LiftPort Group is a privately held

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

corporation. It was founded in April 2003 by Michael J. Laine. The company is focused on the construction of a

space elevator A space elevator, also referred to as a space bridge, star ladder, and orbital lift, is a proposed type of planet-to-space transportation system, often depicted in science fiction. The main component would be a cable (also called a tether) an ...

using

carbon nanotube A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tube made of carbon with a diameter in the nanometre range ( nanoscale). They are one of the allotropes of carbon. Two broad classes of carbon nanotubes are recognized: * ''Single-walled carbon nanotubes'' (''S ...

History

* April 2003, LiftPort Group founded. * April 12, 2004, LiftPort Group cosponsored the Official Yuri's Night celebration in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. * November 12, 2004, Demonstrated a lifter at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

by having it climb up a ribbon approximately 90 meters tall, during a

snowstorm A winter storm (also known as snow storm) is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, Rain and snow mixed, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In Continental cl ...

. * April 29, 2005 Announced plans for a carbon nanotube manufacturing plant, the company's first formal facility for production of the material on a commercial scale. The new facility was to serve as the regional headquarters for the company, and represent the fruition of LiftPort Group's three years of research and development efforts into

carbon nanotubes A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a tube made of carbon with a diameter in the nanometre range (nanoscale). They are one of the allotropes of carbon. Two broad classes of carbon nanotubes are recognized: * ''Single-walled carbon nanotubes'' (''SWC ...

, including partnering work with a variety of leading research institutions in the business and academic communities. Set to open in June 2005, LiftPort Nanotech was to be located in

Millville, New Jersey Millville is a city in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 27,491, a decrease of 909 (−3.2%) from the 2010 census count of 28,400, which in turn reflected an in ...

. * September 20, 2005, LiftPort Group designed and built a longer ribbon (called Tether) and load bearing balloon to further illustrate proof of concept and progress. The lifter climbed the ribbon which was suspended from the balloon. * January 2006 LiftPort successfully launched an observation and communication platform a mile 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 altitude

balloon A balloon is a flexible membrane bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. For special purposes, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), ...

s, which were also used to launch it. The robotic lifters measured five feet, six inches (1.7 meters) and climbed to a height of more than , surpassing its last test record by more than . * June 11, 2007, LiftPort was to be penalized due to an alleged illegal offering of shares of the company. * February 16, 2010, LiftPort Group entered into a Consent settlement with the State of Washington agreeing to cease and desist specified activities, and no fine was imposed.

Lunar space elevator

In October 2011 on the LiftPort website Laine announced that LiftPort is pursuing a Lunar space elevator as an interim goal before attempting a terrestrial elevator. At the 2011 Annual Meeting of th
Lunar Exploration Analysis Group
(LEAG), LiftPort CTO Marshall Eubanks presented a paper on the Lunar Elevator co-authored by Michael Laine. In August 2012, LiftPort announced the launch of KickStarter funding for their Lunar space elevator. This KickStarter fund can be found at
Space Elevator Kickstarter
This project successfully exceeded its funding goal on September 13, 2012, requesting $8,000. It raised $110,353 from 3,468 backers. The KickStarter project comments thread has many comments from backers asking what has happened with no response.Kickstarter project comments thread
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* LiftPort - The Space Elevator: Opening Space to Everyone,

External links

Viral video of LiftPort climber
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liftport Group Space elevator Aerospace companies of the United States Companies based in Snohomish County, Washington Bremerton, Washington