Inhabitat’s Week in Green: magic airplane skin, Japan’s nuclear leak, and the circuit board table

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.

As the nuclear crisis at Japan’s Fukushima power plant continues to devastate the region and one reactor sprung a leak releasing tons of radioactive water, this week Inhabitat reported that green algae could play a critical role in cleaning up the spill. We also brought you Japan’s latest radiation-detecting robot, and we took a look at how fallout from the controversial crisis is affecting energy policy around the world — China is cutting plans for future reactors in favor of solar fields while Germany may trade 17 nuclear plants for wind farms.

In other news, green transportation went from the soaring skies to the deep blue sea this week as we looked at NASA’s self-healing “magic skin” that will protect planes from lighting, and Sir Richard Branson unveiled a streamlined eco sub that will explore the ocean’s depths. We also learned that the European Union is set to kick off an electric F1 racing championship just as Tesla took top place in the 5th Monte Carlo Alternative Energy Rally. Finally, we looked at two innovative technologies for enabling human movement — a robotic exoskeleton that gives paraplegics the ability to walk and a prosthetic suit that lets people swim like mermaids.

This week we also spotted several awesome example of green gadgetry – a colorful Legotron camera made out of everyone’s favorite building bricks and a geek chic binary table constructed entirely from vintage circuit boards. We also spotted a concept for an energy-generating playground that harnesses the literal power of play.

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: magic airplane skin, Japan’s nuclear leak, and the circuit board table originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Robotics merit badge gets official within Boy Scouts of America, Wall-E approves emphatically

Yours truly knows exactly how determined one has to be to achieve the honor of Eagle Scout, but it’s getting a heck of a lot easier for the more modern offspring of this world. This month last year, we saw the Video Games belt loop sashay into the Cub Scout ranks and make all of the others seem inadequate, and now, there’s yet another award that’ll likely have your nerd-of-a-child clamoring to suit up in blue or brown. The Robotics merit badge was just made official within the Boy Scouts of America, falling nicely into a sect that promotes science, technology, engineering and math. Officials are purportedly expecting some 10,000 or so of the nation’s 2.7 million Scouts to earn this badge within the next dozen months, with those who choose to do so required to “design and build a robot while learning about robot movement, sensors and programming.” Thankfully for aspiring Ben Heckendorns, we’re told that “even some video game controllers can be considered robots,” proving that we’re just one leap of faith away from a bona fide Hacking badge. Hey, they want us to Be Prepared, right?

Robotics merit badge gets official within Boy Scouts of America, Wall-E approves emphatically originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 08:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASA Hopes Cessna’s Aircraft Skin Will Protect Future Flights

NASA Airline Skin

Every aerospace engineer or physicist has thought at some time or another about how well a conductive film on an airplane would work to detect impacts, lightning strikes, and other damage to the surface of the aircraft. With Southwest Airline’s recent trouble with holes in its aircraft fuselages, the need for a system that can warn pilots or ground crews to damage on the airframe could be more than useful.
That’s why NASA’s awarded a $1.9 million research contract to develop a protective, self-healing external “skin” for aircraft that will consist of an energy absorbing foam and a conductive sheath over it that will provide on-board instruments a constant feed of updates to the health of the aircraft. 
The film is named STAR-C2 (Soothing, Thermal, Absorbing, Reflective, Conductive, Cosmetic,) and Cessna hopes that the coating will be ready to start protecting NASA craft around 2030 or 2035, which is about when we should start expecting to hear about commercial applications of the technology.
[via Wired]

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover stars in its very own photoshoot

NASA’s already given us a glimpse at its Mars rover, courtesy of a USTREAM broadcast a few months back, but the crew over at BoingBoing has taken one small step for mankind by going even further in-depth with Curiosity before it launches in November. One lucky photographer was granted permission into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and the fruits of his bunny-suited labor showcase the nooks and crannies of NASA’s latest and greatest. We’re still kind of bummed that the rover won’t be equipped with a zoom 3D camera as originally planned, but we’ve got a hunch James Cameron’s taking it even harder. Be sure to hit the source link for a whole smattering of more angles, if intergalactic spacecrafts are your thing.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover stars in its very own photoshoot originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Is the Next Mars Rover [Video]

I want to ride the Mars Rover Curiosity. Sure, at a maximum of 90 meters (300 feet) per hour it would be a glacial ride, but the bloody thing is going to Mars. Where have I been lately? To the dog park two blocks from my house, that’s where. Plus, there’s no dog poop on Mars. More »

NASA makes longer, straighter piezoelectric nanowires in microgravity, no flat iron needed

Piezoelectric nanowires are the stuff that make power-generating pants a possibility, and that prodigious potential has drawn the attention of NASA. You see, self-powered spacesuits are awfully attractive to our nation’s space agency, and a few of its finest student researchers have discovered that the current-creating strands of zinc oxide can be made longer and straighter — and therefore more powerful — when freed from gravity’s unrelenting pull. That means nanowires grown in microgravity could lead to higher capacity batteries and the aforementioned juice-generating interstellar garb. Of course, there’s no such end-products yet, but let’s see if NASA can do what others have not: give pants-power to the people.

NASA makes longer, straighter piezoelectric nanowires in microgravity, no flat iron needed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 01:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Visualized: 1,235 potential alien planets

The tiny black dots set against their glowing host stars above represent 1,235 potential alien planets discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission. With any luck, at least one of them has never heard of Justin Bieber.

Visualized: 1,235 potential alien planets originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 06:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Is the First Image Ever Obtained from Mercury Orbit [Astronomy]

You are witnessing an historial moment: This is the first image ever obtained from Mercury’s orbit. It was taken by NASA’s Messenger, the first human-made spaceship to orbit this battered scorching hell. More »

Visualized: Mercury

It may look like a spotty, monochromatic water melon, but we’re taking NASA’s word on this one — the image above is the very first taken from an orbiting spacecraft of our solar system’s innermost planet. Mercury has been snapped by NASA’s MESSENGER probe, which is currently preparing itself to start on its elliptical trajectory around the planet and commence collecting data about it in earnest. Hit the links below to learn more about this bold exploration project.

Visualized: Mercury originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASA forced to abandon plans for 3D camera in next Mars rover, James Cameron not losing faith yet

Among the many great feats of his career, film director James Cameron counts the rather unorthodox achievement of being able to convince NASA to use a stereoscopic camera on its next Mars rover project. Unfortunately for him, us, and the hard working folks over at Malin Space Science Systems, technical snags have been encountered in the integration of the jumbo mastcam (pictured above) with the rover’s hardware and the resulting delays have caused NASA to nix the idea altogether. You might think that 3D visuals of Red Planet gravel will be no great loss, but the MSSS cams also had zoom lenses attached, whereas the research project will now be returning to tried and true fixed focal length imaging. Ah well, such is the bumpy road to interterrestrial enlightenment. NASA’s rover, titled Curiosity, is set to begin its voyage in November of this year, while Cameron and co remain upbeat about the future, saying they’re “certain that this technology will play an important role in future missions.”

NASA forced to abandon plans for 3D camera in next Mars rover, James Cameron not losing faith yet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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