Makani
E697131
Alphabet X project
airborne wind energy system
defunct company
renewable energy technology project
wind power company
Makani was an experimental Alphabet X (formerly Google X) project that developed airborne wind turbines using tethered kites to generate renewable energy.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Makani canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7931780 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Makani Context triple: [Moonshot Factory, hasProject, Makani]
-
A.
Manihi
Manihi is a remote coral atoll in French Polynesia’s Tuamotu Archipelago, known for its tranquil lagoon, traditional pearl farming, and unspoiled island scenery.
-
B.
Hamaki
Hamaki was the Japanese nickname, meaning "cigar," for the Mitsubishi G4M, a long-range World War II bomber known for its distinctive cylindrical fuselage and lack of armor.
-
C.
Kaiten
Kaiten was a Japanese warship that took part in the late-19th-century Boshin War naval engagements, including the Battle of Hakodate.
-
D.
Tahurangi
Tahurangi is the highest summit of Mount Ruapehu, a prominent active stratovolcano in New Zealand’s central North Island.
-
E.
Makemo
Makemo is a large, sparsely populated coral atoll in French Polynesia’s Tuamotu Archipelago, known for its long lagoon and traditional Polynesian culture.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Makani Target entity description: Makani was an experimental Alphabet X (formerly Google X) project that developed airborne wind turbines using tethered kites to generate renewable energy.
-
A.
Manihi
Manihi is a remote coral atoll in French Polynesia’s Tuamotu Archipelago, known for its tranquil lagoon, traditional pearl farming, and unspoiled island scenery.
-
B.
Hamaki
Hamaki was the Japanese nickname, meaning "cigar," for the Mitsubishi G4M, a long-range World War II bomber known for its distinctive cylindrical fuselage and lack of armor.
-
C.
Kaiten
Kaiten was a Japanese warship that took part in the late-19th-century Boshin War naval engagements, including the Battle of Hakodate.
-
D.
Tahurangi
Tahurangi is the highest summit of Mount Ruapehu, a prominent active stratovolcano in New Zealand’s central North Island.
-
E.
Makemo
Makemo is a large, sparsely populated coral atoll in French Polynesia’s Tuamotu Archipelago, known for its long lagoon and traditional Polynesian culture.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Alphabet X project
ⓘ
airborne wind energy system ⓘ defunct company ⓘ renewable energy technology project ⓘ wind power company ⓘ |
| acquiredBy | Google NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| acquisitionDate | 2013 ⓘ |
| becamePartOf |
Alphabet X
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Google X NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| collaboratedWith | Royal Dutch Shell NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| developed | 600 kW airborne wind turbine prototype ⓘ |
| dissolved | 2020 ⓘ |
| field |
airborne wind energy
ⓘ
renewable energy research ⓘ |
| formerName | Makani Power NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| founder |
Corwin Hardham
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Don Montague NERFINISHED ⓘ Saul Griffith NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasGoal |
access stronger and more consistent winds aloft
ⓘ
generate electricity from high-altitude wind ⓘ reduce cost of wind energy ⓘ |
| headquartersLocation | Alameda, California NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| inception | 2006 ⓘ |
| industry |
renewable energy
ⓘ
wind power ⓘ |
| languageOfName | Hawaiian ⓘ |
| locatedInTheAdministrativeTerritorialEntity |
California, United States
ⓘ
surface form:
California
United States NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| meaningOfName | wind in Hawaiian ⓘ |
| notableFor |
being one of the first large-scale airborne wind energy projects
ⓘ
developing kite-based wind power systems ⓘ |
| parentOrganization |
Alphabet Inc.
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
X Development LLC NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| productOrService |
airborne wind turbines
ⓘ
flying wing wind energy generators ⓘ tethered kite power systems ⓘ |
| reasonForEnd |
Alphabet discontinued funding
ⓘ
commercialization challenges ⓘ |
| testedAt |
North Sea
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
offshore test site near Norway ⓘ |
| uses |
autonomous flight control systems
ⓘ
electric tether for power transmission ⓘ onboard wind turbines ⓘ tethered kites ⓘ |
| website | https://x.company/projects/makani/ ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Makani Description of subject: Makani was an experimental Alphabet X (formerly Google X) project that developed airborne wind turbines using tethered kites to generate renewable energy.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Moonshot Factory