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LeopoldS

Two- and three-dimensional folding of thin film single-crystalline silicon for photovol... - 0 views

www.pnas.org/...0907390106.full.pdf+html

NAN NRG photovoltaic

shared by LeopoldS on 28 Nov 09 - Cached
  • LeopoldS on 28 Nov 09
     
    very nice approach ...
  • jmlloren on 01 Dec 09
Luís F. Simões

Pioneer Anomaly Solved By 1970s Computer Graphics Technique - Technology Review - 4 views

www.technologyreview.com/...26589

pioneer anomaly PHY astrophysics

shared by Luís F. Simões on 31 Mar 11 - No Cached
Nicholas Lan liked it
  • Now Frederico Francisco at the Instituto de Plasmas e Fusao Nuclear in Lisbon Portugal, and a few pals, say they've worked out where the thermal calculations went wrong. These guys have redone the calculations using a computer model of not only how the heat is emitted but how it is reflected off the various parts of the spacecraft too. The reflections turn out to be crucial.
  • Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1103.5222: Modelling The Reflective Thermal Contribution To The Acceleration Of The Pioneer Spacecraft
  • santecarloni on 01 Apr 11
     
    This is really cool. I know one of the authors and he is a good guy... the only thing that leaves me unsatisfied is that if the whole issue is related to thermal effects one should have seen the Pioneer effect all the time and not only at about 10 AU... ...or is there some thermal process that kicked in only at this distance?
  • Luís F. Simões on 26 Jul 11
     
    Here's an update on this theory: NASA Releases New Pioneer Anomaly Analysis "The mysterious force acting on the Pioneer spacecraft seems to be falling exponentially. That's a strong clue that on-board heat is to blame, says NASA." Heat emission 'most likely cause' of pioneer anomaly "What's more interesting is that, contrary to the original analysis conducted all those years ago, the deceleration does seem to be decelerating at an exponential rate -- just as one might expect from the radioactive decay of plutonium-238, which powers the two spacecraft. Turyshev concludes, "The most likely cause of the Pioneer anomaly is the anisotropic emission of on-board heat.""
pacome delva

Solar power without solar cells - 2 views

physicsworld.com/...45787

phy solar_radiation insulator

shared by pacome delva on 27 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • pacome delva on 27 Apr 11
     
    not very advanced and maybe non practical but...
Thijs Versloot

Cheap materials could make grid battery storage feasible @techreview @nature - 0 views

www.technologyreview.com/...l-could-help-wind-power-go-big

technology energy battery

shared by Thijs Versloot on 09 Jan 14 - No Cached
  • Thijs Versloot on 09 Jan 14
     
    The new battery, which is described in the journal Nature, is based on an organic molecule-called a quinone-that's found in plants such as rhubarb and can be cheaply synthesized from crude oil.
Thijs Versloot

Deep drilling on Mars - 0 views

www.lpi.usra.edu/...2817.pdf

missions mars drilling

shared by Thijs Versloot on 07 Jan 14 - No Cached
  • Thijs Versloot on 07 Jan 14
     
    The scientific rationale behind it is that at km-depth there could be a) water resources (which could support a biosphere) and b) understand the formation of Mars. I would argue that an efficient drilling (robot) is also valuable for possible developing underground habitation (caves) at some point. This paper mentions two drilling concepts, but we could come up with many more (bio-inspired) probably. Daniel already came up with a nice one.. microwave drilling Also, the NASA InSight probe to Mars in 2016 is using a DLR-designed 'Mole' drill that is designed to reach a depth of... 5 meters
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Paul N on 08 Jan 14
     
    Doesn't this one fit in nicely with your ablation giant mirror power beaming thing you were working on?
  • Thijs Versloot on 09 Jan 14
     
    In this case I was thinking more about a smaller and controlled digging effort.. not ablating a football field sized hole
  • Tom Gheysens on 09 Jan 14
     
    Nice one! plenty of examples in nature for this
annaheffernan

Particle accelerator barely bigger than a grain of sand - 3 views

gizmodo.com/bigger-than-a-grain-1426829083

technology PHY science

shared by annaheffernan on 07 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • annaheffernan on 07 Oct 13
     
    Just getting a particle up to near the speed of light isn't good enough for today's physics. To properly unravel the fundamentals of the universe, particles have to be smashed together with enormous force. And two Stanford researchers have just devised a laser-based method that imparts ten times the power of traditional methods at a fraction of the cost.
Thijs Versloot

Is Westeros orbiting a binary star system? #ArXiv - 5 views

arxiv.org/1304.0445

fun MAD PHY

shared by Thijs Versloot on 21 May 14 - No Cached
Nicholas Lan liked it
  • Thijs Versloot on 21 May 14
     
    To right that appalling wrong, here we attempt to explain the apparently erratic seasonal changes in the world of G.R.R.M. A natural explanation for such phenomena is the unique behavior of a circumbinary planet. Thus, by speculating that the planet under scrutiny is orbiting a pair of stars, we utilize the power of numerical three-body dynamics to predict that, unfortunately, it is not possible to predict either the length, or the severity of any coming winter.
H H

Lockheed Claims Breakthrough on Fusion Energy - 3 views

www.scientificamerican.com/...-breakthrough-on-fusion-energy

PHY fusion energy

shared by H H on 15 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • H H on 15 Oct 14
     
    Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready in a decade.
  • Thijs Versloot on 17 Oct 14
     
    Is positive news definitely, but when it comes to fusion energy being skeptic is the wisest course of action. On the back of a truck basically means that the energy density of the device is such that the surface energy of a (steady state) plasma is beyond currents materials limits. It is probably a pulsed (ignitor-type) device, which are prone to instabilities. That could therefore refer to their breakthrough claim, of which they hardly say anything though. Lets see
  • jcunha on 17 Oct 14
     
    Since there were already a lot of false alarms on the field, one should definitively be careful about it. However not a single detail about its structure or how it works in this new... Here http://www.fusenet.eu/node/400 you can find a bit more of information about it.
Thijs Versloot

Paralyzed woman moves thought controlled robot - 1 views

www.iflscience.com/...-robotic-arm-immense-precision

shared by Thijs Versloot on 18 Dec 14 - No Cached
  • Thijs Versloot on 18 Dec 14
     
    A bit of an older story, but I was quite impressed (as a robotics non-expert) by the movement in the video. To me it shows the power of the brain and the "eagerness" (lack of better word) at which it tries to exert some control in the world around it.
annaheffernan

Laser shines a new light on isotope separation - 0 views

physicsworld.com/...ew-light-on-isotope-separation

shared by annaheffernan on 07 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • annaheffernan on 07 Jul 14
     
    A new method of separating nuclear isotopes that exploits the slight differences in their electronic energy levels has been developed by physicists in the US. The energy-efficient separator was used to create isotopically pure lithium-7, which is used in some nuclear reactors. Good news for any future nuclear powered space missions perhaps? It could potentially replace the current (and much less energy efficient) methods that were developed in the 1950's
anonymous

Nasa validates 'impossible' space drive (Wired UK) - 3 views

www.wired.co.uk/...lidates-impossible-space-drive

PHY space nasa propulsion emdrive

shared by anonymous on 31 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 31 Jul 14
     
    NASA validates the EmDrive (http://emdrive.com/) technology for converting electrical energy into thrust. (from the website: "Thrust is produced by the amplification of the radiation pressure of an electromagnetic wave propagated through a resonant waveguide assembly.")
  • ...3 more comments...
  • LeopoldS on 01 Aug 14
     
    I would be very very skeptic on this results and am actually ready to take bets that they are victims of something else than "new physics" ... some measurement error e.g.
  • anonymous on 02 Aug 14
     
    Assuming that this system is feasible, and taking the results of Chinese team (Thrust of 720 mN http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-02/06/emdrive-and-cold-fusion), I wonder whether this would allow for some actual trajectory maneuvers (and to which degree). If so, can we simulate some possible trajectories, e.g. compare the current solutions to this one ? For example, Shawyer (original author) claims that this system would be capable of stabilizing ISS without need for refueling. Other article on the same topic: http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/1/5959637/nasa-cannae-drive-tests-have-promising-results
  • Thijs Versloot on 04 Aug 14
     
    To be exact, the chinese reported 720mN and the americans found ~50microN. The first one I simply do not believe and the second one seems more credible, yet it has to be said that measuring such low thrust levels on a thrust-stand is very difficult and prone to measurement errors. @Krzys, the thrust level of 720mN is within the same range of other electric propulsion systems which are considered - and even used in some cases - for station keeping, also for the ISS actually (for which there are also ideas to use a high power system delivering several Newtons of thrust). Then on the idea, I do not rule out that an interaction between the EM waves and 'vacuum' could be possible, however if this would be true then this surely would be detectable in any particle accelerator as it would produce background events/noise. The energy densities involved and the conversion to thrust via some form of interaction with the vacuum surely could not provide thrusts in the range reported by the chinese, nor the americans. The laws of momentum conservation would still need to apply. Finally, 'quantum vacuum virtual plasma'.. really?
  • annaheffernan on 04 Aug 14
     
    I have to join the skeptics on this one ...
  • Marcus Maertens on 09 Aug 14
annaheffernan

Filamentous laser beams point to new type of phase transition - applications in weather... - 2 views

physicsworld.com/...o-new-type-of-phase-transition

technology science PHY earthscience

shared by annaheffernan on 02 Mar 15 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • annaheffernan on 02 Mar 15
     
    Filaments of plasma created by a high-powered laser beam undergo a similar type of phase transition as liquid percolating through a porous material - that is the conclusion of physicists in Switzerland. The also describe the application of laser filamentation for directed lightening and encouraged rainfall - Isabelle should come back to take a closer look :p
  • LeopoldS on 11 Mar 15
     
    Christophe? Isabelle?
Thijs Versloot

Bionic liquids from lignin - liberating sugars in advanced biofuels - 0 views

www.pnas.org/...1405685111

biofuels energy

shared by Thijs Versloot on 19 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • Thijs Versloot on 19 Aug 14
     
    While the powerful solvents known as ionic liquids show great promise for liberating fermentable sugars from lignocellulose and improving the economics of advanced biofuels, an even more promising candidate is on the horizon - bionic liquids. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-08-bionic-liquids-lignin-results-pave.html#jCp
LeopoldS

A Solar Cell That Stores Its Own Power - Technology News - redOrbit - 1 views

www.redorbit.com/...y-runs-on-light-and-air-100714

solar batteries

shared by LeopoldS on 24 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • LeopoldS on 24 Nov 14
     
    not for space but the air breathing battery still is a nice concept - would make robots more "human" if they have to breath :-)
Paul N

Researchers can now convert CO2 from the air directly into methanol fuel - 2 views

www.sciencealert.com/o2-directly-into-methanol-fuel

science NRG

shared by Paul N on 29 Jan 16 - No Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • Paul N on 29 Jan 16
     
    For the first time, researchers have shown that they can capture CO2 from the air, and convert it directly into methanol, which can then be used as an alternative fuel, as well as for hydrogen storage, in fuel cells, or as a building block for plastic.
  • Paul N on 29 Jan 16
     
    Solar power to suck out co2 during the day and make it fuel finally solves global warming?
Daniel Hennes

NASA Funds Electricity-Harvesting Robotic Space Eel With Explosive Jet Thrusters and El... - 3 views

spectrum.ieee.org/...y-harvesting-robotic-space-eel

shared by Daniel Hennes on 19 May 15 - No Cached
  • Daniel Hennes on 19 May 15
     
    This concept for a "soft-robotic rover with electrodynamic power scavenging" comes from Cornell University, and NASA has awarded it a grant under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program to hoist itself up from TRL 1 to TRL 2.
Thijs Versloot

Ultrafast collisional ion heating by electrostatic shocks - 0 views

www.nature.com/...ncomms9905.html

shared by Thijs Versloot on 23 Nov 15 - No Cached
jcunha liked it
  • Thijs Versloot on 23 Nov 15
     
    Collisionless electrostatic shocks (CES) are the dominant process in heating a plasma when using high power lasers. It turns out that ion-ion collisions actually only play a small role. The ability to create small regions of very high ion energy density on time scales shorter than that of hydrodynamic expansion will be of interest in attempts to understand the processes involved in inertial confinement fusion.
thomasvas

Metallic hydrogen, once theory, becomes reality - 2 views

phys.org/...c-hydrogen-theory-reality.html

technology space PHY

shared by thomasvas on 25 Jun 18 - No Cached
  • thomasvas on 25 Jun 18
     
    Claims to be "the most powerful rocket propellant".
jmlloren

Power Generation from a Radiative Thermal Source Using a Large-Area Infrared Rectenna - 2 views

journals.aps.org/...PhysRevApplied.9.054040

shared by jmlloren on 10 Jul 18 - No Cached
Dario Izzo liked it
  • jmlloren on 10 Jul 18
     
    A rectenna at infrared wavelength. They authors mention a potential application in RTGs
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