A US startup just built a giant centrifuge to fling rockets into space
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Companies are trying to lower the cost of accessing space, and flinging rockets into space could make space travel ridiculously cheap. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. All manner of companies are experimenting with all manner of ways to...
US military starts testing solar cells in orbit that beam electricity back to Earth
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to capture solar energy in space and beam it back down to Earth is much more efficient than capturing it on Earth, now the tech is being tested. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from...
US military signs on to start testing Elon Musk’s StarLink communications network
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Only around half the planet has what can be termed good connectivity, and now for the rest there’s Elon Musk’s StarLink network. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently SpaceX began launching its Starlink network – the satellite...
USAF ramps up AI drone wingman concept, preps for 2023 launch
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of warfare will increasingly be autonomous and AI driven, and SkyBorg is another step on the road to realising that future. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. When it comes to developing future weapons the US...
USAF topguns will fight against AI drones in 2021 as era of autonomous warfare nears
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of air combat will increasingly fought by autonomous systems, not human pilots, and the race to create those systems has already begun. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. I’ve been talking about the rise of fully...
US Navy’s biofuel powered Tomahawk missiles open door to sustainable rocket travel
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Rocket fuel is in now way sustainable or green, but this innovation could change that narrative. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Rockets aren’t green in any sense of the word, especially when it comes to rocket fuel...
US Navy shows off first of a kind laser weapon by destroying drones over the Pacific
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New weapons of war are emerging, from autonomous robotic weapons systems to hypersonic weapons systems, so the military needs a new way to defeat them all. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Laser weapons like the ones in...
The US Space Force shows off its first offensive space weapon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Space is just another battleground waiting to be spun up, and the US just raised the stakes again. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The race for space is on – literally. Whether it’s Elon Musk trying to...
Invisible soldiers get closer after new thermal camouflage breakthrough
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We already have invisibility cloaks thanks to metamaterials, and now phase change materials will hide you from infra red sensors to turn you completely invisible. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. If you don’t want to be found...
Lack of Covid-19 vaccine pushes DARPA to develop a therapeutic “Shield”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It takes years to develop vaccines, but when pandemics emerge you only have months and that’s not enough time so DARPA are trying to create a therapeutic shield to protect people until they arrive. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote,...
DARPA announces “Counter-Hypersonics” program to counter the catastrophic threat from hypersonic weapons
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF All of today’s military machines and apparatus are defenceless against hypersonic weapons, and the US military needs an answer to this growing threat and fast. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. All of the world’s major military powers...
DARPA closes in on its ambitions to build the worlds first flying aircraft carriers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of warfare will include drones, and that flips the idea of today’s aircraft carriers on its head. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A while ago I wrote an article that discussed the impending emergence of...
The US military’s new Jetson laser can identify you from just your heartbeat
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The number of technologies we can use to accurately identify and classify people are growing at a staggering rate. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The US military could soon spot you in a crowd, not by your...
US Army explores the use of shape shifting robots for 2040
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Technology is transforming warfare, and the US military believes autonomous swarms of shape shifting robots could give them a significant advantage in battle. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently I discussed how swarms of robots were able...
Lightweight metal foam stops armour piercing .50 calibre bullets as well as steel
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Armour plating is heavy and cumbersome, but this new technology reduces the weight of armour by over 50 percent. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Researchers have demonstrated that vehicle armor using Composite Metal Foam (CMF) can stop...
The USAF deploys it’s first microwave drone killing weapon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Drones have been around for decades, but new technologies have accelerated their development and adoption, and as they’re weaponsised we need new ways to take them down. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently a black hat hacker...
DARPA wants to genetically engineer soldiers to protect them from biological and chemical weapons
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our understanding of how to manipulate the genetic code improves we’re slowing unlocking a whole new world of possible use cases. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The US Pentagon’s bleeding edge research arm DARPA, whose crazy...
World’s most advanced nanotube computer keeps Moore’s Law alive, for now
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As transistors reach their physical limits we need to develop fundamentally new computing architectures, and this is just one example of the future of computing. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The world of computing is, frankly, getting...
USAF announces development of a new Mach 5 hypersonic missile
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The new global arms race involves weaponising AI and robots, lasers, telepathy, and hypersonic weapons. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The future of warfare could, or will, be filled with autonomous hunter killer drones, flying aircraft carriers,...
US military report recommends giving AI autonomous authority to launch nuclear weapons
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more countries start fielding hypersonic weapons, the gap between launch and strike narrows significantly, and so striking back automatically gets more appealing. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Science fiction films are riddled with “AI’s and robots...
