Lifeboat Foundation

It’s not like the one in your car, but a team of physicists at Trinity College Dublin have built what they claim is the world’s smallest engine. The engine is the size of a single calcium ion — about ten billion times smaller than an automobile engine.

Rather than powering your next road trip, the atomic engine could one day be used to lay the foundation for extraordinary, futuristic nanotechnologies.

Here’s how it works: the calcium ion holds an electrical charge, which makes it spin. This angular momentum is then used to convert heat from a laser beam into vibrations.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Long before SpaceX can fly Starship to the moon or Mars, a prototype of the spacecraft must be moved from its construction site in Cocoa to the Kennedy Space Center for testing.

SpaceX representatives declined to answer News 6’s questions about how the private company will transport the spacecraft more than 20 miles between the two facilities or when the relocation will occur.

However, records obtained exclusively by News 6 reveal that in September the 180-foot-tall spacecraft could be towed along the State Road 528 Beachline Expressway before being placed on a barge in the Indian River for shipment to Launch Complex 39.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=eRrQG-FLaZg

It’s a lunar lander named ‘Peregrine’, developed by the space robotics company to deliver payloads to the Moon for various companies, governments, universities, non-profits, and individuals for $1.2 million per kilogram. Astrobotic was selected by NASA in May 2019 for a $79.5 million contract to deliver up to 14 payloads to the Moon in 2021, under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

To date, Astrobotic has signed 16 customers for lunar delivery on that first mission, totaling 28 payloads from 8 nations and comprising resource development, scientific investigation, technology demonstration, exploration, marketing, arts, and entertainment. The vehicle has already passed an industry-standard Preliminary Design Review, and the program will build and test a Structural Test Model, followed by a Critical Design Review, later this year.

Continue reading “First Vulcan to Launch America’s Return to the Moon with ‘Peregrine’ Lander in 2021” »

Pluto was long considered our solar system’s ninth planet. Although small, it orbits the sun and has the spherical shape required to be considered a planet.

But today marks 13 years since Pluto received a harsh drop in status — officially dubbed Pluto Demotion Day.

Pluto was relegated in 2006 when the International Astronomical Union (IAU) created a new definition for planets and decided Pluto did not fit the bill.

It’s called a sudden stratospheric warming event — and, unlike the name might suggest, the rare phenomenon could spell a burst of bitterly cold weather for Australia and New Zealand over coming weeks.

If so, it could be the southern hemisphere’s own version of the icy “beast from the east” that paralysed Europe in 2018, reported the New Zealand Herald.

A sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event kicks off when the temperature of the stratosphere — that’s 30km to 50km above ground — over the South Pole climbs by more than 25C. Meteorologists from New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) think it’s likely this is about to happen next week.

On humans are many, and widespread across Earth. Respiratory and cardiovascular effects of air pollution have long been recognised, and account for the majority of air pollution-related deaths. There is also a strong link between poor air quality and the incidence of lung cancer.

Globally, ambient (outdoor) air pollution causes an estimated 25 per cent of all adult deaths from heart disease, 24 per cent from stroke, 43 per cent from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 29 per cent from lung cancer. Household (indoor) air pollution also leads to a wide variety of similar diseases and is one of the top five causes for premature death across the world. Current estimates put the death toll from household and ambient air pollution combined at 7 million deaths a year.

NASA has published a new sequence showing the carbon monoxide plume generated by the wildfires in Brazil, tracking the changes each day starting from August 8. The country has experienced record wildfires this year, and, as of August 23, has more than 2,500 active fires throughout the Amazon. NASA’s time-series map shows the carbon monoxide concentrations at an altitude of 18,000ft.

What is 4D printing technology?

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