmental impact as compared to rocket launches. Space elevator designs have an unmatched 70% pad mass delivery efficiency, as compared to only 2% for rockets. They have the potential to unlock solutions to Earth's most pressing challenges such as harvesting solar power from space, climate monitoring, and global communication networks.  As humanity stands on the cusp of this new era, these ribbons from oceans to space offer the promise of making space accessible to all, fostering global cooperation, positioning humanity to address Earth's challenges, and inspiring a sustainable future for our planet.  The Keynote Speech for this technical session is entitled the "Jerome Pearson Memorial Lecture."

The process includes submitting abstracts [peer reviewed selected], presenting research papers and giving a technical presentation – usually with power point slides.  The four-hour session is exciting and highlights the advances of the year with projections into the future.  This year’s presentations are:

• Jerome Pearson Memorial Lecture - Lessons learned from space elevator research and development and future challenges. Dr. Yoji Ishikawa

• Galactic Harbours Define Permanent Space Access Transportation Infrastructures. Dr. Peter Swan

• Development of Initial Space Elevator Designed for Space Environment and Consideration of Efficient Operations Plan for Climber Drive Systems. Prof. Fumihiro Inoue

• Development of Hybrid Space Elevator Climber with Continuously Adjustable Roller Drive Arrangement. Ms. Momoe Terata

• Dynamic Structural Analysis of a Climber for Space Elevators. Mr. Oluwatosin Kolade

• Space Elevator Application on Habitat Construction at Lagrange Points. Mr. Akinari Ogawa.

• Fueling the (near) Future: The Case for Earth-Based Space Elevator Supply to L1. Ms Chi Lan Huynh

• The Space Elevator: Unlocking a New Era of Space Access. Ms. Ritwika Maiti

• Hexagonal Prisms Structure for Tether Used for Space Elevator. Mr. Abhishek Singh

• Lifting the Future: Understanding the impact of Materials and Energy on Space Elevator. Ms. Ayla Malikova

• Candidate Locations for the Installation of Earth Ports on Space Elevators to Minimize Lightning Damage as considered from the Global Lightning Activity Data. Prof. Masashi Kamogawa

• Study of Potential Low Altitude Station Attached to Space Elevators. Mr. Daniel Griffin