Keith Lofstrom (born 1953 in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

) is an American

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. He has a BSEE and MSEE from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. He is more widely known in the

space advocacy Space advocacy is supporting or advocating human activity in outer space. The advocated purposes range from orbital flight, space exploration, commercialization of space and space settlement, to outright space colonization. There are many di ...

community for a ground-based space launcher design, the

Launch Loop A launch loop, or Lofstrom loop, is a proposed system for launching objects into orbit using a moving cable-like system situated inside a sheath attached to the Earth at two ends and suspended above the atmosphere in the middle. The design conce ...

, for which he has been credited by name in several works of science fiction.

Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American list of science fiction authors, science-fiction writer, editor, and science fiction fandom, fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first ...

, who used the idea in several of his stories, once wrote that, of all the

non-rocket spacelaunch Non-rocket spacelaunch refers to theoretical concepts for launch into space where much of the speed and altitude needed to achieve orbit is provided by a propulsion technique that is not subject to the limits of the rocket equation. Although al ...

concepts, he liked the Lofstrom Loop "best of all." As an electrical engineer, Lofstrom specializes in

mixed-signal integrated circuit A mixed-signal integrated circuit is any integrated circuit that has both analog circuits and digital circuits on a single semiconductor die.boundary scan Boundary scan is a method for testing interconnects (wire lines) on printed circuit boards or sub-blocks inside an integrated circuit (IC). Boundary scan is also widely used as a debugging method to watch integrated circuit pin states, measure ...

methods was one of two to receive an Honorable Mention at the 1997

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

International Test Conference. One of his 9 patents is for a way to read an individual digital ID for

integrated circuits An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

that arises from random atomic variations inherent in the

semiconductor device fabrication Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to manufacture semiconductor devices, typically integrated circuits (ICs) such as microprocessors, microcontrollers, and memories (such as Random-access memory, RAM and flash memory). It is a ...

process. One of his more recent efforts in speculative space systems i
Server Sky
a very large

satellite constellation A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global pass (spaceflight), coverage, such that at any time everywhere on E ...

in Earth orbit using

thin-film solar cells Thin-film solar cells are a type of solar cell made by depositing one or more thin layers (thin films or TFs) of photovoltaic material onto a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are typically a few nanometers ( nm ...

to power

data center A data center is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Since IT operations are crucial for busines ...

computers integrated into the same

wafers A wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, light biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream, and also used as a garnish on some sweet dishes. They frequently have a waffle surface pattern but may also be patterned with insignia of the foo ...

as the PV cells. He is signed up for

cryopreservation Cryopreservation or cryoconservation is a process where biological material - cells, tissues, or organs - are frozen to preserve the material for an extended period of time. At low temperatures (typically or using liquid nitrogen) any cell ...

with the

Alcor Life Extension Foundation The Alcor Life Extension Foundation, most often referred to as Alcor, is an American nonprofit, federally tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization based in Scottsdale, Arizona, United States. Alcor advocates for, researches, and performs cryonics, the ...

, since 1992.

References

External links

Personal website

- IC design consultancy {{DEFAULTSORT:Lofstrom, Keith Space advocates Cryonicists Living people Date of birth missing (living people) 1953 births People from Portland, Oregon UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni 20th-century American inventors 21st-century American inventors