Is LiftPort Closing Shop?

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For space elevator fans, this is very sad news indeed.

(Almost Girl) But today, roughly two hours before the panel, an obstacle was placed in Michael and Liftport’s path. Zealot that he is, even his belief and passion could not hold against this reality of finance. They lost their office space. The money ran out. And on Monday they will announce this fact.

I almost cried in sympathy as Michael described how this would impact not only Liftport but his personal life. He had no home, no place for his animals, no job, no source of income, and no place for his staff. A three million dollar building that held the hopes and dreams of more than just a few space crazies was taken away from a project that for better or worse is attempting to bring about a future I was weaned on. And a future I don’t often get to remember in a day to day way and now perhaps will not see even in dreams anymore

No official word yet from LiftPort, although there seems to be hints of this over on their corporate blog.

Opinion: So what does a LiftPort’s fate have to do with colonizing our solar system? For some, nothing (as rockets is their mode of travel) but for others it means a lot.

The largest hurdle with humanity colonizing our solar system can be boiled down to one word–cost. The cost of space is so high that only the wealthiest of the wealthy can afford to orbit our planet for a brief amount of time, let alone visit other worlds.

LiftPort’s goal was to be the first company to construct a working space elevator, thus enabling humanity to not only construct solar powered satellites and rotating space stations, but also allow us to migrate the masses off world onto other worlds throughout our star system.

Although they are not the only company attempting to do this, LiftPort was one of the few companies who were willing to be “open and honest” about their situation, whether good or bad (a rare trait in the space industry).

Reducing the cost is a key factor in encouraging our population to live elsewhere, and the space elevator was one of the few technologies (along with maglev-rocket hybrids, magnetic sleds and nuclear propulsion) promising this.

If this is the end of our beloved space elevator company, then let it be known that these men and women dared to attempt the impossible, and were willing to stake their futures upon it. President Theodore Roosevelt sums it up the best by saying:

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

God bless LiftPort, and I await the news of your fate.

(Image Credits: LiftPort.com)

Update: For some strange reason I’m receiving errors when I attempt to comment on LiftPort’s post. Alas, I least I can still sing Lifter, Lifter, in the sky…

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2 Responses to “ Is LiftPort Closing Shop? ”

1. L. Riofrio says:

   April 16, 2007 at 2:37 PM

   This is very disppointing news if true, but my posts this week will still talk favourably of Space Elevators.
2. Christine says:

   April 21, 2007 at 9:24 PM

   Really, who cares. As far as I can tell, Liftport’s only major product was powerpoint slides.

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