Lockheed Martin is a well-known defense contractor that's worked with the United States throughout its engagements in the Middle East and beyond. War is their business, and unfortunately, business is a-booming.
But what if they could also save lives? Like, all of them?
As it turns out, they may just be doing that. Lockheed Martin revealed that it has discovered a way to cheaply and efficiently extract freshwater from saltwater sources.
Reuters
H2-Oh yeah.
Now, a little bit of context. The Earth has a huge amount of water; scientists predict our planet has between 3 or 4 metric shit tons of the stuff. The problem is, though, about 97% of that is saltwater, and thus, undrinkable for human beings. A lot of freshwater is very difficult to access, which limits our options considerably. With many areas getting scorched by rising temperatures and our booming population, this is kind of, maybe a huge problem. You know, just a little bit.
If we could easily convert that pesky saltwater into freshwater, though, well... that changes everything. Not only could we mitigate a potential-disaster, we could all collectively grab our groins and, in unison, shout, "Hey, Poseidon, suck deez nuts!"
You know, for science.
Lockheed Martin plans to have a prototype out by the end of this year, and they're looking to put the product on the market by 2014 or 2015. While I'm glad to see a relatively quick time frame, I can't help but be a little bit disappointed - I was really hoping to work a "Water they waiting for?" joke in here somewhere.
The sacrifices we have to make, man...
But what if they could also save lives? Like, all of them?
As it turns out, they may just be doing that. Lockheed Martin revealed that it has discovered a way to cheaply and efficiently extract freshwater from saltwater sources.
The process, officials and engineers at Lockheed Martin Corp say, would enable filter manufacturers to produce thin carbon membranes with regular holes about a nanometer in size that are large enough to allow water to pass through but small enough to block the molecules of salt in seawater. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.
Because the sheets of pure carbon known as graphene are so thin - just one atom in thickness - it takes much less energy to push the seawater through the filter with the force required to separate the salt from the water, they said.
The development could spare underdeveloped countries from having to build exotic, expensive pumping stations needed in plants that use a desalination process called reverse osmosis.
"It's 500 times thinner than the best filter on the market today and a thousand times stronger," said John Stetson, the engineer who has been working on the idea. "The energy that's required and the pressure that's required to filter salt is approximately 100 times less."
H2-Oh yeah.
Now, a little bit of context. The Earth has a huge amount of water; scientists predict our planet has between 3 or 4 metric shit tons of the stuff. The problem is, though, about 97% of that is saltwater, and thus, undrinkable for human beings. A lot of freshwater is very difficult to access, which limits our options considerably. With many areas getting scorched by rising temperatures and our booming population, this is kind of, maybe a huge problem. You know, just a little bit.
If we could easily convert that pesky saltwater into freshwater, though, well... that changes everything. Not only could we mitigate a potential-disaster, we could all collectively grab our groins and, in unison, shout, "Hey, Poseidon, suck deez nuts!"
You know, for science.
Lockheed Martin plans to have a prototype out by the end of this year, and they're looking to put the product on the market by 2014 or 2015. While I'm glad to see a relatively quick time frame, I can't help but be a little bit disappointed - I was really hoping to work a "Water they waiting for?" joke in here somewhere.
The sacrifices we have to make, man...