We are Shoot The Moon, a documentary about the Lunar Space Elevator, and LiftPort, the company actually building it! Ask Us Anything!

How can we know if LiftPort can organize anything at all, if they cannot complete such a simple task as delivering prizes to kickstarter supporters?

I think that's an interesting question that remains open. It's one of the key questions our film attempts to answer. One thing I will say is that fulfillment is a very difficult challenge that is very different from the engineering challenges LiftPort is facing.

I do agree that there's a violation of trust that Michael needs to rectify with the Kickstarter. We have been following this part of the story from the very beginning of our efforts. We'd really like to interview a group of backers. Would you be interested in taking part in that?

A project of such magnitude is not going to be accomplished by a few genius engineers working in in someone's garage. Thousands of people (including engineers) will have to work together, and those people will have to be:

a) found and hired

b) told what to do

c) paid

All the tasks above have nothing to do with pure engineering and everything to do with good ol' organizing and delegating.

You are definitely not alone in this criticism. We want it to get a fair shake in our film. Let me know if you'd be interested in participating.

I fly the highest tethered vehicle in the world at 22,000 ft altitude. What do you plan to accomplish by flying a tethered vehicle to 24,000' and who are you getting your system from? Maybe you shouldn't waste your money on this for a documentary just yet?

I'm curious to know what vehicle you're talking about! LiftPort's robot is a prototype for the lunar system they want to build, so I doubt they'd be interested in an off the shelf tech since they need to learn how to climb up a tether in order to build the real thing. The documentary isn't financially linked to LiftPort at all. We're just following their efforts!

Benjamin: I'm sure that as a human being you're rooting for Liftport's experiment to succeed, but, as a filmmaker, what outcome would make for the best story? Do you allow yourself to think that way when making a doc?

I think the best story is one that shows LiftPort pushing through the numerous challenges they face and finishing their big experiment with a successful result. As a filmmaker, I'm just trying to find the most interesting way to tell a story about what really happens. If they have to make two attempts at the experiment, I'd say that would make for an interesting twist, but that's up to fate!

Have you read The Fountains of Paradise? How close is it to your work?

Forgot to mention, there is a lot of other really good fiction that is less known: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevators_in_fiction

And there is a growing body of fiction related to our Lunar Elevator. So far, none of this stuff is very accurate. But we're working with some authors to give them some pointers. Hopefully the accuracy will slowly creep into these stories.

I'm sure that it has been mentioned on the other resources, but would you please answer the most basic questions:

1) How long will it take to build the elevator?

2) How much money would it take, who sponsors it and why?

3) What functions it will perform?

4) When will the movie come out?

I'll take question 4! The current target we have is Fall of 2015 to be finished with the film. Obviously a lot can impact that estimate in either direction, but if we can get it done sooner we will. It's mainly a question of resources.

How long have you been filming/researching/working on this? How long would the film be?

The film will probably be 90 or 120 minutes. It's a full theatrical feature film. Depending on how you count it, I've been working on it since just after LiftPort's Kickstarter. I was producing and directing a monthly web series for Engadget.com called The Engadget Show, and we did an episode on New Space. LiftPort was the lead story in that episode, and you'll notice some of the footage from that in our Kickstarter teaser.

We decided to do this film as a feature right around January of 2014, and Mahad and I have been flying back and forth from Brooklyn to Seattle to shoot it ever since! I'm actually headed back to Seattle tomorrow to shoot some more stuff with Idil Ibrahim, one of our producers!

In your opinion, what are the odds that the space elevator's crew will wear sharp-looking elevator attendant uniforms like this?

That's from "Hudsucker Proxy" right? Yup, count on it! Our team will have a strict dress code. Although we might combine that uniform with this one: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dava+space+suit+mit&id=26EB7CC7AA809DDE047A628832B15B7191D1FDFE&FORM=IQFRBA

p.s. I'm referencing the work of the new NASA Associate Administrator.

You're wonderful.

Buzz has the fuzz and makes the elevator do what she does! Also was the second man on the moon!

How will you explain your project to dummies?

We're hoping the film is accessible to everyone! We need a way to get to and from the moon that is affordable and safe if we're going to have routine manned missions. One of the reasons we wanted to make the film was to make the case for that in a broadly appealing way.

Will the documentary contain only information about LiftPort's project or also something about other projects? (Like the japanese company that said they wanted to build an Earth Elevator by 2050).

The narrative of the film is mainly focused on the runup to LiftPort's experiment, but we will definitely include lots of context for it, including information about the Obayashi announcement as well as some competing American efforts to build an Earth-based space elevator.

Can we send pizzas to astronauts?

The delivery guy is gonna be PISSED when he finds out how long it takes to get to the top floor!

Would an Earth elevator still be profitable if companies like SpaceX manage to build reusable rockets?

I'd imagine they could both find uses. One of the big problems with rockets is how environmentally impactful they are, but they have the elevator beat in terms of speed. For non-urgent trips, the elevator would probably be the way to go, but rockets would likely be kept as an option for certain types of missions.

How can a structure that high be supported?

It's a tether connected to the ground with very large balloons at the top.

24,000 feet? I'm thinking that has got to be a typo. Could you correct it, please?

Nope! That's their target! They want the experiment to be the tallest freestanding thing in North America when they do it. Call Guinness!

Forgive my ignorance of basic astronomy, but how will the elevator stay connected as the earth and moon rotate? Will they disconnect and reconnect at certain times? Will your ship have to travel around the earth to follow the moon?

No worries! The lunar elevator would be attached to the moon and stretched back towards the Earth, but wouldn't be touching the Earth. Even if the Earth-based space elevator were also built, they wouldn't touch. You would still need a rocket to get to the lunar elevator.

Do you have info regarding the probability of such a device being hit by space debris or other fast moving solid objects?

I think the idea is cool but the idea of what would happen if it were to collapse is kind of terrifying IMO.

I may be wrong about this, but I think the concern with the lunar elevator is more to do with micrometeorites that could hit it. It's far enough away from the Earth that space junk isn't a factor. It's definitely an unsolved problem as far as I know, but I have no idea what the probabilities are.