Hasta La Gadget!

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has this week returned a request from a couple of high school science students to perform a simple experiment aboard the International Space Station: wringing out water from a wet washcloth. It’s shown first that a washcloth on the ISS is stored in a sort of hockey puck form, smashed down to its smallest physical form to avoid taking up any unnecessary space aboard the space station. From there it’s a lengthy task just unfolding the piece of material for basic use.

The washcloth itself is made wet offscreen as the task appears to spoil the surprise for the viewer. The viewers, mind you, are part of the brand new NFB Space School just revealed this week. This program is housed by the National Film Board in Canada and will continue to make use of the efforts of Chris Hadfield aboard the ISS as well as other Canadians willing to join in on the education.

Once water is released into the station, you’ll see it take on a blob-like form. Once it is (seemingly) inside the cloth, it travels with the cloth. This is similar to what would happen if Hadfield were much closer to the surface of our planet, but were the cloth this wet and he were standing on the Earth’s ground, gravity would have the water dripping down from the cloth.

Because of the surface tension of the materials included here and the extremely low gravity present on the ISS, the water stays together – for the most part – even when the cloth wrings it out. You’ll see the “tube of water” promised to you in the title of this article about 2 minutes in to the demonstration video.

The NFB Space School has been launched today as well – this being an online resource for science enthusiasts and everyday learners online. This program appears at the moment to be prepared for students across the world, provided by Canada’s NFB in support of space exploration and the expansion of scientific knowledge in general. Have a peek at SlashGear’s International Space Station tag portal for more news from our high-flying astronaut friends!

[via NFB Space School]

ISS experiment confirms state of wrung-out wet towel in space is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Over the last few years there have been quite a few products come to market that boast the ability to be controlled using your thoughts. Most of these items have been thought-controlled toys, but we have seen systems that promise to allow you to control your music using your thoughts. Electronics giant Samsung is working with researchers at the University of Texas on a project that has to do with providing control of a tablet using brain waves.

This could be very significant, particularly for users that have limited mobility due to disease or paralysis caused from an accident. The project Samsung and the researchers are working on uses EEG caps to give users control over tablets and smartphones. Samsung is reportedly wanting to take this technology mainstream.

For now, the technology is limited to use with those that have disabilities. The system has participants wear EEG caps that are able to measure the electrical activity along the scalp. The participants in the program are able to make selections on the tablet screen by focusing on an icon that flashes at a distinct frequency from others on the screen.

The system is able to recognize those different flashing frequencies as a unique electrical pattern. The researchers say that for now the system has an accuracy of about 80 to 95%. It also allows the participants to make selections approximately every 5 seconds. One goal of the project is to create an interface that is less invasive than currently required. Ideally, Samsung researchers will be able to create a system for users to wear all day long using something such as a hat. There is no indication of when this technology might be ready for mainstream use.

[via Engadget]

Samsung and the University of Texas conspire for thought controlled tablets is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Researchers from IBM have created a very impressive and affordable new photovoltaic system that is capable of concentrating solar radiation up to 2000 times. The system is also capable of converting 80% of incoming solar radiation into useful energy. Other than simply creating solar electricity, the system also has two other very important capabilities.

Those other two very important capabilities include the ability to provide desalinated water and cool air. Both of those things are often in very short supply in remote locations. The technology used in the IBM system was developed in part using a three-year $2.4 million grant from the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation. Several other companies also work with IBM on the project including Airlight Energy, ETH Zürich, and Interstate University of Applied Sciences Buchs NTB.

IBM says that technically it would take only 2% of the solar energy from the Sahara desert to supply all of the world’s electrical needs. The problem with capturing that 2% of solar energy in the Sahara desert is that current solar panel technology is too expensive and slow to produce making massive solar installations impractical. IBM and its partner companies prototype system is called the High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal system or HCPVT.

The prototype HCPVT system developed by IBM and the partner companies uses a large parabolic dish it features a multitude of mirror facets attached to a sun tracking system. That sun tracking system is able to position the dish at the ideal angle to capture the sun’s rays. Those concentrated rays are reflected off the mirror onto multiple microchannel-liquid cooled receivers featuring triple junction photovoltaic chips each measuring 1 x 1 cm.

Each of those chips are able to convert 200 to 250 W of power over typical eight hour day in the sun. The entire receiver combines hundreds of chips and can provide 25 kW of electricity. The researchers believe that their system can achieve a cost per aperture area of below $250 per square meter, which is three times cheaper than comparable systems. Using the system, the levelized cost of energy would be under $.10 per kilowatt hour making cost on par with traditional coal powered electrical plants.

[via IBM]

IBM scientists research concentrated solar radiation power source is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Modern solar collectors can concentrate only so much energy for safety’s sake: too much in one place and they risk cooking themselves. An IBM-led group is working on a new collector dish that could avoid that damage while taking a big step forward in solar power efficiency. The hundreds of photovoltaic chips gathering energy at the center will be cooled by the same sort of microchannel water cooling that kept Aquasar from frying, letting each chip safely concentrate 2,000 times the solar energy it would normally face. The collector also promises to do more with sunlight once it’s trapped: since the microchannels should absorb more than half of the waste heat, their hot water byproduct can either be filtered into drinkable water or converted into air conditioning.

As you might imagine, IBM sees more than just the obvious environmental benefit. When a receiver will generate about 25kW of energy while costing less to make through cheaper mirrors and structures, a fully developed solar array could be an affordable replacement for coal power that delivers greater independence — picture remote towns that need a fresh water supply. IBM doesn’t estimate when we’ll see production of these collectors beyond several prototypes, but the finished work will likely be welcome to anyone frustrated by the scalability of current solar energy.

Filed under: Science

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Source: IBM

SpaceX may be the only private outfit currently shepherding cargo to the International Space Station, but Orbital Sciences, which is the second party in NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services effort, is taking a step towards its own ISS resupply missions. Today, the firm’s Antares rocket will undergo its very first test flight, taking off from the space agency’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Liftoff is slated for sometime between 5PM and 7PM, with an 80 percent chance of favorable weather, as opposed to the 45 percent odds and high-altitude winds that foiled its initial attempt yesterday. To watch Antares embark on its maiden voyage, hit the jump for a live video feed.

Update: Antares blasted off at a hair past 5PM and successfully separated from its mock payload. The live stream has wrapped up, but we’ll slot in a video of the launch as soon as we get ahold of one.

Update 2: NASA just posted its footage of the rocket taking off, and we’ve placed the video after the break for your viewing pleasure.

[Image credit: NASA, Flickr]

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Source: NASA (1), (2), Orbital Sciences