Hasta La Gadget!

It’s not something laypeople think about very often (space debris, for those wondering), but it’s clearly on the minds of boffins at the University of Surrey. Over the years, the amount of defunct equipment hovering around beyond our view has increased significantly, with some reports suggesting that over 5,500 tonnes of exhausted kit is currently hanging around somewhere up there as a result of “abandoning spacecraft.” In order to prevent the problem from growing (and to possibly reverse some of the damage), the CubeSail has been created. Put simply (or as simply as possible), this here parachute could be remotely deployed once a satellite had accomplished what it set out to do, essentially dragging it back through a fiery re-entry that it would never survive and clearing out the orbital pathway that it was using. We’re told that it’ll be ready for deployment in late 2011, but for now you can check out an all-too-brief demonstration vid just beyond the break.

Continue reading CubeSail parachute to drag old satellites from orbit, keep atmospheric roads clear

CubeSail parachute to drag old satellites from orbit, keep atmospheric roads clear originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The more we hear about the next generation of rechargeable batteries, the more nanotechnology seems integral to the case, as scientists work to improve the capacity of electrodes in the popular Lithium-ion chemical battery structure. Silicon nanowires are an exciting future possibility, and one current solution uses nano-structures made of iron phosphate. But the firm we’re highlighting today, EcoloCap, has decided to revisit our versatile friend: the carbon nanotube. The company has just spread the word that its Nano Lithium X battery can generate a minimum of 200 amp-hours with a single cell (a Tesla requires 6,831 cells) at half the cost of a traditional Li-ion and with greater than 99 percent efficiency. Truth be told, we don’t know if the tech actually exists, and we’d never even heard of the company before today — but if this solution does materialize with the voltage to match its longevity, it’ll bring a badly needed eco-boost of competition to a market with far too few players.

EcoloCap claims nanotube-infused Lithium-X battery has 99 percent efficiency, fuels our long-range EV dreams originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microprocessor mega-shocker: self-assembling silicon chips could lead to ever smaller circuitry originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems like we’ve been looking for better battery technology for
decades, but it turns out some MIT researchers may have finally solved
the problem.

A team of scientists have discovered a microscopic energy source that
can generate electricity using nanotechnology, with the hope that it
could be used some day for creating more environmentally friendly
batteries, CNN reports.

The experiment coats organic carbon nanotubes with a thin layer of
fuel and employs something called a thermopower wave (which sounds
powerful). The result could power future computers and cell phones
using batteries that are 10 times smaller than before, while retaining
the same power output.

And they could be incinerated or just degrade over time without
leaving heavy metal residue in the environment, the report said.
There’s no word yet on whether this will even scale properly to a
consumer-level product, but here’s hoping.

Image credit: MIT/Christine Daniloff

Oh, nanotechnology — your wonders never cease. Boffins at Imperial College London have been able to use live nanoscale microscopy (a technique called scanning ion conductance microscopy) in order to see the surface of the cardiac muscle cell at more detailed levels than those possible using conventional live microscopy. Without getting too gross on you, the new process could lead to improved designs of beta-blockers, the drugs that can retard the development of heart failure. Researchers are hoping that the findings could also lead to “improvements in current therapeutic approaches to treating heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms,” and while these exceptionally detailed images are helping the cardiac muscle right now, we’re hoping that this stuff could also bleed over to other fields of medicine. Ventricles crossed!

Newfangled nanoscale scanning technique could improve heart health originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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