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Space Elevator Company LiftPort In Trouble
TropicalCoder writes "The LiftPort Group, founded four years ago with the lofty dream of building a stairway to heaven, has seemingly reached the end the line. The dream was to develop a ribbon of carbon nanotubes 100,000 km long, anchored to the Earth's surface and with a counterweight in space, providing a permanent bridge to orbit. Elevator cars would be robotic 'lifters' which would climb the ribbon to deliver cargo and eventually people to orbit or beyond. Now LiftPort has all but run out of funds, and the State of Washington's Securities Division has entered a Statement of Charges (PDF) against LiftPort Inc. dba LiftPort Group and founder Michael Laine."
who needs a space elevator when there's plenty of reefer down here?
just when i was dreaming of saying Beam (lift) Me up Scottie!
The dream was to develop a ribbon of carbon nanotubes 100,000 km long, anchored to the Earth's surface and with a counterweight in space, providing a permanent bridge to orbit
And it didn't work?!?!?! No S... Sherlock!
Tell me about feasible goals.
how long until
Well, sir, there's nothing on earth like a Genuine, Bona fide, Electrified, Six-car, Spacelifting Monorail!
Tags != Comments, and -1 (Troll) != -1 (I Would Respond Angrily To This Poster So They Must Be Trolling)
If you could even get 1/100th of the way there on materials, you would have a great company selling fibers for military and industrial applications. Precisely what I was thinking. It's like the people talking about putting up space hotels before we even have the cheap civilian access to space question answered.
Step 1: Found a startup whose business model is predicated on a technology that not only does not exist but you are incapable of inventing.
Step 2: Collect money from investors
Step 3: Hope this nonexistent technology falls out of the sky and directly into your lap.
Step 4: Profit!
Hey, I've got this great idea for making your very own Iron Man suit! That's right, you can fly into space, deadlift 100 tons, are bullet proof, missile proof, and nuclear bomb proof! Yes, folks, that's right! And it's all possible via the miracle of unobtanium. That's right, just get me some unobtanium and you can have your very own suit!
While we're at it, I'm selling land on the inside of my dyson sphere. Get in early before it's all gone!
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
No stairway. Denied!
However, if you learn how to speak properly I wouldn't have to read it twice to understand it.
I hear what you are thinking, but I'm not sure I see what you are saying.
After all, if your goal is to swim the English Channel, you might want to try swimming across a pool first.
Well, the analogy is more like if your goal is to swim the English Channel, then why not try swimming across a pool at the top of Mount Everest? :)
In other words, the actual designing of the moon elevator is much less of a problem than getting all the material to the moon, doing construction on the moon (dust!), and all the organizational infrastructure needed to do a project of that scope so far from the Earth.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Carbon nanotubes were not a problem, but the investors just could not understand how humans could endure several hours of elevator music.
My other SIG is a Sauer.
Investor: "Do I have the word 'DUMBFUCK' tattooed on my forehead?"
Hey that was me! Man, I should have believed in you guys.
Instead I put all my cash into a space elevator project that's all gone to shit...