Rigidized polymers appear to be a feasible technology to create space telescopes larger than kilometer sizes. It should be possible to make 50 meter space telescope elements in 1000 kilometer baseline space telescope arrays. The Event Horizon Telescope at 1.3 millimeter wavelength achieved 25 microarcsecond resolution on M87. Many 50-meter space telescopes in a 1000 …
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has uncovered the processes that drive the solar wind – the constant outflow of hot, ionized gas that streams outward from the Sun and fills up the solar system – and how the solar wind couples with solar rotation. The mission has examined the dust of the coronal environment, and spotted …
This is an update of the system under development by John Brophy and his team and it will use a kilometer-scale, multi-hundred-megawatt phased-array laser to beam power to a vehicle that converts it to electrical power for a multi-megawatt electric propulsion system that produces a specific impulse of 58,000 s. This will enable velocities of …
Robert Adams updated the work on a phase 2 Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion Concept. Robert works at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. This system should be able to achieve 15 kW/kg and 30,000 seconds of ISP. This will be orders of magnitude improvement over competing systems such as nuclear electric, solar electric, and nuclear …
Artificial neurons on silicon chips that behave just like the real thing have been invented by scientists – a first-of-its-kind achievement with enormous scope for medical devices to cure chronic diseases, such as heart failure, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases of neuronal degeneration. Critically the artificial neurons not only behave just like biological neurons but only …
There is an amusing rendering of an imagined Tesla Cyber-Roadster. It is a Tesla Cybertruck inspired version of a Tesla Roadster with the windows broken like the cybertruck had during its debut. A Tesla Cyber-Roadster (render) looks super Dope 😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/cQ17FFUoMd — Vincent (@vincent13031925) December 4, 2019 Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader …
Muon-catalyzed fusion has been studied for 60 years and new work with lasers and ultradense material could lead to commercial nuclear fusion. A 100-watt laser power could create a megawatt nuclear fusion generator. This would provide a total energy gain of more than ten thousand. It would have deuterium-tritium as fuel. It would use a …
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. failed to properly inspect and maintain the high-voltage power line that started the Camp Fire. Pacific Gas and Electric did not conduct a detailed climbing inspection of the aging tower located at the fire’s origin point since at least 2001. This was the period of seventeen years preceding the November …
Telsa China Gigafactory is producing at least 12 cars per day and could have produced over 600 cars by November 21, 2019. This seems to indicate that 1000 to 2000 Tesla Model 3 cars will be made and delivered in China by the end of 2019. The production numbers should continue to ramp towards the …
US crude oil production hit an all-time record of 12.9 million barrels per day. This is about triple the lowest levels in 2005-2010. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive …
The 2019 UN Emission Gap report indicates that global emissions must drop 7.6 percent per year from 2020 to 2030 for the 1.5°C goal and 2.7 percent per year for the 2°C goal. The UN report says a 30 billion ton CO2 equivalent cut by 2030 is needed to reach the 1.5 degree target. However, …