It's not every day you come across this sort of thing -- well, not unless your friends are the sort of folks who take it upon themselves to transform space travel as we know it. We popped into Liftport's workspace, during a recent visit to the Pacific Northwest, to check in on the progress of the Kickstarter-funded space company. Much of Liftport's innovation is occurring in a garage loaded with arcade cabinets, pinball machines in various states of disrepair and an army of cats with various levels of polydactylism. Above, you'll find prototypes of the company's various space elevator-climbing robots, which can be explored in more detail in the gallery below. We'll have more on our visit with Liftport soon.
Space elevators are slowly making the transition from science fiction to science fact... but we're not quite there yet. LiftPort, a group that already holds the record for tallest elevator, is taking a second stab at the technology after going into "hibernation" in 2007. Founder Michael Laine has resurrected the company and taken to Kickstarter to drum up interest (as well as a little cash) in his latest project -- a lunar elevator. As Laine explains in the video, an elevator from the surface of the Moon to a rendezvous point between the Earth and its satellite is actually possible using current technology. And, thanks to its low gravity and lack of atmosphere, a much simpler construction site. The first step is a $1 million feasibility study that will involve a two kilometer tall elevator here on Earth. LiftPort has already far exceeded its Kickstarter goal of $8,000, but the point was never to fund the entire project. The hope was to garner some media attention and get people involved and invested (both financially and emotionally) by offering rewards. You could even pledge enough money to base jump from the top of the tethered research tower, which will be held aloft by helium balloons. For more info check out the video after the break and hit up the source link to pledge your hard earned cash.
Continue reading Liftport turns to Kickstarter for space elevator experiment (video)
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Liftport turns to Kickstarter for space elevator experiment (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 18:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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