Japanese Scientists' James Bond Moment

Endgadget in all their glory are reporting on a story that takes mankind one step closer to Moonraker.



Japanese scientists make breakthrough in space-based laser power
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Osaka University have been working together to develop a device which converts sunlight into laser-light with four times the efficiency of previous attempts. According to a report out of Tokyo, the team is working on Space-based solar power systems which can collect sunlight in space and convert it into laser light, which is then transmitted to Earth and used for electricity... or to power a massive Death-Ray. The project works by storing sunlight-based energy in plate made from a sintered powder of metals like chromium and neodymium. When weak laser light is shined onto the plate, the stored energy is transferred to the laser where its strength is amplified by a factor of four. In one test, a 0.5-watt laser was amplified to 180-watts by the plates. Scientists have thus far been able to garner 40-percent of the solar energy produced, and they hope to have a system ready for satellite mounting by the not-too-distant year 2030. Huzzah!



Discuss.

After effects

Have been saying goodbye and going for Christmas drinks and birthday parties all of this week - ploughing headlong into the seasonal spirit and the joie de vivre. Tonight's festivities are to include the annual office christmas party - held at the Science Museum in South Kensington just around the corner from where I used to live. It's mint - I love the Science Museum and am really looking forward to squeezing in a go on the ice skating rink outside the Natural History Museum as well.

I have a nasty habit of turning into "naughty monkey" after a few cheeky beers however, and by far and away the biggest concern is doing something truly monumentually idiotic tonight. We're talking about things like trying to get in a rebuilt Gyspy Moth with a pair of swimming goggles Biggles-style shouting "Tally-ho! Hun at 3 o'clock!"; maybe even solving the age-old question of "will it hurt if i place my genitals on a plasma ball" (I'm thinking there might be some sort of jacob's ladder action between Captain Chopper and the high-voltage glass...); perhaps even trying to remove a tattoo with an industrial laser; "liberating" Scaramanga's gun from the James Bond exhibition; licking Stephenson's Rocket the possibilities for mischief are quite frankly astronomical - especially after hooning around at Mach 10.4 on the ice skating rink getting progressively more and more revved up. Nice. I better calm my ass down, I'm actually starting to bounce on this chair.

But I am really, genuinely excited. How many times in life do you get the chance to eat at the Science Museum surrounded by history and innovation. It seems really fitting to end my old life in London surrounded by technological artifacts, with the odd futuristic concept dotted in between, at the place where the future brings new, exciting oppertunity and the chance to create and craft something important and new that's going to push some boundries. I'd like to think that's the message whomever is crafting my fate, organising my karma, whatever you want to call it. It's a beautiful way to end life in London and look back at what's been achieved and at the same time see the challenges and adventures of the future dotted in between. Granted there will be a small amount of drink taken - but this time it's not a sad goodbye, it's a welcome to the future with open arms, an open heart and an open mind.