Lifeboat Foundation

Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning pickup owners can now reserve complimentary adapters—but the real win is access to one of the largest and most developed charging networks in the world.

“We have not forgotten our science colleagues. In fact, they are important partners for the mission,” Giuseppe Mandorlo, Vigil project manager, said Jan. 29 at the American Meteorological Society annual meeting here.

Vigil will provide space weather data from sun-Earth Lagrange point 5. Data gathered from L5 could provide notice of four to five days of solar winds streaming toward Earth.

Data from Vigil sensors coupled with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO L1) mission destined for L1 promise to improve early warning of solar storms, Mandorlo said.

“It performs very well. Depending on where you’re looking at along the coast, it would be quite difficult to identify a simulated hurricane from a real one,” Pintar said.

However, the system isn’t without flaws. The data it is fed does not account for the potential effects of rising temperatures, and the simulated storms produced for areas with less data were not as plausible.

“Hurricanes are not as frequent in, say, Boston as in Miami, for example. The less data you have, the larger the uncertainty of your predictions,” NIST Fellow Emil Simiu said.

Measuring the amount of precipitation that falls in a specific location is simple if that location has a device designed to accurately record and transmit precipitation data. In contrast, measuring the amount and type of precipitation that falls to Earth in every location is logistically quite difficult. Importantly, this information could provide a wealth of data for characterizing and predicting Earth’s water, energy and biogeochemical cycles.

Scientists from the China Meteorological Administration developed and launched a satellite created to measure Earth precipitation with radar while orbiting in space.

This is the first of two precipitation missions planned by the team to accurately measure the occurrence, type and intensity of any precipitation across the world, including over oceans and complex terrain. Specifically, the FY-3G satellite is designed to assess the 3-dimensional (3D) form of rainfall and other precipitation for weather systems at Earth’s middle and lower latitudes.

Researchers at the University of Augsburg and the University of Vienna have discovered co-existing magnetic skyrmions and antiskyrmions of arbitrary topological charge at room temperature in magnetic Co/Ni multilayer thin films. Their findings have been published in Nature Physics and open up the possibility for a new paradigm in skyrmionics research.

The discovery of novel spin objects with arbitrary topological charge promises to contribute to advances in fundamental and applied research, particularly through their application in information storage devices.

Magnetic skyrmions are localized, stable topological magnetic spin textures resembling a tornado-like whirl in a magnetic material. They can be very small, with diameters in the nanometer range, and behave as particles that can be moved, created, and annihilated, which makes them suitable for ‘abacus’-type applications in information storage and logic devices.

Seems like there was water on Mars, for those that subscribe or want to, you can read the whole article.

A large formation near the equator of Mars is now thought to be made of water ice, which could indicate that the Martian climate went through huge temperature swings in the past.

By Leah Crane

Continue reading “Mysterious patch on Mars appears to be enormous lump of ice” »

The world needs to dig up far more minerals to meet climate goals. But mining poses environmental dangers that are bitterly dividing communities.

“The key take-home from this study is that small electric aircraft can have a notably lower climate impact – up to 60 percent less – and other types of environmental impacts than equivalent fossil-fueled aircraft,” said Dr. Rickard Arvidsson.

In a time when electric cars are increasing in number around the world and contributing to a greener future, can electric aircraft do the same? This is what a recent study published in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment hopes to address as a team of researchers from the Chalmers Institute of Technology in Sweden investigated the environmental impact of an electric aircraft versus a fossil fuel-based counterpart. This study holds the potential to help better understand the pros and cons of electric aircraft while underscoring their environmental impact for both the short-and long-term.

For the study the researchers conducted a life cycle assessment of a “Pipistrel Alpha Electro” aircraft and a fossil fuel-based aircraft to determine which was more environmentally friendly. The Alpha Electro’s structure consisted of an approximately 10-meter (33-feet) wingspan and weighs 550 kg (1212 pounds) at full weight. It was powered by a 21 kWh NMC (nickel-manganese cobalt) lithium-ion battery, resulting in a 60 kW engine output. The fossil fuel-based aircraft was comprised of the same structure as the Alpha Electro aside from the gas engine and fuel tank. The goal of the study was to ascertain when the Alpha Electro obtains a “break-even” point with its gas-powered counterpart in terms of the overall environmental impact.

Continue reading “The Role of Electric Aircraft in Reducing Environmental Impact” »

This includes familiar tasks such as rotating the tires, replacing various fluids, and changing out cabin air filters. There are also a number of EV-specific services that drivers of these battery-electric vehicles need to keep on top of.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the United States predicts today’s EV batteries will have service lives between 12 and 15 years if used in moderate climates. This falls to between 8 and 12 years if regular use occurs in extreme environments.