Mustard

Bilateral symmetry is an unspoken assumption in aircraft design. Anything in nature that flies, from the smallest insect to the largest bird, possesses symmetry. But birds don't fly supersonic.

For centuries, the North Pole remained elusive. Early attempts to reach it were primarily motivated by the search for a navigable route through the Arctic to Asia, known as the Northwest Passage. Later, expeditions focused specifically on reaching the Pole itself. But for centuries, the goal seemed impossible. The polar environment was extremely unforgiving. Located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, the North Pole is covered by a vast expanse of sea ice which constantly changes due to wind, ocean currents and seasonable melts. Explorers tried to reach the pole using ships, dogsleds, and even traveling on foot. Reaching the North Pole proved to be so challenging, that the first verified, and officially recognized expedition to reach it didn’t occur until 1926 (although several earlier explorers claimed to have reached it earlier). The pole was first reached using the airship Norge, which flew overhead but did not touch the surface.

In the twilight of the Soviet Union, scientists, led by the visionary engineer Vladimir Syromyatnikov, embarked on an audacious project to harness the power of the sun like never before. The plan was to deploy a series of massive orbital reflectors to beam sunlight back down to night covered regions of earth. Their project, referred to as Znamya or ‘Banner’ in Russian, would proceed through a series of experiments, building larger and ever more capable reflectors before finally deploying dozens of 200 meter (650 feet) wide reflectors that would operate as a system to focus sunlight to specific regions of earth.