December, 2019
TEPCE, the Naval Research Lab orbital maneuvering satellite with EDDE
components, was successfully deployed on November 16, and successfully performed orbit transfer maneuvers using electrodynamic
thrust. The performance is higher than expected for the limited solar power of TEPCE, and the experiments will continue
through January.
October, 2019
Joe Carroll presented our most recent update of the EDDE
spacecraft development at the International Astronautical Congress in Washington, DC, describing its capabilities for rapid
removal of dead satellites from the planned OneWeb and the SpaceX Starlink Internet constellations of thousands of new satellites,
more rapidly and safely than any other method. The paper and presentation are on the STAR Publications Page.
October,
2019
STAR was provided an invited EDDE display booth, manned by Jerome Pearson and Ed Pearson, at the Defense Innovation
Symposium in Dayton, OH. Featured speakers included Major General Allan Day, Director of Operations for the Defense
Logistics Agency, and Major General William Cooley, Commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
June,
2019
The Naval Research Lab launched TEPCE, a 3U Cubesat Mini-EDDE, into space on the second SpaceX Falcon Heavy
launch, under the Air Force Space Test Program. TEPCE is being checked out in orbit now, and is expected to deploy its
1-km conductor in October, 2019 to demonstrate operations of actual EDDE spacecraft components in space. TEPCE and EDDE
will be featured in the December issue of the AIAA Aerospace America magazine.
April, 2019
Dr.
Eugene Levin completed a CAD (computer-aided design) model that demonstrates that full-power EDDE spacecraft can be packaged
into less than half an ESPA slot, which was a major consideration for the Air Force Research Laboratory for Air Force applications
for EDDE spacecraft.
June, 2018
STAR proposed EDDE for active removal of the planned
new Internet constellations of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit to reduce the risk of creating new debris.
EDDE vehicles can do this faster and more safely than any other method of ADR.
February,
2018
STAR completed its work on the Phobos tether deployment and dynamics analysis for the NASA Langley NIAC Phase
I. Dr. Eugene Levin developed techniques for maintaining the tether above the Mars-Phobos L1 point, and also for touching
down on the surface of Phobos. His tether design would also allow it to move to the L2 point, circumnavigating Phobos
for multiple experimental measurements.
November, 2017
Jerome Pearson and Joe Carroll
presented 3 papers at the ICSSA space situational awareness conference in Orlando, FL. The Pearson papers covered a
LEO space debris survey using EDDE spacecraft, and a space test of EDDE; the Carroll paper described laser ablation of space
debris for orbit decay.
November, 2017
Jerome Pearson presented EDDE for active
debris removal at a Congressional hearing led by Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation.
July,
2017
Jerome Pearson participated in a Congressional hearing on active debris removal with Dr. Timothy Maclay of
OneWeb.
June, 2017
Joe Carroll presented a paper by him, Jerome Pearson, and Eugene
Levin on the current status of EDDE at the CRASTE conference in Indian Wells, CA.
June, 2017
STAR
began work on a Phobos tether deployment and dynamics analysis subcontract to NASA Langley on a NIAC Phase I effort.
November,
2016
Joe Carroll presented the paper "Cost-Effective Management of Orbital Debris” at the second CODER
Debris Workshop at the University of Maryland, 15-17 Nov 2016.
August, 2016
Jerome
Pearson attended by invitation the Air Force Research Laboratory workshop in Boulder Colorado on space situational awareness,
small satellite applications, and space debris removal.
May, 2016
Joe Carroll presented
an invited paper “An Update on EDDE, the ElectroDynamic Delivery Express” at the Fifth International Conference
on Tethers in Space, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI, 23-26 May 2016. The paper presented the latest developments
on the EDDE spacecraft, and was co-authored by Jerome Pearson and Eugene Levin.
April, 2016
Joe
Carroll presented a paper on "Orbital Debris 101 for Laser Ablation Experts” at the PLA 2016 in Denver.
March, 2016
Jerome Pearson was awarded US Patent 9,272,783, “Long Endurance Aircraft,”
on 1 March 2016. This is the fundamental patent for a revolutionary high-altitude, long endurance unmanned aircraft
with the capability for flying continuously at altitudes around 62,000 feet, using flexible solar cell wings by day and a
hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell by night, augmented by IR energy cells. The aircraft concept was first funded by the Air Force
Research Lab under Phase I and Phase II SBIR contracts.
October, 2015
Jerome Pearson
and Ken Banks applied the concept of using our HALE UAV for providing Internet coverage to Caribbean cruise ships. Seven
to eleven SunCondor UAVs could cover cruise ship tracks and island ports throughout the Caribbean from 62,000 feet altitude,
by remaining aloft for one year.
July, 2015
Jerome Pearson and Ken Banks developed the
concept for using our high-altitude long endurance UAV for providing Internet coverage to third-world countries.
November, 2014
Eugene Levin, Joseph Carroll, and Jerome Pearson were awarded U. S. Patent 8,882,048,
"In-Space Processing and Delivery System," on 11 November 2014. This patent describes how the EDDE spacecraft
can be used to support space manufacturing and transportation.
October, 2014
Joe Carroll
presented the paper “Delivery of Secondary Payloads to Custom Orbits Using EDDE” at the IAC in Toronto, Canada.
The paper, co-authored by Eugene Levin and Jerome Pearson, describes the capability of the EDDE propellantless spacecraft
as an orbit transfer vehicle to deliver payloads anywhere in LEO.
September, 2014
Jerome
Pearson presented the paper “EDDE Spacecraft Development for Active LEO Debris Removal” at the IAC in Toronto,
Canada. The paper, co-authored by Joe Carroll and Eugene Levin, describes the advances in the EDDE spacecraft under
the NASA Phase III SBIR program, and shows why EDDE is by far the most effective solution proposed for wholesale LEO debris
removal.
September, 2014
STAR, Inc. President Jerome Pearson presented a paper at the
International Astronautical Congress in Toronto, Canada on “Exoplanet Discoveries and the Fermi Paradox.” This
paper proposes an explanation for the failure of SETI in spite of the discovery of thousands of planets around other stars.
This extends his concept of the rarity of our Earth from his Acta Astronautica article in 1992 on “The Moon and
SETI,” and suggests that we may be alone in our galaxy.
February 20, 2014
ESA produced
a video about space debris and methods to remove it. One of the methods featured was EDDE. Here is the link:
December 13th, 2013
STAR, Inc. announced today that President Jerome Pearson was
interviewed by the makers of the movie “Gravity,” starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The DVD accompanying
the movie will be released soon, and it features a video on the EDDE spacecraft for active debris removal, narrated by Ed
Harris, the voice of NASA Mission Control for the movie “Apollo 13” and also for “Gravity.”
November 5th, 2013
STAR, Inc. announced today that President Jerome Pearson was interviewed by the
NHK Science Programs Division of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation of Tokyo. The interview took place at the offices
of SCLaunch in North Charleston, SC, and will be aired on Japanese TV in January. The program will discuss the threat
of space debris, and will feature the EDDE spacecraft for active debris removal from low Earth orbit.
August
5th 2013
STAR, Inc. announced today that Jerome Pearson will be the keynote speaker for the International Space
Elevator Conference, to be held at the Seattle Museum of Flight on 23-25 August. For more information, see
http://www.isec.org/
September 13th 2011
STAR, Inc. announced today that the first issue of the
new Space Safety Magazine will feature an invited article by Jerome Pearson, Eugene Levin and Joe Carroll on “Commercial
Space Debris Removal.”
August 29th 2011
STAR, Inc. announced today that President
Jerome Pearson is presenting three invited lectures this week: a conference presentation for OSD at the Pentagon, a
Technology Seminar Series lecture at the National Reconnaissance Office, and a Web seminar for the NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center Future In-Space Operations (FISO) Working Group. All three presentations dealt with our plans for active space
debris removal from LEO.
April 4th 2011
STAR, Inc. announced today that Dr. Eugene Levin
was granted U. S Patent 7, 913,954, “Electrodynamic Structure,” on 29 March 2011.
November
2010
STAR, Inc. recently completed a Phase I SBIR research contract on space debris removal for the Navy, and delivered
the final report.
August 13th, 2010
STAR, Inc. announced today that President Jerome
Pearson delivered the keynote address at the 2010 Space Elevator Conference in Redmond, Washington. The address gathered
extensive news coverage on NBC in Seattle, MSNBC, and various other publications around the world. The subject was the
removal of space debris to make space safe for space elevators. Also at the conference, the other inventor of the space
elevator, Yuri Artsutanov of Saint Petersburg, Russia, was present, and the two inventors had lengthy technical discussions
over the three-day meeting.
May 20th, 2010
STAR, Inc. announced today that Jerome Pearson
presented a paper at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville before the International Association for the Advancement of Space
Safety (IAASS) at their Fourth IAASS Conference. The paper discussed space traffic management for maneuvering satellites
such as the company's EDDE vehicle for actively removing space debris from low Earth orbit.
May
15th, 2010
STAR, Inc. announced that their first contract on active debris removal using their EDDE propellantless
maneuvering spacecraft began today, on a Navy SBIR Phase I program.
March 19th, 2010
STAR,
Inc. announced today that The Bent of Tau Beta Pi has published in its Spring 2010 issue an invited cover article by Jerom
Pearson on the application of the ElectroDynamic Debris Eliminator (EDDE) propellantless spacecraft for space debris removal.
March 17th, 2010
The International Space Elevator Consortium today announced the formation of the Pearson
and Artsutanov Prizes for undergraduate and graduate students, for the best student papers on space elevator topics. The
prizes will be awarded at the annual Space Elevator Conference to be held at the Microsoft Center in Redmond, Washington on
August 13-15th. The prizes honor the inventors of the space elevator, Jerome Pearson and Yuri Artsutanov, both of whom
will be at the conference this year.
January 7th, 2010
STAR, Inc. announced this week
that it has won a contract from Navy/SPAWAR for a feasibility study of the application of the ElectroDynamic Debris Eliminator
(EDDE) propellantless spacecraft for space debris removal.
February 10th, 2010
STAR,
Inc. announced today that President Jerome Pearson was an invited participant in a panel discussion hosted by the FAA at the
13th Annual FAA/AIAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Arlington, Virginia. Mr. Pearson discussed the ramifications
for space traffic management the use of maneuvering space vehicles for active debris removal.
November
20th, 2009
Star Technology and Research, Inc. of Mount Pleasant, SC announced today that it has been selected as
a client company of SCLaunch. SCLaunch is a South Carolina organization franchised from the SC State Legislature to advance
the cause of small businesses in South Carolina.
www.sclaunch.org
February 17th, 2009
STAR, Inc. announced this week that, in light of the recent collision
between an operational Iridium Satellite and the Russian Cosmos 2251, the danger of space debris to operational satellites
has become critical. Something must be done immediately to begin cleaning up space, to make it safe for the world’s
operational satellites. According to the International Academy of Astronautics and the Space Debris Office at the NASA Johnson
Space Center in Houston, Texas, the only viable method known for the removal for large debris objects is a roving vehicle
based on the propellantless electrodynamic propulsion system of the Autonomous Orbit Transfer Vehicle (AOTV) of STAR, Inc.
This
vehicle concept was developed under funding from NASA and the Air Force, and under a spacecraft design program funded by DARPA
to develop the AOTV into a practical system for debris removal. STAR, Inc. has demonstrated the orbit transfer algorithms
necessary for debris removal, and has built and delivered hardware representative of an operational space debris removal vehicle,
or “Space Garbage Truck.” STAR, Inc. is now ready to design, build, and fly a prototype vehicle as a secondary
payload on rockets such as Atlas V, Delta IV. The entire spacecraft fits into a 0.4m x 0.4m x 1m (24”x 24”x 38”)
volume and weighs only 100 kg (220 lb), but can move objects of a ton or more, such as the Cosmos satellite that collided
with the Iridium satellite last Tuesday. A low-cost fleet of such “Space Garbage Trucks” could clean up
space in a few years, greatly reducing the chances of future collisions. AOTV could also be used to remove dead or failed
satellites, or even bring them to the International Space Station for repair or recovery.
September
30th, 2008
Jerome Pearson today presented a paper before the 59th International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow,
Scotland, UK. The title of the paper, IAC-08-A2.3.2, is “MARCUS: Moon and Mars Gravity in a LEO Satellite,” with
co-authors Eugene Levin, Joe Carroll, and John Oldson. The paper describes a microsatellite consisting of twin capsules at
the ends of a long, rotating tether, with length and mass such that one capsule duplicates Mars gravity and the other end
duplicates lunar gravity. The capsules could be fitted with life support systems to investigate the long-term effects of Moon
and Mars gravity on living organisms, including eggs, seeds, plants, and white rats. This will give invaluable data for the
effects of long-term lunar gravity on astronauts working on the planned lunar base at the Moon’s South Pole. Using our
propellantless electrodynamic propulsion system, the MARCUS satellite could change its orbit to provide simulated Moon and
Mars radiation environments, and could also be used to drop the capsules on controlled re-entry trajectories with heatshields
and parachutes, to recover the plants and animals for further study and comparison with control plants and animals on the
ground.
September 9th, 2008
Jerome Pearson this week presented a paper at the AIAA Space
2008 Conference and Exposition, held at the San Diego Convention Center. The title of the paper, AIAA 2008-7689, is “LEO
Mobility Vehicle for Space Situational Awareness,” with co-authors Eugene Levin and John Oldson. The paper describes
our latest design for a maneuvering space vehicle that could examine close-up every object in low Earth orbit. It is powered
by solar arrays driving a propellantless propulsion system that is capable of almost unlimited delta-V, or change in velocity.
It is the only space vehicle capable of changing its orbit all the way from equatorial to polar, which takes 40% more delta-V
than launching the vehicle from the ground into orbit.
June 3rd, 2007
Jerome Pearson
this week presented an invited paper on lunar frontier transportation options at the Rutgers University Lunar Settlements
Symposium. The options presented included lunar space elevators for transportation from Earth orbit to L1 and the lunar surface,
and lunar tramways and microwave-paved highways for transportation from the lunar equator to the poles for lunar ice. Mr.
Pearson was interviewed by Kevin Coglin of the New Brunswick, NJ Star Ledger, and the interviews were posted at:
May 28th, 2007
Jerome Pearson this week presented several invited papers to the International
Space Development Conference in Dallas, Texas. The first paper covered the results of a STAR, Inc. study on high-payoff space
tethers, and the second paper was “The Real History of the Space Elevator,” which covered the contributions of
the two inventors of the space elevator, Yuri Artsutanov of St. Petersburg, Russia, and Jerome Pearson of Mount Pleasant,
SC. A third paper described lunar frontier transportation options, and the fourth demonstrated that curbing greenhouse gas
emissions will not halt global warming, and proposed a new space shield to reduce insolation and maintain the climate.
April 13th, 2007
Star Technology and Research, Inc. of Mount Pleasant, SC announced today that it has
won a contract from the Air Force to design a high-altitude morphing aircraft that could cruise indefinitely at 65,000 feet
altitude, using solar cells during the day and fuel cells at night to power its electric motor and pusher prop. The contract
is a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award for $749,945 and 24 months from the Air Vehicles Directorate
of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB Ohio.
October 3rd, 2006
Jerome
Pearson today presented two invited papers to the International Astronautical Congress in Valencia, Spain. The first paper
covered the results of a STAR, Inc. study on high-payoff space tethers, and the second paper was “The Real History of
the Space Elevator,” which covered the contributions of the two inventors of the space elevator, Yuri Artsutanov of
St. Petersburg, Russia, and Jerome Pearson of Mount Pleasant, SC.
August 8th, 2006
The
two inventors of the space elevator, Yuri Artsutanov of St. Petersburg, Russia, and Jerome Pearson of Mount Pleasant, SC,
met today for the first time, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Mr. Pearson traveled to meet Mr. Artsutanov in preparation for his
paper at an international conference this year. Yuri Artsutanov invented the space elevator in 1960, but did not publish a
technical paper. His invention was only recognized by the spaceflight community when Jerome Pearson invented the concept independently
and published in Acta Astronautica, an international spaceflight journal, in 1975. As a result of that publication, Sir Arthur
Clarke wrote his novel, “The Fountains of Paradise,” and the idea received broad exposure, leading to the re-discovery
of the Artsutanov work. Mr. Artsutanov is a retired materials engineer now living quietly with his wife Liudmilla in St. Petersburg.
June 9th, 2006
Star Technology and Research, Inc. of Mount Pleasant, SC announced today that it has
won a contract from the Air Force for a study of the feasibility of a high-altitude morphing aircraft that could cruise indefinitely
at 100,000 feet altitude, using solar cells during the day and fuel cells at night to power its electric motor and pusher
prop. The contract is a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award for $99,577 and 9 months from the Air Vehicles
Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB Ohio.
February 7th, 2006
Star
Technology and Research, Inc. of Mount Pleasant, SC recently completed two research contracts with NASA and DARPA, the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency. The NASA contract was with Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, and dealt
with the analysis and assessment of the payoffs from space tether concepts. The DARPA contract was a study of the Autonomous
Orbit Transfer Vehicle (AOTV), a maneuvering space vehicle pioneered by STAR, Inc. and based on their new concept for propellantless
space propulsion.