

‘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’.



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.



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.

edit on 21-4-2012 by PhoenixOD because: (no reason given)



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.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.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 :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.