A small town in Northern Sweden, Kiruna has only 18,000 inhabitants, but it’s set the European base of operations for Virgin Galactic and their space program. Starting from 2010 or 2011, Kiruna Spaceport should begin operations.

One of the things that made Kiruna a candidate is the absolutely stunning view of the Aurora Borealis that they have. The passengers of the Virgin flights would have the chance to see the Aurora Borealis up close, and in the future enjoy the experience of a themed park, even if they don’t have the money to go for a ride in space. They could visit the space center, enjoy dog sled rides or see the Swedish mountains from a helicopter.

Right now, there are 250 people from all over the world that have booked reservations for a trip to space with Virgin Galactic, out of which 80 are already in training. Another 85,000 have expressed interest apparently. A reservation is $20,000, and the cost for the trip is $200,000.

Got those 200k? You can make a reservation here.

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According to a Japanese industry body, the Machine Industry Memorial Foundation, by 2025, the labour shortage could be solved by using robots, for over 3.5 million jobs.

Below is a breakdown for some of the jobs that could be taken by robots:

• Medical and nursing care services – 970,000 jobs
• Agriculture and forestry sector – 450,000 jobs
• Cleaning and delivery – 1,410,000 jobs

It’s estimated that robots could free up to 74 minutes of time for families that use them, each day, something that could help more women to enter the labor market.

Out of the 4.2 million job shortage that is projected to be in 2025, 80% or 3.5 million jobs could be taken by robots.

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Luxim, a Silicon Valley company, has developed a plasma lightbulb, which is the size of a Tic Tac, but gives as much light as a streetlight. They got $40 million in funding to keep working on this, so I’m guessing this technology isn’t going to dissapear anytime soon. I’d be curious what the price would be for something like this, but until then, check out the video below for more details.

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In the 1950′s people were still quivering with anticipation to see what new possibilities will nuclear power open for them. Nuclear powered houses, trains, airplanes and cars, all dreams of a petrol free future, without much thought on the dangers of nuclear power.

Ford Nucleon was one of those dreams, a nuclear powered car that was supposed to travel for 5,000 miles without a recharge. The nuclear car project was announced in 1957 by Ford, and it was a futuristic looking vehicle with an incredibly efficient fuel mileage, thanks to the small atomic fission reactor fitted in the trunk.

The setup of it’s nuclear reactor was similar to that of a nuclear submarine, but miniaturized to fit into an automobile. The idea was to use uranium fission to heat the steam generator, which turned water into steam, which could be used to drive a set of turbines. One of the turbines would propel the car, while the other would power an electrical generator. Steam would be turned back into water through condensation, and reused by the steam generator after that. As long as fissile material remained, the reactor would’ve produced power through this closed system.

And, because the powerplant was interchangeable, the owner could choose between a high mileage with low torque version or a more powerful version if that’s what they needed.

Can you imagine driving with no worries only to have another car smash into the mini nuclear reactor strapped to your back? Did they really think this through?

Luckily, there were no operational models built, but they gave it quite some thought apparently. Why they didn’t make one? Increased public awareness of the dangers of nuclear power, the absence of the light materials that could be used for shielding and the lack of advances in the mini nuclear reactors area. Lucky us!

You can find here a description of the Ford Nucleon from the company. (third model)

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Looks like a huge hamster exercise ball, but it’s actually a gaming setup that immerses the player in a 3D virtual reality world, and it’s called VirtuSphere.

The players use a motion-tracking headset that provides them with the visuals of the game, and the ball allows them to run, roll, jump or crawl in the virtual world, without the risk of hitting real world obstacles.

The sphere sits on rollers, which allows it to rotate 360 degrees in any direction. According to the manufacturer, which is based in Washington, it can be used either for gaming or for exercises or simulations.

They create these systems according to what the client needs and so far they sold it to the military, law enforcement and entertainment companies.

What do you think? The first step towards Star Trek’s holodecks?

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