On September 26th I posted an entry about Liftport and their recent successes but queried why they were not going to be at the first Space Elevator competition. Brian Dunbar of the Liftport Group was kind enough to offer the following reply.

We're not competing in this competion for several reasons;

* Michael (Laine) is on the board. There wouldn't be a conflict of interest, but
we want to avoid the appearance of one.

* We're putting our resources into a commercial application using a
tethered aerostat and lifter. We could enter the contest and at the end
we've got a device that meets the narrow criteria for competition, but
isn't what we need for revenue. We think we can produce a device that
will bring in captial, let us learn a great deal about devices that must
go up/down reliably and so on.

Which isn't to say the competition is is a bad idea - it clearly is a good
one. It's just not right for us, where we're at now.

Brian Dunbar
Liftport