Posts tagged Technologies

The launch of a commercial cargo ship making its first flight to the International Space Station is expected to slip a week or so to give engineers more time to complete pre-flight testing and analysis, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, announced late today.The company had been aiming to launch its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule on April 30. A second launch opportunity was available May 3.

Last week, NASA managers tentatively cleared the SpaceX rocket and capsule for launch pending completion of testing and a final review of open items and overnight Sunday, company founder and chief designer Elon Musk said in a Twitter posting: “Just completed the rocket rollout review at SpaceX HQ in California. Almost time to launch. Pucker factor increasing…”

But this afternoon, after a review of the Dragon systems, Musk tweeted: “Am pushing launch back approximately a week to do more testing on Dragon docking code. New date pending coordination with NASA.”

Company spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham said in a later e-mail: “After reviewing our recent progress, it was clear that we needed more time to finish hardware-in-the-loop testing and properly review and follow up on all data. While it is still possible that we could launch on May 3, it would be wise to add a few more days of margin in case things take longer than expected. As a result, our launch is likely to be pushed back by one week, pending coordination with NASA.”

(Source: futurenow321)

Forget about putting solar panels on the roof. Miles Barr wants to make curtains, cell-phone cases, and even shirtsleeves that generate electricity from the sun.

Barr, who earned a chemical engineering Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is an expert in chemical vapor deposition. That’s a process in which two vapors are piped into a sealed chamber, where they react, creating a thin, solid film around an object inside. The technique isn’t new; it’s been used to add a waterproof layer to fabric, for example. Barr successfully adapted the technology to “print” an electrically active solar cell coating onto ordinary materials, starting with a sheet of paper in 2010. “When we first did that, it really sparked a lot of imagination,” says Barr, 28. “If you can put a solar cell on paper, what else can you put it on?”

Chemical vapor deposition changes the quality of a surface without using extreme temperatures or solvents that might cause damage. When Barr’s team at MIT figured out how to use the process to make solar cells, he says, they went to an office supply store and loaded up on stuff to test it on: “Saran Wrap, copy paper, tissue paper, almost anything you can imagine,” he says. Barr maintains the technique could be adapted for mass production. Because it relies on abundant organic molecules, rather than heavy metals or rare elements, it could be cheap, too. Right now, Barr’s solar cells convert only about 2 percent of the energy in light into electric power, compared with 10 percent to 20 percent for conventional photovoltaic panels, though he thinks he can eventually raise the efficiency to 10 percent.

(Source: futurenow321)

An engineering firm has developed a 3D bio-printer that could one day be used to create organs on demand for organ replacement surgery. The device is already capable of growing arteries and its creators say that arteries “printed” by the device could be used in heart bypass surgery in as little as five years. Meanwhile, more complex organs such as hearts, and teeth and bone should be possible within ten years.

The 3D bio-printer allows scientists to place cells of almost any type into a desired 3D pattern. It includes two print heads, one for placing human cells, and the other for placing a hydrogel, scaffold, or support matrix. The cells used by the device need to be the cells of what is being regenerated building an artery requires arterial cells for example. Because the patient’s own cells are used the new organ will not be rejected by the body. The printer fits inside a standard biosafety cabinet for sterile use.

(Source: futurenow321)

U.S. military researchers have had great success using “transcranial direct current stimulation” (tDCS) — in which they hook you up to what’s essentially a 9-volt battery and let the current flow through your brain. After a few years of lab testing, they’ve found that tDCS can more than double the rate at which people learn a wide range of tasks, such as object recognition, math skills, and marksmanship.

We don’t yet have a commercially available “thinking cap,” but we will soon. So the research community has begun to ask: What are the ethics of battery-operated cognitive enhancement? Recently, a group of Oxford neuroscientists released a cautionary statement about the ethics of brain boosting; then the U.K.’s Royal Society released a report that questioned the use of tDCS for military applications.

(Source: futurenow321)

If you fear the robot apocalypse, perhaps your day would be much improved if you just moved on. Boston Dynamics’ PETMAN robot, developed for DARPA, is getting more humanoid-like by the day it seems, and here we see it—legs, torso, arms, and all—negotiating staircases, running on a treadmill, and even hitting the floor for some pushups. All this strength training appears to be doing PETMAN some good.

(Source: futurenow321)

This is the first time that Boeing will be offering a mobile phone designed for use on cellular networks. The project is already near the end of its development cycle, suggesting that the device may be a fork of Android 2.3 Gingerbread and not of the latest iteration. Similarly encrypted devices currently cost $15,000 to $20,000 per unit and use proprietary software and hardware.

The Boeing Phone, however, wants to drive down that price point, but not necessarily to mass market pricing. The company also finds that its target users may want top security, but they also want access to popular apps. The Android-based Boeing Phone will give users an interface they’re familiar with in the consumer market, while providing them a whole other level of security.

(Source: futurenow321)

 A new Ground Systems Power and Energy Lab opening in Warren will help the U.S Army of tomorrow become a more fuel efficient fighting machine. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Wednesday at the new Army laboratory at TARDEC where technology such as fuel cells and hybrid systems for combat vehicles will be developed. Federal officials say the facility at the Detroit Arsenal is unique in that it brings together a number of high-technology testing capabilities in a single facility that can test vehicle components, systems and full vehicles, which will enable TARDEC to increase its collaboration with the Department of Energy, industry and academia. Among it’s features, the lab can simulate the desert heat of Afghanistan and a bone-chilling day in Antarctica and can transition between the extremes in temperatures in a matter of minutes.

(Source: futurenow321)