Whether big or small. We all have that one thing from Scifi we wished were real. I’d love to see a cool underground city with like a SkyDome or a space hotel for instance.
Whether big or small. We all have that one thing from Scifi we wished were real. I’d love to see a cool underground city with like a SkyDome or a space hotel for instance.
Nuclear rocket engines. A bit less ambitious than most of the responses, but most things here seem to either refer to technologies we don’t have yet but seem within a century or so of developing, which doesn’t fit the question, or vague consequences that one wants that tech to have without it being clear how our current technology gets there. But nuclear rockets definitely fit the question, because we have built and ground tested them before, decades ago even, we just haven’t bothered to actually use the things. And they should theoretically make developing things like space industry or manned space exploration beyond the moon more viable, by being more efficient than chemical rockets while giving better thrust than ion engines do. They don’t work well for launching from the ground, but since our launch abilities have increased a fair bit in the past decade or so, actually getting the things to space in order to use them should be easier than ever.
Last time I checked on that one, the opposition to the idea was focused on the risks of nuclear fallout from a failed launch.
It’s a valid concern, but considering that quite a few rockets, to include some currently in use, can contain quite large amounts of some truly nasty chemicals already, and apparently can be made acceptably safe despite this, I’d bet that it’s probably possible to manage that risk or find flight paths that minimize exposure in the case of an accident. For that matter, we’ve launched radioactive materials into space before, some space probes use decay heat for a power source.
I remember the hand-wringing about Cassini prior to its launch. The probe survived launch from Earth fine, but Saturn got the materials in the end (I also remember people stating that we polluted Saturn without the Saturnian’s consent).
I believe several RTGs have been recovered from failed launches intact and without leakage, so I agree it can be done.