DARPA selects Gryphon to build world’s first ever nuclear rocket engine
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s combustion engine rockets are cheap-ish but not that efficient so the race is on to develop new and better power systems. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from our XPotential Academy, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A little while...
US Air Force announces plans to update fighter jet software in mid flight
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Updating any software over the air is difficult, but when it’s a $175 million lethal weapons system, and in the age of autonomous AI’s, the stakes and rewards are much much higher. Love the Exponential Future? Join our FREE XPotential Community, enjoy exclusive content, future proof...
Air Force One to go hypersonic after USAF signs contract with US engine maker
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If you were the President of the United States you wouldn’t want to have to waste time commuting, which is why a hypersonic Air Force One is now in the making. Love the Exponential Future? Join our FREE XPotential Community, enjoy exclusive content, future proof yourself...
Battery breakthrough lets robots store energy like humans do in fat reserves
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We think of batteries as having a common fixed shape, but structural batteries can be any shape and they’re the future … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, enjoy exclusive content, future proof yourself with XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. There have been thousands of...
AI fighter pilot obliterates human USAF pilot in simulated dogfights
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI’s learn in fundamentally different ways to humans, and increasingly that seems to be their advantage in human-machine competitions. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from our XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Who’s better in a dog fight...
A patient in the US controlled two prosthetic arms simultaneously with just his thoughts
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many people around the world have lost limbs, for a whole variety of reasons, and now new sci-fi like technologies are helping them re-claim their mobility and lives in new ways. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses...
Breakthrough lets ships make unlimited amounts of their own fuel using seawater
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The cargo industry is one of the world’s most polluting, but this new way to create fuel might make them more sustainable. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from our XPotential Academy, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A while ago...
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...
