Emerging Technology

I saw an interesting presentation from Art Tank of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works today at work. He spoke about two ongoing projects that will have huge impacts on the future. The main focus was on the hybrid air ship P-791, a tri-hull dirigible capable of hauling 20, 90 and up to 500 tonnes of cargo (depending on the model) to remote locations that have limited infrastructure and/or dangerous roadways. It can land in a field, on water, on sand and can do VTOL and achieve take off at a numbing 15 knots. Imagine loading cargo on the coast of Africa and then delivering to any country anywhere in the interior. It can expand the shipping window to arctic regions from 6 weeks to 52 weeks at a fraction of the cost. The other project that was mentioned, but not in as much detail of course, was a compact fusion reactor about the size of a jet turbine engine capable of producing 100 Megawatts for a small city of 80,000 people. Not to be confused with cold fusion, compact fusion runs hot, similar to the suns internal furnace. This clean energy will change the way energy is harnessed and will drastically reduce carbon emissions that are currently "boiling" our planet. here are some links for those who want to get their geek on! http://www.lockheedmartin.ca/us/products/HybridAirship.html http://www.lockheedmartin.ca/us/products/compact-fusion.html