- LiftPort Group
LiftPort Group is a privately-held Washington State corporation with headquarters in Bremerton,
Washington . It was founded in April, 2003 byMichael Laine and is focused on the construction of aspace elevator usingcarbon nanotube s.History
On
November 12 2004 , LiftPort demonstrated a lifter at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology by having it climb up a ribbon approximately 90 metres tall, during a snowstorm [cite web | title=LiftPort Group | work=Lifter Demo at MIT | url=http://www.liftport.com/gallery/MITdemo_2004Nov | accessdate=September 19 | accessyear=2005] .On
September 20 2005 , a LiftPort lifter climbed a 1,000 feet (305 metres) ribbon which was suspended from a balloon.In January of
2006 LiftPort successfully launched an observation and communication platform a full mile (a kilometre and a half) in the air and maintained it in a stationary position for more than six hours while robotic lifters climbed up and down a ribbon attached to the platform. The platform, a proprietary system that the company has named "HALE" (High Altitude Long Endurance), was secured in place by an arrangement of high altitudeballoon s, which were also used to launch it. The robotic lifters measured five feet, six inches (1.7 metres) and climbed to a height of more than 1,500 feet (457 metres), surpassing its last test record by more than 500 feet (152 metres) [cite web | title=LiftPort Group | work=Mile-High Demo | url=http://www.liftport.com/index.php?site=news&news_id=3 | accessdate=February 15 | accessyear=2006] .As of
June 11 2007 ,Slashdot reported that LiftPort will be penalized and may be in jeopardy for continued operation, due to an illegal offering of shares in the company. [ [http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/03/1648214&from=rss Slashdot | Space Elevator Company LiftPort In Trouble ] ] However, according to a reply from Michael Laine from Liftport Group this was a paperwork mistake which only resulted in a $20,000 fine. [ [http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=237203&cid=19374645 Slashdot comment | Reply to Slashdot article from Michael Laine of Liftport Group] ]References
External links
* [http://www.liftport.com/ LiftPort Website]
* [http://www.liftport.com/external/blog.html LiftPort Staff weblog]
* [http://www.liftport.com/forum/ Liftport space elevator discussion forums]
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