Futurism
Vactrain - Wikipedia
A vactrain (short for vacuum tube ... tubes or tunnels. By operating in a partial vacuum, air resistance is drastically reduced, allowing for higher speeds than conventional ground transportation, theoretically up to 4,000 km/h (2,500 mph). Vactrains have been proposed from 1906, and developed as sc…
added Aug 30, 2026
Read article →Safeguarding Earth’s Biodiversity by Creating a Lunar Repository | Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
A group of Smithsonian scientists and other researchers envision a lunar biorepository — a vault of biological samples that could preserve genetic material indefinitely on the Moon.
added Aug 28, 2026
Read article →Mission Architecture to Reach and Operate at the Focal Region of the Solar Gravitational Lens | Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
We present initial results of an engineering study on the feasibility of a space mission to the focal region of the solar gravitational lens (SGL). The mission goal is to conduct exoplanet imaging operations at heliocentric distances in the range astronomical units (AU).
added Aug 26, 2026
Read article →Atmospheric mining - Wikipedia
Hydrogen and helium are abundant in outer planets. Various methods have been proposed to extract resources from the atmospheres of the giant planets. Due to the inherent risks in travelling into the atmosphere of a giant planet, most such proposals involve sending only robotic craft into the atmosph…
added Aug 24, 2026
Read article →Realistic sunshade system at L1 for global temperature control - ScienceDirect
It has been argued that in about 15 years, given the resources, the technology of solar sailing could be advanced to the level that a sailcraft with an area of up to 9000 m2 could be built, with the capacity to sail from a LEO of 2000 km altitude ...
added Aug 22, 2026
Read article →DEEP: Humans to permanently live underwater from 2027
The ambitious DEEP System that will be revealed today revolves around the Sentinel underwater habitat – an underwater station with direct ocean access, individual suites with showers and toilets, configurable workspaces, as well as social ...
added Aug 20, 2026
Read article →Breakthrough Team Proposes Caution in Messaging Extraterrestrials | Mind Matters
Relative to past METI projects, however, Breakthrough Initiative is very cautious: “To encourage global discussion on the ethical and philosophical issues of sending messages into space, we pledge not to transmit any message until there has been a wide-ranging debate at high levels of science and po…
added Aug 18, 2026
Read article →Robotic 3D printed lunar bionic architecture based on lunar regolith selective laser sintering technology | Architectural Intelligence | Springer Nature Link
The third phase uses a construction technology that utilizes lunar in situ resources as the primary building material. Through resource mining and processing, the lunar regolith is converted into additive manufacturing (AM) raw materials. This in situ construction technology relies on a variety of t…
added Aug 17, 2026
Read article →Space data centers: Starcloud, SpaceX and Project Suncatcher explained
Its rationale is the same as SpaceX’s: “In the right orbit, a solar panel can be up to 8 times more productive than on earth, and produce power nearly continuously, reducing the need for batteries.
added Aug 15, 2026
Read article →Mirror Life: Addressing a Potential Biothreat | Think Global Health
The warning concerned mirror bacteria: hypothetical synthetic organisms built from mirror-image forms of the proteins, amino acids, DNA, and other biomolecules used by life on earth.
added Aug 13, 2026
Read article →10,000-year clock — LONG NOW
An immense mechanical monument, installed in a mountain, designed to keep accurate time for the next ten millennia. The 10,000-year clock is hundreds of feet tall, engineered to require minimal maintenance, and powered by mechanical energy harvested ...
added Aug 11, 2026
Read article →European space agency's hibernation (torpor) strategy for deep space missions: Linking biology to engineering - ScienceDirect
The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted a Mission Concept and Requirements Assessment (MicRA) study, to assess systematically the probability and the research needs for controlled use of torpor, the state of reduced metabolic rateduring ...
added Aug 9, 2026
Read article →Colonization of Venus - Wikipedia
Geoffrey A. Landis of NASA's Glenn Research Center has summarized the perceived difficulties in colonizing Venus as being merely from the assumption that a colony would need to be based on the surface of a planet: However, viewed in a different way, the problem with Venus is merely that the ground l…
added Aug 8, 2026
Read article →(PDF) Melissa: The European project of a closed life support system
The target of the loop is to recycle the wastes, mainly CO2 and organic materials, generated in a closed environment such as in manned space missions, into oxygen, water and edible material.
added Aug 6, 2026
Read article →Arcology - Wikipedia
An arcology or vertical city is a hypothetical mixed-use megastructure featuring high population density with the goal of autarky from the outside environment. The term was coined in 1969 by architect Paolo Soleri as a portmanteau of "architecture" and "ecology."
added Aug 4, 2026
Read article →Project Orion (nuclear propulsion) - Wikipedia
The Orion nuclear pulse drive combines a very high exhaust velocity, from 19 to 31 km/s (19 mi/s) in typical interplanetary designs, with meganewtons of thrust. Many spacecraft propulsion drives can achieve one of these or the other, but nuclear pulse rockets are the only proposed technology ...
added Aug 2, 2026
Read article →Bussard ramjet - Wikipedia
The Bussard ramjet is a theoretical method of spacecraft propulsion for interstellar travel. A fast moving spacecraft scoops up hydrogen from the interstellar medium using an enormous funnel-shaped magnetic field (ranging from kilometers to many thousands of kilometers in diameter); the hydrogen is …
added Aug 1, 2026
Read article →This Mind-Blowing Antimatter Rocket Could Take Us to the Stars Within a Lifetime. But How Long Until We Get One?
If scientists can overcome the immense challenges of producing and storing antimatter, spacecraft powered by this exotic fuel could reach nearby stars within a human lifetime. It’s the closest thing science offers to a ticket for interstellar ...
added Jul 30, 2026
Read article →Star lifting - Wikipedia
Small artificial gas giant planets ... it for future use. Excess gas could also be used to build new earthlike planets to custom specifications. In the case of the Solar System, one possible use for material harvested from the Sun would be to add it to Jupiter. Increasing Jupiter's mass about 100-fo…
added Jul 28, 2026
Read article →ESA - Helium-3 mining on the lunar surface
Unlike Earth, which is protected ... solar wind. It is thought that this isotope could provide safer nuclear energy in a fusion reactor, since it is not radioactive and would not produce dangerous waste products....
added Jul 26, 2026
Read article →Orbital Rings and Planet Building: Prelude to Colonizing the Solar System — Greg School
But we'd have so many people going to space that it would also make sense to build things like the O'Neil cylinder, a type of megastructure which can accommodate up to several million people. To conclude what has been discussed up to this point: today, going to space is expensive, and thus not many …
added Jul 24, 2026
Read article →Direct fusion drive for interstellar exploration - Princeton University
The power balance is described and the subsystems needed to support the fusion core are reviewed. The paper gives the latest results for the system design of the engine, including just-completed work done under a NASA NIAC stud1/. A mass budget is presented for the subsystems. The paper then present…
added Jul 23, 2026
Read article →Stratospheric aerosol injection - Wikipedia
The Intergovernmental Panel on ... other solar geoengineering approaches, stratospheric aerosol injection would do so imperfectly and other effects are possible, particularly if used in a suboptimal manner. Various forms of sulfur have been shown to cool the planet after large ...
added Jul 21, 2026
Read article →Launch loop - Wikipedia
A launch loop, or Lofstrom loop, is a proposed system for launching objects into orbit using a moving cable-like system situated inside a sheath attached to the Earth at two ends and suspended above the atmosphere in the middle.
added Jul 19, 2026
Read article →Programmable matter - Wikipedia
An example of this more ambitious form of programmable matter is claytronics. There are many proposed implementations of programmable matter. Scale is one key differentiator between different forms of programmable matter. At one end of the spectrum, reconfigurable modular robotics pursues a ...
added Jul 17, 2026
Read article →Computing the minimal crew: For a multi-generational space journey towards Proxima Centauri b
... Using the Monte Carlo simulation tool HERITAGE, the astrophysicist Frederic Marin concluded that a minimum crew of 98 settlers is needed for a 6,300-year interstellar voyage to Proxima Centauri b from a demographic point of view [12,
added Jul 16, 2026
Read article →Generation ship - Wikipedia
"Smith, C.M., "Estimation of a genetically viable population for multigenerational interstellar voyaging: Review and data for project Hyperion"". Acta Astronautica. 97: 16–29. Bibcode:2014AcAau..97...16S. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2013.12.013. ... Marin, F.; Beluffi, C. (2018). "Computing the minimal …
added Jul 16, 2026
Read article →Neural Implants & Brain–Computer Interfaces: Enhancing Human Intelligence Or Violating Free Will? » RRJoNS
The rapid advancements in neural implants and brain–computer interfaces [BCIs] are revolutionizing human cognition, enabling enhanced intelligence, communication, and even thought-driven control of external devices.
added Jul 14, 2026
Read article →Matrioshka brain - Wikipedia
A matrioshka brain is a hypothetical megastructure of immense computational capacity powered by a Dyson sphere. It was proposed in 1997 by Robert J. Bradbury (1956–2011). It is an example of a class-B stellar engine, employing the entire energy output of a star to drive computer systems. This concep…
added Jul 13, 2026
Read article →How artificial wombs will shape the future of assisted reproduction - 360
Full ectogenesis would require revisiting those rules. Embryos gestated outside the body for extended periods would raise new legal questions: at what point do they count as ‘life’? The answer could affect laws of ART, stem-cell research and even inheritance rights. The distribution of benefits and …
added Jul 11, 2026
Read article →Solving the Colossal Problem of Extinction | Colossal
Combining the science of genetics with the business of discovery, we are moving de-extinction forward by resurrecting the Woolly Mammoth through gene editing.
added Jul 10, 2026
Read article →Cryonics - Wikipedia
A longer life of unremitting suffering, ... to non-revival". In 2016, Charles Tandy wrote in support of cryonics, arguing that honoring someone's last wishes is seen as a benevolent duty in American and many other cultures. Cryopreservation was applied to human cells beginning in 1954 with frozen sp…
added Jul 9, 2026
Read article →Mind uploading - Wikipedia
Many transhumanists look forward ... with transhumanists such as Nick Bostrom predicting that it will become possible within the 21st century due to technological trends such as Moore's law. Michio Kaku, in collaboration with Science, hosted the documentary Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible,…
added Jul 7, 2026
Read article →Technological singularity - Wikipedia
According to the most popular version ... an explosive increase in intelligence that culminates in a powerful superintelligence, far surpassing human intelligence. Some scientists, including Stephen Hawking, have expressed concern that artificial superintelligence could result in human extinction. T…
added Jul 6, 2026
Read article →Space-based solar power - Wikipedia
Besides cost, SBSP also introduces several technological hurdles, including the problem of transmitting energy from orbit. Since wires extending from Earth's surface to an orbiting satellite are not feasible with current technology, SBSP designs generally include the wireless power transmission ...
added Jul 5, 2026
Read article →Alcubierre drive - Wikipedia
The Alcubierre drive ([alkuˈβjere]) is a speculative warp drive idea according to which a spacecraft could achieve apparent faster-than-light travel by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, under the assumption that a configurable energy-density field lower than that of a v…
added Jul 3, 2026
Read article →Asteroid mining - Wikipedia
This left the crust depleted of ... e.g. at the Bushveld Igneous Complex, a famously rich source of platinum-group metals). Today, these metals are mined from Earth's crust, and they are essential for economic and technological progress....
added Jul 2, 2026
Read article →Seasteading - Wikipedia
In April 2019, the concept of floating cities as a way to cope with rising oceans was included in a presentation by the United Nations program UN-Habitat. As presented, they would be limited to sheltered waters. Critics of seasteading argue that some projects resemble "techno-colonialism" or risk di…
added Jul 1, 2026
Read article →Breakthrough Starshot - Wikipedia
StarChip was the name used by ... interstellar spacecraft envisioned for the Breakthrough Starshot program, a proposed mission to propel a fleet of a thousand StarChips on a journey to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system, about 4.37 light-years from Earth. The ultra-light StarChip robotic nanocr…
added Jun 30, 2026
Read article →Mars Terraforming Not Possible Using Present-Day Technology - NASA
“Our results suggest that there is not enough CO2 remaining on Mars to provide significant greenhouse warming were the gas to be put into the atmosphere; in addition, most of the CO2 gas is not accessible and could not be readily mobilized.
added Jun 26, 2026
Read article →Terraforming of Mars - Wikipedia
Disagreement exists about whether ... planet habitable. Reasons for supporting terraforming the planet include allaying concerns about resource consumption and depletion on Earth and arguments that the alteration and settlement of other planets decreases the odds of humanity's ...
added Jun 26, 2026
Read article →Drexler–Smalley debate on molecular nanotechnology - Wikipedia
Drexler reiterated that these molecular assemblers would require no impossible fingers, and would augment solution-phase chemistry to produce macroscopic products with precise arrangements of chemical building blocks, using solution-phase molecular assemblers to bootstrap the construction of ...
added Jun 25, 2026
Read article →Stellar engine - Wikipedia
Such an engine is a stellar propulsion system, consisting of an enormous mirror/light sail—actually a massive type of solar statite large enough to classify as a megastructure—which would balance gravitational attraction towards and radiation pressure away from the star.
added Jun 24, 2026
Read article →Self-replicating spacecraft - Wikipedia
Seeder ships would be a suitable alternative to generation ships as a way to colonize worlds too distant to travel to in one lifetime. In "Part IV Wild Cards" of his 1981 book "2081: A Hopeful View of the Human Future", Gerard K. O'Neill discussed a hypothetical extraterrestrial race called the Prim…
added Jun 23, 2026
Read article →Dyson sphere | Kardashev Scale Wiki | Fandom
Planets provide the largest source of material for the construction of a Dyson swarm. The easiest design would be to use Mercury as the source of material, and to construct the Dyson swarm at approximately the same distance from the Sun.
added Jun 21, 2026
Read article →Space elevator tether materials: An overview of the current candidates - ScienceDirect
A NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) space elevator feasibility study concluded in 2003 that the “space elevator could be built in the near future with acceptable risk and less funding than some current space programs”. The key technology ...
added Jun 20, 2026
Read article →Orbital Assembly plans to build Voyager rotating space station in 2026
The company plans to take advantage of plummeting space launch costs – which SpaceX's Starship could bring down to a few hundred dollars a kilogram – to build a giant circular space station, some 700 feet (212 m) in diameter, assembled in orbit by semi-autonomous and remote controlled robots. A hub-…
added Jun 19, 2026
Read article →O'Neill cylinder - Wikipedia
Their rotation would provide artificial gravity. While teaching undergraduate physics at Princeton University, O'Neill set his students on the task of designing large structures in outer space, with the intent of showing that sustainable living in space could be possible.
added Jun 19, 2026
Read article →(PDF) The Prospects of Whole Brain Emulation within the next Half- Century
In this scenario, mind uploading is feasible, but there is much social competition surrounding it.
added Jun 18, 2026
Read article →Fight Aging! Newsletter, March 23rd 2026 – Fight Aging!
We selected four interventions that had individually shown promise in extending mouse lifespan: rapamycin, senolytics, telomerase gene therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
added Jun 16, 2026
Read article →Longevity escape velocity - Wikipedia
At present, more than one year of research is required for each additional year of expected life. Longevity escape velocity occurs when this ratio reverses, so that life expectancy increases faster than one year per one year of research, as long as that rate of advance is sustainable.
added Jun 16, 2026
Read article →A new scientific discipline to ensure humanity's deep future
A new interdisciplinary field, "Future Dynamics," is proposed to systematically study and guide humanity's long-term survival, integrating geodynamics, climate science, ecology, economics, and social modeling.
added Jun 15, 2026
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