Today, millions of fans and fans-to-be will live in the future as the seventh installment of the "Star Wars" franchise finally opens in theaters.
As a science fiction film, the science and technology portrayed in the trilogies is top-of-the-line fantastic fantasy, serving as inspiration for a future that may just one day be like in the movies.
We actually don't have to wait a long time for a galaxy far, far away to live in the future we see on the silver screen. Some of the things we've seen and will be seeing again in the "Star Wars" franchise already surround us today.
Of course, a large part of "Star Wars" takes place in space where human beings and other intergalactic creatures travel across the galaxies freely like we do across highways here on earth. Space travel for all, however, is closer than we think. We may not be travelling on anything that even closely resembles the Millennium Falcon, but it is closer to reality with companies like Virgin Galactic's Space X and space tourism firm Space Adventure making progress in consumer space flight.
The Force which binds the entire universe together and gives both the Jedi knights and Sith lords their powers, may already be a part of us here on earth. Earlier this year, scientists at the planet's largest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider, uncovered a similar phenomenon to The Force when they finally discovered the Higgs Boson, aka the God Particle.
Speaking of particles, we have been able to manipulate particles of light for quite some time. We may not have yet reached the sophistication of manufacturing lightsabers, but we do already have laser cannons deployed out in open waters. The U.S. Navy's USS Ponce is one such warship that is equipped a Laser Weapon System (LaWS). The canons won't emit red or green colored light, and are practically invisible to the naked eye. It is used for destroying aerial threats like unmanned aerial vehicles.
One of the more recognizable spaceships in "Star Wars" is X-Wings. Elon Musk must be inspired by the movie franchise in its lead in future space flight with SpaceX. The space company's Falcon 9 rocket employs hypersonic grid fins in an actual x-wing configuration that helps stabilize the entire structure as it lands.
By land, by air, or by sea, one of the more intimidating weapons of destruction used in "Star Wars" were Imperial Walkers. These metal mammoths of destruction helped prove their worth in breaking Rebel defenses at the Battle of Hoth. Hopefully, no such weaponry will be necessary in our times, but Boston Dynamics' BigDog robot sure comes close in form (though not in size) to an Imperial Walker. About the size of small mule, BigDog uses a hydraulic actuation system to navigate its four articulated legs around rough terrain.
Going back down to earth, Luke Skywalker's broken X-34 landspeeder was one of the first anti-gravity vehicles to appear in "Star Wars." While human-powered hovering landspeeders are just a bit of ways off for us in real life, Malloy Aeronautics' Drone 3 hoverbike is headed in the right direction. Competition, of course, pushes innovation along even faster as Aerofex's Aero-X vehicle can actually fly 10 feet from the ground at a top speed of 45mph.
No matter how fast a landspeeder can travel, it can't outrun the pull of a tractor beam. Used to guiding incoming spacecraft into space stations or docks on a ship, or even capture enemy ships within its range, tractor beams were another prevalent technology in the film franchise. Since the 1960's, researchers have been working their way towards a similar concept for real life use. British engineers have even developed a type of tractor beam that makes use of sound waves to latch onto and maneuver lightweight objects.
The most famous robots in the world, R2-D2 and C-3P0, served as protocol droids with more than a dash of sass in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. C-3P0 specialized in human-cyborg relations and could speak and translate over six million forms of communication. We may be a ways off from having robot droids as intelligent, if not more skillful, than humans but software such as Skype's near real-time language translation are similar along with Google's driverless cars and robotic surgical assistants. We're getting there.
Of course, not all forms of technology seen in "Star Wars" were for destruction or human servitude. On his dry home planet of Tatooine, Luke made use of moisture vaporators to squeeze water out of thin, dry desert air. This, in fact, has been done by our ancestors for thousands of years. The Incas, for example, perfected a method for it. Today, we even have bicycle mounted moisture vaporators.
Finally, the most we can get close to "Star Wars" so far are prosthetic limbs. Luke loses his hand to Darth Vader. Darth Vader, as Anakin Skywalker (SPOILER ALERT: Luke's father) loses a hand and both legs. Yet, both characters function as complete human beings using prosthetic limbs. As many of our own military veterans know, prosthetic limb technology has come such a long way that not only can they live more normal lives, but the most highly advanced prosthetics allow tactile sensation to be felt like once before.
As today marks the official release of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," we'll probably have even more to add to this list of technology that may be coming our way sooner than we think.
Photo: Kevin Baird | Flickr
