Has the material Starlite become classified?

I read years ago about an insulating material called Starlite that could withstand temperatures over 2700 C. Within a year or two after an article appeared in Businessweek on this material and it's inventor Maurice Ward, I found articles on the net talking about the possibility of creating a commercial lite grade of the insulation for civilian use as a fantastic insulator in planes and for other fire fighting use. However since a commerical grade could potentially be detrimental to a star wars program in my opinion, I think this info has been removed from the net. What do you know of this material or think of it?
From what I remember from Businessweek, it's very possible that this material even withstood nuclear lasers and seemed to defy the laws of physics. I'm sure it's been thoroughly studied now though.

www.alternativescience.com...
www.keelynet.com...

uplink.space.com

[edit on 13-6-2004 by orionthehunter]

mod edit to shorten link

[edit on 18-8-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

Thanks for posting such an interesting story. The value of such a substance would be almost beyond imagination. Of course the basic story itself could be a hoax. No BBC film, no inventor, no product. On the other hand, if it is real the potential military uses would be so great it would become government property overnight and remain secret indefinitely. All records of the BBC film, the inventor, the product - would be erased. hmmm....

I believe the story is true. I may even have a hardcopy of the original Businessweek article somewhere but I'm not sure. I remember the hardcopy article claimed the inventor had the secret formula only in his head and that he was holding out for half the profits. I also remember reading that several branches of the military were paying daily visits to him and were very interested in determining the formula. I believe I also remember he (the inventor) had a vision where no one would ever burn up inside a plane because of the burning plastic etc. I believe this material doesn't burn as we know it. Just think of all the other marvelous civilian uses, firefighters could wear a light suit and never feel the heat of the most intense flames, etc. etc.
Of course I thought of lots of military reasons to keep it away from the public too. This material when put on a tank could allow a tank to survive the heat of a nuclear bomb. Radiation might be another problem though. Commercially available starlite would screw star wars too. That's why I think it's being covered up. I noticed there are tons of other starlite sites on the net and the original sites that were there years ago are gone now. I guess someone is hoping everyone just forgets.

Nice one orionthehunter, I often wondered what had happened to starlite. The inventor was on TV quite a lot, and I'm sure I remember a small documentary being made about him and then ...nothing.

I can remember a live demonstration being broadcast where the presenter "painted" their hand with starlite and then placed it in front of a blowtorch for a considerable time!

I would imagine Dstl Fort Halstead or a similar establishment is pursuing its development.

zero lift

I found this:

www.paulkemble.com...

It talks about some of the test performed on starlite, here is some of what it says:

3.6GW CMSq/per second.had to turn laser off after about 2 minutes, it[the laser] could not take the heat.


CO2 laser continuos at 3750w CMSq/per second. The test requirement was to withstand 200 WCMSq/ per second for 2 seconds duration[use your imagination what that would be used for] however after SIX Minutes duration 1mm thick of Starlite was still giving protection to the substrate!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why dont they use this stuff on the space shuttle if this is true as the link posted by orionthehunter from the space.com site talks about ? Talk about a conspiracy!

Hmmm... this is interesting! I remember reading about this material years ago in one of the major science magazines(popular science,mechanics, or Scientific American... can't remember which one) and thinking what a difference this material would make to all high temperature applications. It would change the space industry completely! However, the whole idea of this material has completely fallen off the radar. This material needs to be used!

Here are a few links I found while browsing the internet:

education.guardian.co.uk...

^seems other people are wondering about the material as well.

www.burleyproducts.com...

^These guys actually have a variation of the material for use! Anyone interested in signing up to see what the site is about?

I first heard of Starlite on Smithsonian's Invention TV Series starring reporter Lucky Severson.

The stuff was made by a Hairdresser and was supposed to be superior to other stuff and I never heard of it again!

After that report, NASA announced that the new shuttle called the X-33 Venture Star would have a TPS made of Titanium-Nickle plated Fibrous Aluminum Tiles that was superior to the very fragile Silca Tiles now used on the Space Shuttle.

So Starlite appears to be obsolete by 1996 as far as NASA was concerned.....

i remembered reading something about starlite also and the subject dissapeared as fast as it came i think the military dosent want anyone but them to hve this material. Thats why they have managed to keep it secret.

"A middle aged hairdesser from Blackburn?"

LOL. a local!
It was another Blackburn guy who invented Netlon as well, thus giving to the world the great plastic-netting onion bag!!

Haven't heard any more information about it, the government probably got hold of it

There is a computer show that was on tech TV (now G4-Techtv) named the Screen Savers. About 6 months ago they ran a piece on a material that is what I believe you are referring to. It was a wispy, solid cloud like substance that was quite fragile that had tremendous insulating properties. I will see if I can dig around for info on this show.

You're thinking of Aerogel maybe? It's also known as the worlds lightest solid.

www.space.com...

Aerogel has different properties. I see in the link it states that aerogel has a melting point of 1,200 degrees Centigrade while the material Starlite has withstood temperatures over 10,000 C according to some reports
www.guardian.co.uk...
(I believe this info is the same as in a previous link even though the page looks different.)

I found this small link too
www.icomm.ca...

I remember reading about a possible commercial grade of starlite that might get used by nasa and industry in general. I can't even find that mentioned anywhere now either.

[edit on 24-6-2004 by orionthehunter]

This is just the kind of stuff that the military would love to get their hands on, and if they did we wont hear about it in decades
Imho it wasn't a smart move by the inventor to wait for profits, he should've released the formula trough different channels so the whole world would get the benefit.

I have been attempting to find out more about this product at the following website: www.burleyproducts.com. Unfortunatly the password and username they sent me(and sent me, and sent me...) via automated response does not work! If anyone else is interested try to login by getting a password and tell me wha it is about!

I just got ahold of John Burley on the Phone! According to him they have a variant of Starlite, called SL2, that they are planning on releasing in a few monthes. He told me that the reason for the lack of news is because of large emphasis being put into secrecy of the products. I will be following further developements closely!

There is another thread on ATS about this stuff. Just a matter of locating it, now where was that...

Has anybody been able to dig up anything more recent about starlite, I've done a few searches but all the articles on the web seem to be years old. I also did a search on ATS and could only find this thread but according to the previous post there was another thread, does anyone have a link for it.

I remember starlite being on Tomorrows World. The presenters coated an egg with it, roasted it with a blowtorch for five minutes and then cracked the (uncooked) egg into a bowl. I'm sure they mentioned the application for Space Shuttle insulation tiles at the time...

I also vaguely remember, because i didn't watch it, a more recent documentary where the presenter gained the trust of mr Green and then went round various companies trying to hawk starlite and being given derisory offers for it...

I really must eat more blueberries.
And less aluminium.

Most of the articles and older websites that listed information on Starlite seem to have been removed from the net. I remember going to websites that aren't there anymore or cannot be found using google. This material must be the real thing for it to disappear. I was actually quite surprised an article on it got published in BusinessWeek to start with.

There would be a ton of military applications for this that might make some want to keep it quiet. It would be great if a competitive light version of the material was made available for public use. It would be a fantastic alternative for all insulation if it wasn't too expensive. It would save many lives too. Just imagine firefighers that can withstand heat thousands of degrees and barely break a sweat or airplanes that don't have burning plastic and much less smoke onboard in a crash (the smoke often kills before the fire I believe). All of our houses could have extremely good insulation too and the material could reduce energy costs nationwide and worldwide. I'm just speculating though if the material was available and cheap enough.