Impact Lab – Page 231 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

‘Liquid windows’ inspired by squid skin could help buildings react to changing environments, save on energy costs

February 5, 2023

By Tyler Irving

Prototypes designed and built at U of T Engineering contain several layers of channels, each of which contain fluids with various optical properties. By pumping the fluids in and out of the channels, the system can optimize the type, quantity and distribution of light passing through. (Artist’s impression courtesy Raphael Kay, Adrian So)

U of T Engineering researchers have developed a multilayered fluidic system that can reduce the energy costs of heating, cooling and lighting buildings by optimizing the wavelength, intensity and dispersion of light transmitted through windows.

The platform was inspired by the dynamic colour-changing skin of organisms such as squid. Compared with existing technologies, it offers much greater control while keeping costs low due to its use of simple, off-the-shelf components.

“Buildings use a ton of energy to heat, cool and illuminate the spaces inside them,” says recent graduate Raphael Kay (MIE MASc 2T2), lead author on a new paper published in PNAS.

“If we can strategically control the amount, type and direction of solar energy that enters our buildings, we can massively reduce the amount of work that we ask heaters, coolers and lights to do.”

new technology

MIT grows 2D crystals on existing silicon to make new semiconductors and catch up to Moore’s law

February 5, 2023

By Hope Corrigan

Moore’s law might not be dead, just in need of a rewrite.

Get out of the way silicon, you’re not our top transistor anymore. We’ve had enough of your inability to maintain electrical properties at tiny scales. That’s right, we’re leaving you. Moving onwards and upwards onto better things that can truly grow with us. To put it simply: it’s not us, it’s you. We’re probably going to have to rename that valley, too.

We’ve had a really good run with silicon, but companies like TSMC have been seeking alternatives for a while, largely as a way of trying top keep up with Moore’s law. Moore’s law observed that the number of transistors able to be manufactured on silicon doubled approximately every two years, while the cost of computers fell.

This remained true for a long time, but is petering out. Some companies like Nvidia consider it mostly dead, while AMD say it’s just expensive to keep pace with. Regardless of where Moore’s law is now, it’s set to come crashing to a halt in the near future due to the limitations of Silicon.

Thankfully, researchers at MIT(opens in new tab) have found what may well be our next transistor romance, and the good news is that silicon can kinda stick around to watch. To get those tiny sizes, researchers are working with substances so thin they’re called 2D materials. These delicate sheets of crystals are as thin as a single atom. The idea is to begin integrating these perfect crystal structures into current industry-standard silicon wafers.

DNA

Scientists reversed aging in mice. Is it possible in humans?

February 4, 2023

Aging is a natural part of life that changes the body in ways we sometimes might not like.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School believe that epigenetic changes — and not just changes to the DNA — affect aging.
This view is supported by experiments where epigenetic changes caused mice to first age and the reversal of the induced changes caused reverse aging.

Aging is a life process everyone goes through. As we age, the body changes in different ways — sometimes good and sometimes not as good as we might like.

Scientists have looked for ways to slow down, stop, or reverse the aging process. While research and medical advances have helped increase life expectancy, aging continues.

For many years, most researchers have believed changes to a body’s DNA — called mutations — are a leading cause of aging.

Now a team led by researchers from Harvard Medical School finds support for an alternative hypothesis: it is the changes that affect the expression of the DNA — called epigenetics — that affect aging. Scientists demonstrated this via a mouse model where changes in epigenetic information caused mice to first age and then reverse aging.

The study appears in the journal Cell.

NASA

NASA and DARPA Collaborating on a Nuclear-Powered Rocket for Quick Trips to Mars

February 4, 2023

An artist’s impression of the DRACO spacecraft, which will feature the new nuclear thermal rocket engine.

By Kevin Hurler

CALLED DRACO, THE DEMONSTRATION SPACECRAFT COULD REACH MARS THREE TIMES FASTER THAN VESSELS RUNNING ON TRADITIONAL CHEMICAL-BASED PROPULSION.

One of the bigger questions surrounding NASA’s interest in sending a crewed mission to Mars surrounds the best way to get there, and it appears the agencymight have found its answer. NASA announced today that it will be developing a nuclear thermal rocket engine in collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The collaboration is called DRACO, or Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, and it’s expected to reduce the travel time it takes to get astronauts to Mars—and potentially more distant targets in deep space. According to a press release, NASA will lead technical development of the nuclear thermal engine that will be combined with an experimental DARPA spacecraft. The two agencies will further collaborate on combining the rocket with the spacecraft ahead of its demonstration in space as early as 2027.

“Our intent is to lead and develop a blueprint for human exploration and sustained presence in the solar system,” said NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy in a NASA fireside chat this morning. “DRACO will be a critical part of evaluating the technologies that will take us deeper into the solar system.”

drones, Science & Technology News

MightyFly unveils its Cento second-generation cargo drone

February 4, 2023

By Bruce Crumley

San Francisco Bay Area cargo UAV developer MightyFly has unveiled the second generation of its hybrid-powered vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drone, Cento, which it plans to produce and operate for end-to-end freight services on flights of up to 600 miles.

Formerly known as the potentially wise-crack generating MF-100, the new Cento version of MightyFly’s cargo drone has already begun testing following the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issuing the craft a Special Airworthiness Certificate and a Certificate of Authorization (COA) for long-range operation. The company says the approval to begin demonstrations of autonomous VTOL flights of up to 600 miles with 100 pounds of freight aboard is “unprecedented in the industry.”

Founded in 2019, MightyFly is wasting no time in getting its innovative approach to air freight transport aloft.

Mightyfly says presentation of its Centro cargo drone comes less than two years since the company raised $5.1M seed funding for the second-generation VTOL, and just nine months after its initial concept stage. The 13.1 x 16.7-foot autonomous UAV is made up of a high wing carbon fiber airframe, eight electric vertical lift fans, one forward propulsion propeller, and a 6 x 1 x 1- foot internal payload bay that can hold 96 small USPS packages.

The cargo drone’s hybrid powertrain shifts between an internal combustion engine that recharges depleted batteries that will otherwise be used for flight, enabling Centro to make multiple deliveries along a route, or single long-haul run, that MightyFly will operate from start to finish as a seamless service to customers.

The relatively compact size of the craft requires limited landing and takeoff space, while an automated conveyor belt handling loading and offloading of packages obviates the need for human intervention.

Continue reading…MightyFly unveils its Cento second-generation cargo drone“

Aviation, Science & Technology News

How these new electric aircraft could disrupt the $49 billion helicopter industry

February 2, 2023

Why United Airlines-backed Archer Aviation thinks eVTOLs could replace helicopters

By Andrew Evers

Vertical lift aircraft have existed for more than a century in the form of helicopters. But the $49 billion industry faces a rapidly emerging threat.

An estimated 200 companies are working to build electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs), a new type of small passenger aircraft designed for transportation within congested urban environments.

“Helicopters are very expensive to operate for a number of reasons, but the biggest reason is that they have multiple points of failure, which eVTOL aircraft won’t,” said Michael Leskinen, president of United Airlines Ventures, which has invested in startups in the space called Eve and Archer Aviation. “The electrification makes the aircraft safer. Safer aircraft also becomes less costly to maintain.”

Space

Asteroid-Mining Startup Plans First Private Mission to Deep Space

February 2, 2023

The OrbAstro ORB-50 satellite platform will host a variety of instruments needed to evaluate the target asteroid from a distance.

By George Dvorsky

SCHEDULED FOR LAUNCH IN OCTOBER, ASTROFORGE’S PROSPECTOR SPACECRAFT WILL SEEK TO INSPECT AN ASTEROID LOCATED 22 MILLION MILES FROM EARTH.

AstroForge has announced an ambitious commercial mission to observe a distant asteroid—an important step for the California startup as it strives to become the world’s first deep space mining company.

AstroForge seeks to capitalize on the rapidly evolving state of the spaceflight industry and become the first firm to mine for metals in deep space. The California startup raised $13 million in seed funding last year—its first year of existence—and has now formally announced two mining-related missions that are scheduled to launch within the calendar year. The company is partnering with several others to make it happen, including OrbAstro, Dawn Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines.

Space is the place, as Sun Ra famously said, and it most certainly has plenty to offer, including rare-earth metals like platinum, gold, iridium, palladium, and osmium, among other minerals. Materials on a single asteroid could fetch trillions of dollars, making asteroid mining a tantalizing prospect. This idea has been around for decades, but the excessive costs associated with the endeavor have largely made it impossible. That’s changing, however, as it’s never been more affordable to launch rockets and manufacture satellites and spacecraft.

3D Printer

Drone Fleet Uses 3D Printing to Build Large-Scale Structures

February 2, 2023

Researchers at Imperial College in London have developed a 3D-printing system that uses multiple drones to build vertical structures while in flight.

By Mark Crawford

Robotic additive manufacturing methods are being retooled for use in the construction industry. There are currently two ways to use 3D printing in construction: 3D-printing structural components off site, then transporting those pieces on site for assembly, or using ground-based 3D printers to produce structures on site. But ground-based printers are limited in the size of the structures they can print.

Researchers from Imperial College London and the Swiss Federal Laboratories of Materials Science and Technology have developed a system that eliminates this scalability issue by using fleets of drones equipped with 3D-printing systems. Large and complex structures could potentially be entirely built with multiple drone-based printing systems that operate from the construction site.

The research team, led by Mirko Kovac, a professor aerial robotics at Imperial College, calls the new process “Aerial Additive Manufacturing” (Aerial-AM), in which a fleet of drones collaborate in flight to create large, intricate structures. A multi-drone approach allows for autonomous 3D printing under human supervision and real-time assessment of printed geometry as construction progresses. Drones can also monitor and adjust their building capabilities on the fly in real time.

NASA

NASA validates revolutionary propulsion design for deep space missions

February 2, 2023

As NASA takes its first steps toward establishing a long-term presence on the Moon’s surface, a team of propulsion development engineers at NASA have developed and tested NASA’s first full-scale rotating detonation rocket engine, or RDRE, an advanced rocket engine design that could significantly change how future propulsion systems are built.

The RDRE differs from a traditional rocket engine by generating thrust using a supersonic combustion phenomenon known as a detonation. This design produces more power while using less fuel than today’s propulsion systems and has the potential to power both human landers and interplanetary vehicles to deep space destinations, such as the Moon and Mars.

Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and primary collaborator IN Space LLC, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, are confirming data from RDRE hot fire tests conducted in 2022 at Marshall’s East Test Area. The engine was fired over a dozen times, totaling nearly 10 minutes in duration.

Stem cells

Nanofiber-hydrogel loaded with stem cells shows success treating severe complication of Crohn’s disease

February 2, 2023

Utilization of the injectable nanofiber-hydrogel composite loaded with stem cells to treat perianal fistulas.

by Johns Hopkins

In a new study using a rat model of Crohn’s disease, a biodegradable hydrogel composite loaded with stem cells, developed by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers, in a collaborative effort with the Whiting School of Engineering, has shown significant success in treating perianal fistulas (PAF)—one of the many complications of Crohn’s disease.

Crohn’s disease, a subtype of inflammatory bowel disease, is a disorder estimated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to afflict more than three million adult Americans. About 30 percent to40 percent of patients with Crohn’s disease develop perianal fistulas—an inflamed tunnel between the skin and the inside of the anus. Fistulas can lead to pain, swelling, discomfort and leakage of blood or pus. Surgery is usually needed to treat the condition. However, more than half of patients do not benefit from current available treatments.

The injectable, biodegradable, mechanically fragmented nanofiber-hydrogel composite (mfNHC), loaded with stem cells that the Johns Hopkins team designed, can be injected inside the fistula tract, and showed a higher degree of healing, reducing the size of fistulas six-fold, in comparison to surgery.

Electric Automobile

This solar-powered car promises free driving

February 2, 2023

BY DAVID MCCOWEN

It sounds too good to be true. A car that can drive for free, powered by the sun.

But that’s what Aptera Motors promises, thanks to an enormous array of solar cells embedded within the carbon fibre body of its Launch Edition electric car.

The brand unveiled the production version of its breakthrough machine in January, pitching it to investors as a car that could change the way people drive.

More than 700 watts of solar cells energise a floor-mounted battery that promises to deliver more than 600 kilometres of range.

Solar panels draw in about 60 kilometres of range per day that can be stored in the battery, or augmented by public fast chargers on road trips.

Space Flight

A Novel Propulsion System Would Hurl Hypervelocity Pellets at a Spacecraft to Speed it up

February 1, 2023

Graphic depiction of Pellet-Beam Propulsion for Breakthrough Space Exploration.

Today, multiple space agencies are investigating cutting-edge propulsion ideas that will allow for rapid transits to other bodies in the Solar System. These include NASA’s Nuclear-Thermal or Nuclear-Electric Propulsion (NTP/NEP) concepts that could enable transit times to Mars in 100 days (or even 45) and a nuclear-powered Chinese spacecraft that could explore Neptune and its largest moon, Triton. While these and other ideas could allow for interplanetary exploration, getting beyond the Solar System presents some major challenges.

As we explored in a previous article, it would take spacecraft using conventional propulsion anywhere from 19,000 to 81,000 years to reach even the nearest star, Proxima Centauri (4.25 light-years from Earth). To this end, engineers have been researching proposals for uncrewed spacecraft that rely on beams of directed energy (lasers) to accelerate light sails to a fraction of the speed of light. A new idea proposed by researchers from UCLA envisions a twist on the beam-sail idea: a pellet-beam concept that could accelerate a 1-ton spacecraft to the edge of the Solar System in less than 20 years.

The concept, titled “Pellet-Beam Propulsion for Breakthrough Space Exploration,” was proposed by Artur Davoyan, an Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The proposal was one of fourteen proposals chosen by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program as part of their 2023 selections, which awarded a total of $175,000 in grants to develop the technologies further. Davoyan’s proposal builds on recent work with directed-energy propulsion (DEP) and light sail technology to realize a Solar Gravitational Lens.