The International Space Elevator Consortium (ISEC), an independent coalition designed to promote outreach and foster research relating to the construction of an Elevator to Space, has announced that Russian engineer Yuri Artsutanov and American engineer Jerome Pearson, pioneers of the modern Space Elevator concept, will appear at the 2010 Space Elevator Conference.

The Conference, which will be held next month at the Microsoft Conference Center, will feature scientists, researchers and space enthusiasts from throughout the world as they explore the technical, legal and social issues relating to building an Elevator to Space.

Known as the "Fathers of the Modern Space Elevator Program," Artsutanov and Pearson are credited with independently creating the first modern blueprints for building an Elevator to Space. Artsutanov's proposal, created in the early 1960s, used the newly discovered graphite whiskers to propose an Elevator to Space using cables attached to a satellite, and running in both directions.

Independently of Artsutanov, in the United States Pearson conducted his own research on an Elevator to Space while at NASA. In 1975, Pearson published a proposal "The Orbital Tower: A Spacecraft Launcher Using The Earth's Rotational Energy."

"We are thrilled beyond words that both Mr. Artsutanov and Mr. Pearson have agreed to come to the Space Elevator Conference," said Ted Semon, president of ISEC.

"Those who are familiar with the idea of the Space Elevator know that Yuri and Jerome were originators of the modern-day concept of a 'tensile' structure as the foundation for a realistic Space Elevator. Their ability to take the idea of a Space Elevator, first proposed as a tower by Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and come up with an Engineering solution which can actually make something like this happen, is the basis for all work done on this concept since then."