Has the secret to Starlite been lost forever?

I was watching a new documentary from the BBC the other night about the importance of materials when they showed something that they claimed could be one of the most important materials ever invented. It was called Starlite. Starlite was invented by a former hairdresser from Yorkshire, England who could only be described as a amateur scientist at best.

So what is Starlite? Its a a thermal shielding material (plastic) that has proved to be better than anything ever produced by the worlds top scientists at institutions like NASA. One small application of this material to something like an egg and you could hold a blow torch to it without cooking it in the slightest. All this and it was made by a guy in a back room who did science for a hobby from materials that he claimed where 80% organic.



When tested using a military laser it was discovered that Starlite could withstand the heat flash from a nuclear explosion. They tested it to over 10000 centigrade , there is no known material that can survive that sort of temperature. Ive been trying to find out what is the most heat resistant material currently in production and i cant find anything that can withstand even 5000 centigrade. Also most of the heat resistant materials currently in production produce toxic fumes when heated, Starlite did not produce harmful fumes.



This material has so many potential applications in the world today that it benefit mankind immensely. If applied to paint it could make houses burn proof, create heat resistant suits for fire fighters, it could shield military vehicles against nuclear blasts, even make something invisible to infra-red detection, protect missiles from lasers or be used in private space ventures.

‘Starlite has a Q-value [an energy absorption rating] of 2,470. The space shuttle tiles have a Q-value of 1.’ Not only that, but because Starlite is so lightweight – 1mm thick, compared to 75mm for the space tiles – it’s actually ’2,470 x 75 times better’.

source



So what has happened to Starlite? As you would expect Maurice Ward kept the formula for Starlite super secret. He refused to patent it or let sample of it be analyzed though fear of someone stealing it. Apparently there were many attempts to steal it from him, at one point he caught someone trying to hide a small piece of it down their pants. So due to paranoia he never wrote down the formula and only told the secret of the 21 ingredients to a few close family members.

Well after many years of Maurice Ward trying to get it to market he was finally in talks with NASA and Boeing. The problem is he wanted to retain a majority control of the product. He insisted on keeping a 51% share which may have been his biggest mistake as it stopped anyone going into business with him. The sadly in May 2011 after talks with Boeing broke down he died (ive not been able to find out how) seemingly taking the secret of his Starlite material to the grave.

Ward’s conditions were unusual. He wouldn’t sign confidentiality agreements, which made government and defence companies uncooperative. In joint ventures, he insisted on keeping 51 per cent. ‘If they’d wanted to buy it outright, they could have had it. But they always wanted a licence, and if they wanted that they had to sign an agreement that says they won’t plagiarise or reverse engineer. If they don’t sign that, they get a sample and then they reverse engineer and why would they bother to get a licence?’ This was why NASA never signed up. It’s why BAE didn’t, or Boeing, or the dozens of other corporations and military establishments who got somewhere in negotiations but never to the end.

Source

Its truly a loss to mankind that this material was never brought to market. There has been no word from the family about releasing the list of ingredients. But even if they did would anyone be able to work out how to make it? Just how many billions would a product like this be worth?

While doing some research for this post I was looking at his blog and found this entry in the comments section for May 2011 (the month he died) which i found slightly creepy :

MickMay 17, 2011 12:21 PM

It's a shame Maurice. I think that you could make a reasonable fortune by anybody's standard and go down in history for revolutionising the world. However, you seem to be aiming for something more than anyone can offer and in the process I wonder how much progress that could have been made if you'd released Starlite has been lost and how many lives that could have been saved have also been lost.

For what reason? More money then you can ever spend? For fame? If you take the secret of this invention to your grave because of money, your legacy will be infamy and the withholding of a gift to the human race due to greed. You have every right of course to make money from your invention but isn't there something inside that gnaws at your soul when you see tragedies that could have been prevented if only you were prepared to settle for a simple fortune rather than wealth beyond reason? Of course you may have other reasons that you only know but from this observers perspective I feel that you have missed an opportunity to do great things and I fear that you will take your secret with you to death and you'll have left the world as you found it, no worse but no better either. I wish I had the opportunity that you had - just to do something sensational for mankind, the money bit would be a nice perk but the main attraction would be the legacy.

Was this a threat or just coincidence that he died in that very month? Maybe it was a warning to the remaining family members not to hold on to the secret for to long.

Wow!

That stuff is badda$$!!

The aplications for that stuff would be HUGE!!
G dam government and their F'ing greed. I was just reading a thread made earlier about the how some of the worlds best scientist have been dieing of strange and suspious deaths. The majority of the scientist were in biology fields. And after reading that this stuff was organic it just kinda makes me wonder whats going on that is being kept under tight wraps.

I hope that one of his family members remembers the formula and goes to every news and media platform (ATS included) and releases how to make it.

Cant silence everyone......can they....dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuun.

Ah ,the tomorrows world show. Back in the day when you could have a primetime main channel science show. Before we became a nation of drooling simpletons watching other simpletons degrade themselves for cash.

reply to post by Talltexxxan


Since writing this post ive been wondering if this stuff was just TO good to let loose on the world. If TPTB worked out that this could be made very easily then they might decide that it would just to easy for other more volatile countries to copy and use for themselves. That could be a huge risk to world security in more ways than one.

As you can see his lab wasnt exactly high tech.


Maybe to plan was to try to get a controlling interest and then bury the invention never to be seen again. Then when Maurice refused to play ball they just decided to take a more drastic course of action to make sure the formula stayed a secret.

Corporational capitalism is worst enemy of technological progress. If new invention would damage interests of a few, no matter how beneficial it would be for the most, it would not see a daylight. Face it.
Moore's Law is irrelevant in today's economic supergreed and infinite influence of big companies..

Very interesting, while searching on the net for more info i found this:

www.baytoday.ca...

en.wikipedia.org...

It seems someone else got to a similar solution after a few years, once again, when the time comes, the knowledge comes out one way or another.

Why wont you stupid people learn.
Let as many people know about it as you can!
even then they will find ways to stop it.

Just get ONE person on ATS to say Hoxe!
or no pics?

Someone probably is already manufacturing it and they got this story out to get the public thinking the formula died with him. After 10 years, I can't believe he never told anyone or made a deal with anyone. I believe the secret is out and he had a deal to keep quiet about it. That way when he passed away like he did, they could spread the story that the secret died with him so that the formula never gets released for public use where it could have saved millions of lives and revolutionized plastics in aircraft, firefighting equipment, etc. etc, insulation on our homes, etc. Instead it's being kept secret because if a foreign country put this material on their tanks or missles, our lasers would not be able to shoot them down using lasers and their tanks might be able to repel the heat of a nuclear blast and keep on rolling. Just my opinion.

Here's an old thread on starlite and I believe the effort to make it classified or hidden.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

It reminds me of this guy!







I tried fixing it!

This whole post really upsets me. How can anyone be so selfish?

I'd have personally cut a one or two year deal to market the product under license, after which the formula would then be released worldwide, for free, to everyone.

This way, some peeps at least get a head start, but, everyone benefits, so there's no hoarding or secret keeping for only the privileged.

I'm sorry, but, if I've got something that can help the planet, I'll give those that want a head start, but, no matter what happens to me, there'll be dead man switch release instructions to happen on X date, or before if I something untoward happens to me before X date.

If this material was indeed such a wonder material, the implications and applications for its use are astounding. Think about the clothing options alone as far as thermal insulation goes. You get very little heat loss wearing a t-shirt of this material, thus making it possible to kick around in Antarctica essentially wearing just a t-shirt thin protective suit.

It'd be wonderful for thermal insulation of homes everywhere, and of course, there'd be tons of industrial and military applications.

Whatever the case, open sourced worldwide could make the world a better place, but, here, we have again, yet another fine example of human selfish greed.

It's a shame that it never seen the light of day.

Greed on both sides did the material in.

On a side note, I think this illustrates how companies won't pursue something revolutionary for mankind if it isn't profitable for them.

*COUGH cure for cancer COUGH!*

Many will argue that this guy was so selfish that he took his secret to the grave and that was that!
I personally, don't blame him at all. If he would've negotiated with NASA or other agencies about his technology, his death will still have come but after he had given the secrets away and be used in not so many good ways.

So, why would I give away my secret when I know either way I will die? I rather die with it, than give it to TPTB!

Now, to ensure this technology would have been "free", I would have done what someone already suggested, in telling as many friends as possible to ensure the whole world knew about it and not just those malicious agencies!

My 2 cents!

Are you guys just plain stupid or retarded, in the post it clearly states the reason he didnt sell his idea is because he wanted 51% of the owner ship which they didnt want to agree to. He knew clearly that he was gonna get ripped off or get his idea taken over, thats why he wanted 51 percent so he can have a say in how they use it and not abuse it. if someone told me i couldnt have 51% of my own idea i would say # off then i dont trust the government or corporations anyways!

While I can't say I blame the guy for wanting to play it smart with his money...

...he loses my respect by sending his contribution to science and the world to a dead end. A product this revolutionary should be on the market for everyone. The benefits far outweigh the consequences. Even if he had lived to see his product flourish TPTB would have exploited this resource like they do with all resources. And those saying they are glad he didn't give it over to TPTB... really? That's like saying "I wish Alexander Graham Bell never invented the telephone so the FBI couldn't phone tap us."

Lol the US government or somebody has it. If they make it a common application all the countries would have it and the us government deffiently doesn't want that. (Most likely)

I bet the secret Goverment has made it. They probably have something stronger...

reply to post by fer405


Really, that's just ignorant and greedy.
Ideas like that work on paper, and on terribly written TV series, but, reality don't play like that.
Sure, all the people that have money are greedy, but, they've been playing the game a LOT longer than you, and they have the money, where you DON'T.

Asking 51% is like a brilliant child inventing something world changing awesome, but refusing to give up the secrets until they get an actual mountain of ice cream with rivers made out of chocolate.

Isn't going to happen.
Limited licensing is the only way to go, because no matter who you license something like that to, they're going to steal it, so, license it to as many people in as many secret deals where they all think they're getting exclusive access, and then, dead man's switch that stuff so it's going to get released for free to everyone equally all over the planet anyway after a certain time, or sooner if for any reason you suddenly lost the ability to breathe.

Every big business is going to play as dirty as they can because even if they get caught breaking rules, for the trillion $ they make, they might get fined a could hundred million, and still have a huge profit margin.
They're going to be sneaky dirty and underhanded, so, you have to do the same, and once it's released to the whole planet, you get the last laugh.

Instead, this greedy selfish moron played like a simpleton, where now, one of those close friends or relatives that knows the secret has done some shady handshake deal where behind the backs of everyone else for a fraction of what could have been got where this supposedly amazing material will go the way of so many other super secret things that never see the light of day in the public sector.

reply to post by Druscilla


While I agree he could have played the system better, I can't really fault him for wanting to fight an inherently flawed system. I mean, it is not unreasonable to want control over the fate of something you create. He refused to let the system screw him over, which is admirable, even if it was at a major loss to all mankind.

The truth is that the current system is almost designed to cause situations like this. A tragedy this should be a wake up call to change a flawed system.

It seems like aerogel is a lot better anyway.

Ok, checking youtube now, there's even a Penn and Teller episode where they have a guy on the other side of a thin aerogel screen and he can put his hand on it while a guy with a flamethrower is blasting away on the other side of it.

And at the wiki, they have a thin piece of aerogel floating on top of a bunsen burner flame with an unharmed and unaffected flower sitting on top of the aerogel:

en.wikipedia.org...

You really think he is dead,,,rather co-incidental..humm how well documented was his furneal ,,abduct him and get it for free...just a fake death,,was he cremated,,no way to check the remains,,,no it isnt lost ,,sort of to the public but not to the defense contractor world he and his invention are most likely doing well.