Developing Vision for Technological Progress
Andrey Brodskyy, Velta LLC Chairman
Today we can all see the success of new technologies in the world. What many people overlook, however, is the contribution that some medium-sized and small countries, like Ukraine, can make to improving the commercial efficiency of a colony on Mars or, more importantly, to support existing projects in near and far space exploration.
Ukraine possesses some of the world’s titanium reserves. Moreover, the country has developed an industry for processing it, thanks to a recent breakthrough. The development is similar to what Elon Musk engineered for lowering the cost of delivering goods to space.
While SpaceX invented new huge rockets capable of going into space three times a day, engineers in Ukraine discovered how to lower exponentially the cost of smelting titanium. This lightweight metal, due to its strength and chemical properties, will be used extensively by future generations, much like lithium is today for electric vehicles.
Last year’s breakthrough that lowered the cost of titanium smelting costs was made by Ukraine’s Dnipro-based Velta LLC. The company’s engineers and scientists whom I had the honor to lead succeeded over the past several years in optimizing existing metal production technologies. The achievement will make parts and mechanisms made of superior steel material more accessible to consumers globally in the near future.
The benefits of the new technology are numerous and consequential.
For starters, every titanium part or product saves the environment the energy and resources of our planet. Titanium is corrosion resistant. Products made from it will outlast its steel counterparts, the recycling and production of which requires precious resources.
Titanium is lighter than steel. This means that it takes almost half the energy to rotate parts or moving mechanisms made from it.
We see large-scale advantages in the use of the now more affordable material. Its application across various industries and in commercial and home use will provide a huge number of economic benefits in the coming years, comparable in scale with the invention of wind or solar energy
Secondly, let’s recall the technical and economic history of the 20th century, when mankind began moving away from the steam engine to more efficient internal combustion engines.
In addition to savings on the cost of fuel, there were additional benefits. Gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles were able to travel several times farther and faster. The new technology gave rise to aviation, while ocean steamers were able to take on board a third more cargo because they did not need to fill their holds with coal.
The economic benefits of the new technology, which in technical terms surpassed the previous one many fold, were tremendous.
The quality and productivity of labor will likewise increase with the arrival of new industrial machinery made of titanium, including new medical tools, scientific equipment, products and devices. They will improve all aspects of our life.
Thirdly, we must together learn how to give birth to new waves of progress. Electric vehicles for city use were available years ago, but for some reason we continued to use oil to fuel the transportation of goods to stores.
Wind farms emerged at the end of the 20th century, but people nonetheless preferred to burn oceans of coal ore before admitting that our great-grandfathers had come up with something better.
With the arrival of titanium, we must try to take into account the fact that many have become habituated to mining mountains of iron ore to build ships from steel and then cut them for scrap after years of use, instead of using the hulls of the mechanism for years and only occasionally improving the internal moving parts.
International efforts are needed for speeding up the application of new technologies, probably under the aegis of the international agencies, such as the United Nations or World Trade Organization. These organizations could accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies. Changes in world trade regulation could help bridge the resource gap, thus facilitating the introduction of new applications to replace old materials and production processes.
Only then, after being confronted with a stark choice, we could take the proper steps. We must realize that the development of our vision of the future, not crises, should drive technological progress.