Home > News > A boost from balloons?
July 23rd, 2007
A boost from balloons?
Abstract:
Three months ago, the Liftport Group was sinking fast. The company's founder, Michael Laine, lost his headquarters and was talking about shutting down and ending his dream of building the elements for a space elevator. Laine still isn't out of the woods, but today he says he's on the verge of a business deal that could revive the dream, based on Liftport's work with balloon-borne platforms for communications and surveillance. Could the balloon business keep LiftPort aloft long enough to get to space by 2031?
The technology for actually doing that isn't nearly ready for prime time. Who knows, maybe it never will be. But LiftPort plans to capitalize on the intermediate technological steps - by building the crawlers and tethered aerial platforms for more terrestrial-minded applications, and by perfecting the process for manufacturing carbon nanotube ribbons.
Source:
msnbc.msn.com
Bookmark:
| Related News Press |
Nanotubes/Buckyballs/Fullerenes/Nanorods/Nanostrings
Tests find no free-standing nanotubes released from tire tread wear September 8th, 2023
Detection of bacteria and viruses with fluorescent nanotubes July 21st, 2023
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Aerospace/Space
Under pressure - space exploration in our time: Advancing space exploration through diverse collaborations and ethical policies February 16th, 2024
Bridging light and electrons January 12th, 2024
Manufacturing advances bring material back in vogue January 20th, 2023
 |
||
 |
||
| The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
 |
||
|
|
||
| Premium Products | ||
 |
||
|
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
 |
||
|
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||
|
|
||