Lifeboat Foundation

Thermally controlled, active imperceptible artificial skin in visible-to-infrared range.

Cephalopods’ exceptional ability to hide into any background has inspired researchers to replicate their fascinating ability to camouflage in the infrared (IR) and visible spectrum. Recent advances offered a number of physical mechanisms to reproduce the cloaking functionalities of cephalopods. However, most of works focused on either camouflaging in the visible or IR camouflage range only: not dual modes in a single device structure that can readily switch between the visible and IR mode according to a suitable situation.

Recently, Prof. Seung hwan Ko’s group in Seoul National University in Republic of Korea demonstrated the visible-to-IR active ands camouflage skin that provides an on-demand cloaking platform both in daylight and at night with a single input variable: Temperature (T). The soft thermoelectric device that is capable of active cooling and heating serves as a backbone structure to fine-tune the surface of each pixel and thereby enables thermal camouflage in the IR range by matching the ambient temperature. The Ko’s group further extended the camouflage range to the IR-to-visible spectrum by incorporating thermochromic liquid crystal at the surface that changes light reflectance ® based on the device temperature, enabling the expressing a variety of colors by controling temperature. The camouflage system as a whole encompasses the two independent spectrums into a ‘full spectrum’ with a single soft structure by controlling temperature.

The product of a joint development venture with Toyota could arrive in prototype form as soon as late 2021 and would represent some firsts for Subaru.

A new invention that may speed up a human mission to Mars.

A new invention might speed up human exploration of the Red Planet.

Champions Place is the first shared living community for young adults in Roswell, Georgia. Designed with and for people with disabilities. In addition to providing community living, Champions Place provides year-round volunteer engagements, community outreach, and social activities through programs such as the Titan Community, a wheelchair sports team. With the help of Google assistive technology, Champions residents can live more independently in their new home. Learn more about Champions Place at championscommunityfoundation.org.

About Champions Place: http://www.championscommunityfoundation.org/championsplace.
About Titan Community: http://www.championscommunityfoundation.org/titans-what-we-do.

Continue reading “Young adults with physical disabilities find independence” »

Space exploration company SpaceX’s founder and chief executive officer Elon Musk on Tuesday said he expected humans to land on Mars in six years. He also said that SpaceX plans to launch an unmanned spacecraft and land on Mars in two years, with a chance of the first human landing on Mars in four years instead of six.

United States’ space agency NASA’s Perseverance rover which was launched in July 2020 is scheduled to land at Jezero Crater on Mars on 18 February 2021. It will look at signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for a possible return to Earth.

It is carrying instruments that will use high-temperature electrolysis but the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) will be producing oxygen only, from the carbon dioxide in the air.

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Here we go again.

The RC cars are designed by Frank Stephenson of BMW, McLaren, and Ferrari fame, and will blast off on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Lockdown — seen from space.

Almost as soon as the coronavirus pandemic began, experts started noticing that the global lockdown appeared to be resulting in a sharp drop in worldwide carbon emissions.

Continue reading “Here’s how lockdowns slashed global emissions, according to NASA” »

A step forward in space exploration for China and humankind and a colossal step backward for the US.