Jordin Kare

Jordin Kare (born 1956) is physicist and aerospace engineer known for his research on laser propulsion. In particular, he was responsible for Mockingbird, a conceptual design for an extremely small (75 kg dry mass) reusable launch vehicle, and was involved in the Clementine lunar mapping mission.cite web
url=http://www.johnbray.org.uk/intersection/people.html#Jordin%20Kare
title = Intersection Science Programme Participants: Jordin Kare
accessdate = 2007-08-13
author = Jordin Kare
work = Intersection Science Programme Participants
publisher = John Bray] [http://www.capclave.org/capclave05/participants.php#JordinKare Capclave 2005: Confirmed Program Participants: Jordin Kare] ] Kare is also known as developer of the "Sailbeam" interstellar propulsion concept.

Infobox Scientist


image_width = 150px
name = Jordin T. Kare
birth_date = 1956
birth_place = Ithaca, New York, U.S. [http://www.casfs.org/cucon/cu22/filking.html Filk biography in CopperCon 22 Filking News] ]
residence = USA
field = Aerospace engineering
work_institutions = Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Kare Technical Consulting
known_for = Research on laser propulsion
footnotes = Son of Morley Richard Karecite web
url = http://www.monell.org/Newsletters/Monell_Fall03.pdf
title = The Monell Connection, Winter 2003
accessdate = 2007-08-13
year = 2003
format = PDF
publisher = Monell Chemical Senses Center
pages = 9]

Background

He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978 and Ph.D. in Astrophysics from University of California, Berkeley in 1984.cite web
url = http://www.space-access.org/updates/sau93.html
title = Space Access Update #93
accessdate = 2007-08-13
date = 2000-04-13
publisher = Space Access Society] Kare is the brother of Susan Kare, designer of the fonts and icons of the original Apple Macintosh user interface. [cite web
url=http://library.stanford.edu/mac/primary/interviews/kare/index.html
title = Interview with Susan Kare
accessdate = 2007-08-13
author = Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
date = 2001-02-19
work = [http://library.stanford.edu/mac/index.html Making the Macintosh]
publisher = Stanford University]

Career

Kare worked for many years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 1996, he left LLNL and, after working briefly for a small space-related startup company, became an independent consultant specializing in advanced space system design in 1997, and started his own company. He is a leading advocate of laser propulsion for space launch and in-space propulsion. He organized a 1986 Workshop on Laser Propulsion at LLNL and later led a development program for ground to orbit laser launch supported by SDIO. He has received a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts grant to study a near-term form of laser launch using arrays of relatively low powered lasers. [ [http://www.islandone.org/Propulsion/JordinKareBiblio.html Jordin Kare Laser Launch Bibliography (1986-1992)] ] [cite web
url=http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/897Kare.pdf
title = Modular Laser Launch Architecture: Analysis and Beam Module Design. Final Report.
accessdate = 2007-08-12
author = Dr. Jordin T. Kare
date = 2004-05-18
format = PDF
publisher = Kare Technical Consulting] He is a team member of LaserMotive [cite web
url= http://www.lasermotive.com/blog/?page_id=6
title = LaserMotive Team Bios
accessdate = 2007-09-06] , a laser power beaming entrant in the .

ailbeam

Kare initially presented the concept of a SailBeam Boosted Magsail in a [http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/597Kare.pdf report] prepared for NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts called “High-Acceleration Micro-Scale Laser Sails for Interstellar Propulsion”. A key idea is that if you accelerate vast numbers of tiny sails rather than one enormous one, you can bring the same amount of mass to high speeds with a less complex optical system. Unlike particle beam propulsion where the beam disperses as it travels, a stream of low-mass microsails is not limited by such diffraction. Using dielectric rather than metal sails, you can also accelerate the sails much closer to their power source. The stream of microsails then becomes a source of propulsion to a starship as particle beams mounted on the starship vaporize the incoming sails into plasma.

Filk music and science fiction

Kare is also known as a science fiction fan and filksinger. He has been a regular attendee and program participant at science fiction conventions since 1975. He was an editor of "", an important filksong collection, and later a partner in Off Centaur Publications, the first commercial publisher specializing in filk songbooks and recordings.Cite web
url = http://www.interfilk.org/interfilk/singout.htm
title = Filk music?
accessdate = 2007-08-13
author = Jordin Kare
work = [http://www.singout.org/ Sing Out!] ] [Cite web
url = http://www.scifiinc.net/scifiinc/gallery/bio/Kare,_Jordin.htm
title = Jordin Kare
work = Fan Gallery
publisher = SCIFI Inc.
accessdate = 2007-08-16] A character with his name appears in "War of Honor", a military science fiction novel in the "Honor Harrington" series by David Weber.

Publications

Musical

* Self-published two albums of his songs, "Fire in the Sky" (1991; distributed by Wail Songs) and "Parody Violation: Jordin Kare Straight and Twisted" (2000)

Honors

* Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship, 1978Fact|date=August 2007
* [http://www.ovff.org/pegasus/people/jordin-kare.html Seven nominations] for the Pegasus Award

Notes