LiftPort Space Elevator Lands in Tacoma

Artwork ©2017 LiftPort Group

By Lisa Kinoshita

In 2000, I was invited to an award ceremony in Seattle hosted by the Foundation for the Future, a then-new and obscure organization co-founded by a Swiss physicist and inventor, Walter Kistler (1918-2015). Being a stranger to the intersecting worlds of high-tech, science and entertainment, I expected to find a banquet room full of sci-fi geeks celebrating one of their rumpled best. To my chagrin, the recipient turned out to be the great biologist and social theorist, Edward O. Wilson, and the prize was $100,000, plus a 200-gram medallion made of solid gold.

The Foundation for the Future is just one of a slew of under-the-radar, Seattle-area brain trusts and high-tech companies investing in high-stakes, future-based research that purports to change the course of science (and by extension, humanity). While Google, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic grab headlines in a battle-of-the-billionaires’ race to commercialize outer space, serious research is going on right in our own backyard.  The creator of a new Artscapes installation, and president of the LiftPort Group, Michael Laine, shares an insider’s perspective.

STEAM Vent Presentation on Space Elevator

Monday, April 6, 2015 at 7:00 PM
Odd Otter Brewing Company
716 Pacific Ave
Tacoma, Washington 98402
Admission $5

Presenter: Michael Laine, President, LiftPort Group
Topic: The Space Elevator, Past, Present, and Future

New Tacoma Resource for Running a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

From the arts, to science, to social services and entrepreneurship, crowdfunding campaigns are becoming an increasingly prevalent means of fund raising. Social Contract It is a new business in Tacoma focused on assisting people in pulling off the best campaign possible. Spaceworks participants Gwendolyn Kohl and Michael Laine, have put together a marvelous team along with Naarah McDonald to offer classes, workshops, weekly meet-ups, networking events, and networking event along with their consulting services. Here is a more detailed description in their own words:

The STEAM Vent Presents…

Creative Enterprise participants The STEAM Vent and Michael Laine of the International Space Elevator Museum  are hosting a one-night-only talk about the International Space Elevator at TS McHugh’s Irish Pub in Seattle on Wednesday, Feb 25 at 7:30 PM. The Elevator is an idea that has been in the works for over 100 years.  Building a ladder to space and climbing to the heavens using a robot attached to a string, simple.  So what is the status of this project?  Where do we stand?  What do we need to make this vision a reality?  Michael Laine, President of LiftPort Group, addreses these questions and more!

Michael Laine, President of LiftPort Group, has focused on this project for over a decade. Through good days and bad, the team has persevered despite significant odds. Laine joined as one of the founding pioneers of the original NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts study of the Space Elevator in 2001. Come join us at The STEAM Vent and learn what the Space Elevator is all about!

Wednesday, Feb 25 at 7:30, $10

TS McHugh’s Irish Pub and Restaraunt
21 Mercer St
Seattle, WA 98109

The STEAM Vent is a community resource, where people gather to learn about developments in science, technology, engineering, art, and math. STEAM organizes events in local venues for the general public with an expert speaker from a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) field.  After a 20 minute presentation, the audience engages the expert in a 30-60 minute Q&A conversation.  Speakers are compensated and audience members win raffle prizes! STEAM Vent is a participant of Spaceworks Tacoma.

Check out this talk and other ones like it at www.thesteamvent.com

Introducing the Creative Enterprise Class of 2015!

Spaceworks is proud to introduce our 2015 Creative Enterprise participants! Our first training program session last week, Tuesday Jan 27, was a huge success and we’re looking forward to working with such a great crew! Check out the innovative and exciting Creative Enterprise that will hit Tacoma streets in 2015:

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Tim & April Norris //Tim + April
www.tmncreative.net

Tim + April is a design duo focused on selling art prints, plywood furniture, and wooden toys.  They currently have an Etsy shop that is geared towards the PNW, but would like to expand their market by having a permanent space for production and retail.