Bradley C. Edwards

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, 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.^[3] In 1998, Edwards began working on the space elevator concept.^[4]

Edwards received funding from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts to examine the idea and published two papers in 2000 and 2003.^[5][6] 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.^[7][8]

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.^{[9][10][11][12]}

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.^[13]

Edwards spent eleven years working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico,^[4] 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]} In 2007 he started a new company to develop carbon nanotube technology. ^[14]

• 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)