Star Trek tech on the way!

There are times when I wonder whether the technological revolutions of the 90s and 2000s would have happened without Star Trek to inspire them. Just look at the cell phone in your hand - it's likely a combo flip-communicator/tricorder. It can even operate as a Universal Translator... more or less.

The next Star Trek tech on the way is the deflector shield, soon to be protecting interstellar probes, and maybe even missions to other planets.

UK scientists working at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford and the universities of York and Strathclyde have tested a “mini-magnetosphere” enveloping a model spacecraft in the lab. It turns out that their prototype offers almost total protection against high energy solar particles. By mimicking the natural protective environment of the Earth, the researchers have scaled the protective magnetic bubble down into an energy efficient, yet powerful deflector shield.

There are days I think the best thing we could do for innovation and science education would be for the Federal Government to sponsor the next Star Trek series.

Shields Up!

Believe it or not, the first "Star Trek" technology that might make it to real life is "shields." As nations ponder a return to space, British scientists are considering how they can better protect astronauts from high-energy particles. However, the theory here is not exactly like the "Star Trek" approach which tends to be simply a projection of "force". This device would generate a powerful magnetic field and fill it with plasma (basically gas with an electric charge) which would be held in place by the field. Then high energy particles would be slowed down by the plasma until no longer dangerous or deflected to the sides.

This is technically more like a Star Trek deflector field, if there are any Trekkie Geeks out there ready to rip me a new one for my inaccurate technobabble.