TOP 10 MORE GREAT LISTS

10 Chirped Pulse Amplification Photo credit:  Computer Business Review Chirped pulse amplification (CPA) is one of the most remarkable innovations in modern technology. The groundbreaking technique is used to produce high-intensity laser pulses without destroying the material through which the  light  is moving. Optical bursts are stretched in time to bring down the peak power and then amplified before being compressed, forming a pulse of light with phenomenal intensity. [2] First developed in the mid-1980s, CPA has become commonplace in corrective eye surgery, in which high-intensity lasers are used to reshape the cornea. Other potential fields of application include  quantum computing  and data storage. In fact, scientists hope that the principles of CPA could be used to build computers that operate with unprecedented efficiency—up to 100,000 times faster than current models. Although it is far from being realized to its full potential, the laser t...

10 Mars Climate Orbiter Photo credit:  NASA/JPL/Corby Waste The  Mars Climate Orbiter  was a small space probe launched on December 11, 1998, by  NASA  to enter Martian orbit and both study the atmosphere of the Red Planet and provide valuable insight into its climate and any surface changes that might occur. The launch went as planned, and the probe traveled toward  Mars  with seemingly no issues, but unknown to the mission control team on Earth, the spacecraft was being put on a trajectory that would lead to the failure of the mission. The orbiter was being navigated by various teams of people—some who used metric units, and others who used imperial units. Due to this simple conversion error—and the misconfiguration of the computer systems on the part of Lockheed—a course correction sent the  Mars Climate Orbiter  far too close to the planet, and it was likely violently burned up and destroyed in the atmosphere. [1] 9 Ariane 5 ...