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Bradley C. Edwards is an American physicist who has been involved in the development of the space elevator concept.[1]

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Bradley C. Edwards
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin–Madison

Biography

Dr Edwards received his PhD degree in Physics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1990.[2] His thesis work was in astrophysics on the soft x-ray background. During his graduate work he worked on x-ray micro calorimeters and several sounding rocket and Shuttle payloads.

After receiving his PhD, Dr Edwards was hired as a staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he was co-investigator on the ALEXIS satellite, developed superconducting tunnel junction detectors, a lunar orbiter, a Mars mission,^[which?] a Europa orbiter and the world's first optical cryocooler.^{[citation needed]} In 1998, Dr Edwards began working on the space elevator concept.^{[citation needed]}

Edwards received funding from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts to examine the idea and published two papers in 2000 and 2003.[3][4] He proposed methods for deploying a space elevator and overcoming perceived obstacles such as orbital debris, anchoring, climber design, and power delivery and examined construction costs and scheduling, laying the groundwork for current^[when?] discussions.[5][6]

Edwards also published two books on the subject, The Space Elevator: A Revolutionary Earth-to-Space Transportation in 2003 and Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator in 2006 which gained coverage on major news media.[7][8][9][10]

In interviews, Edwards has estimated that price per pound of launching into low Earth orbit could be reduced to 100th the cost of Shuttle missions.[11]

Edwards spent eleven years working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, researching advanced space technologies.^{[citation needed]} He attempted a number of ventures associated with the space elevator concept and spent six years as a senior engineer at Sea-Bird Electronics, an oceanographic company.^{[citation needed]} He has recently^[when?] started a new company to develop carbon nanotube technology.[12]

Books

• The Space Elevator: A Revolutionary Earth-to-Space Transportation System, by Bradley C. Edwards and Eric A. Westling (November 2003)
• Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator, by Bradley C. Edwards and Philip Ragan (October 2006)

References

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