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90. Hovering Space Rover, New Advances In 3D Printing, Protein Found to Reverse Muscle Aging That‘s Cool News | A weekly breakdown of positive Science & Tech news.
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MIT Engineers Test An Idea For A New Hovering Rover | Brighter Side News (01:28)
Due to the lack of atmosphere, the moon and other airless bodies such as asteroids can build up an electric field.Because of direct exposure to the sun and surrounding plasma.
Moon’s electric charge is strong enough to levitate dust more than 1 meter above the ground.
Engineers at NASA and elsewhere have recently proposed harnessing this natural surface charge to levitate a gliderMylar wings, which is a material that holds the same charge as surfaces on airless bodies.
Thinking of magnets, the same charged sides would repel causing a levitation effect
A design would likely be limited to small asteroids, as larger planetary bodies would have a stronger, counteracting gravitational pull. Or would it?MIT’s rover could get around this
The concept resembles a retro-style, disc-shaped flying saucer, and uses tiny ion beams to both charge up the vehicle and boost the surface’s natural charge.Generates a relatively large repulsive force between the vehicle and the ground with a small amount of power
In an initial feasibility study, the researchers show that such an ion boost should be strong enough to levitate a small, 2-pound vehicle on the moon and large asteroids.
Large asteroid using a 10-kilovolt ion source
The Moon the same rover would need a 50-kilovolt source
Design relies on the use of miniature ion thrusters, called ionic-liquid ion sources
Using a basic disc model with ion thrusters
Could achieve levitation of about one centimeter off the ground
Co-author Paulo Lozano explains why levitation on a rover would be good:“With a levitating rover, you don’t have to worry about wheels or moving parts … An asteroid’s terrain could be totally uneven, and as long as you had a controlled mechanism to keep your rover floating, then you could go over very rough, unexplored terrain, without having to dodge the asteroid physically.”
MIT unveils the world's longest flexible fiber battery. You can weave and wash it in fabrics | ZME Science (08:01)
Engineers at MIT have created a rechargeable lithium-ion battery in the form of very long fiber.Could be used to 3D print batteries in any shape.
The proof of concept is 140 meters long, making it the longest flexible fiber battery thus far.Length is arbitrary according to the engineers since they could do much longer lengths.
Fiber batteries are not new, however previously they have all the lithium and other key materials outside the fiber, which would leave them unprotected.This Fiber is the opposite with the new system embedding the battery inside the fiber
This provides a protective outside coating, which gives the fiber both stability and waterproofing.
The thickness of the fiber device is only a few hundred microns, much thinner than any previous attempts at a fiber battery.
To demonstrate the functionality of this proof of concept, the researchers used the fiber battery to power a “Li-Fi” communications system, the kind that uses pulses of light to transmit data rather than radio waves. Includes a microphone, pre-amp, transistor, and diodes
The 140-meter-long battery fiber has a rated energy storage capacity of 123 milliamp-hours Enough to power a smartwatch or phone.
Battery fibers could be woven to produce two-dimensional fabrics like those used for clothing, but could also be used in 3-D printing to create solid objects, such as casings.Because the system creates it all without having to add anything else it would be one-step printing.
Scientists Can Now Print Metal Objects That Are Only 25 Nanometers Long | Interesting Engineering (13:08)
A group of scientists has set a new benchmark in 3D printing by succeeding in fabricating ultrasmall metal objects using a new technique.
According to the team, their system can be used to make objects out of copper just 25 billionths of a meter in diameter (equivalent to 25 nanometres).Equivalent to 195 copper atoms i
MIT Engineers Test An Idea For A New Hovering Rover | Brighter Side News (01:28)
Due to the lack of atmosphere, the moon and other airless bodies such as asteroids can build up an electric field.Because of direct exposure to the sun and surrounding plasma.
Moon’s electric charge is strong enough to levitate dust more than 1 meter above the ground.
Engineers at NASA and elsewhere have recently proposed harnessing this natural surface charge to levitate a gliderMylar wings, which is a material that holds the same charge as surfaces on airless bodies.
Thinking of magnets, the same charged sides would repel causing a levitation effect
A design would likely be limited to small asteroids, as larger planetary bodies would have a stronger, counteracting gravitational pull. Or would it?MIT’s rover could get around this
The concept resembles a retro-style, disc-shaped flying saucer, and uses tiny ion beams to both charge up the vehicle and boost the surface’s natural charge.Generates a relatively large repulsive force between the vehicle and the ground with a small amount of power
In an initial feasibility study, the researchers show that such an ion boost should be strong enough to levitate a small, 2-pound vehicle on the moon and large asteroids.
Large asteroid using a 10-kilovolt ion source
The Moon the same rover would need a 50-kilovolt source
Design relies on the use of miniature ion thrusters, called ionic-liquid ion sources
Using a basic disc model with ion thrusters
Could achieve levitation of about one centimeter off the ground
Co-author Paulo Lozano explains why levitation on a rover would be good:“With a levitating rover, you don’t have to worry about wheels or moving parts … An asteroid’s terrain could be totally uneven, and as long as you had a controlled mechanism to keep your rover floating, then you could go over very rough, unexplored terrain, without having to dodge the asteroid physically.”
MIT unveils the world's longest flexible fiber battery. You can weave and wash it in fabrics | ZME Science (08:01)
Engineers at MIT have created a rechargeable lithium-ion battery in the form of very long fiber.Could be used to 3D print batteries in any shape.
The proof of concept is 140 meters long, making it the longest flexible fiber battery thus far.Length is arbitrary according to the engineers since they could do much longer lengths.
Fiber batteries are not new, however previously they have all the lithium and other key materials outside the fiber, which would leave them unprotected.This Fiber is the opposite with the new system embedding the battery inside the fiber
This provides a protective outside coating, which gives the fiber both stability and waterproofing.
The thickness of the fiber device is only a few hundred microns, much thinner than any previous attempts at a fiber battery.
To demonstrate the functionality of this proof of concept, the researchers used the fiber battery to power a “Li-Fi” communications system, the kind that uses pulses of light to transmit data rather than radio waves. Includes a microphone, pre-amp, transistor, and diodes
The 140-meter-long battery fiber has a rated energy storage capacity of 123 milliamp-hours Enough to power a smartwatch or phone.
Battery fibers could be woven to produce two-dimensional fabrics like those used for clothing, but could also be used in 3-D printing to create solid objects, such as casings.Because the system creates it all without having to add anything else it would be one-step printing.
Scientists Can Now Print Metal Objects That Are Only 25 Nanometers Long | Interesting Engineering (13:08)
A group of scientists has set a new benchmark in 3D printing by succeeding in fabricating ultrasmall metal objects using a new technique.
According to the team, their system can be used to make objects out of copper just 25 billionths of a meter in diameter (equivalent to 25 nanometres).Equivalent to 195 copper atoms i
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