Researchers develop nanomaterial textiles for wireless power, allowing real-time data transmission without the need for bulky batteries.
Category: energy – Page 45
Scientists say new ‘water battery’ can hold more energy than lithium cells
Chinese scientists have developed a water-based battery with nearly double the energy density compared to traditional lithium batteries, according to new research published in a paper in Nature Energy.
According to researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, tests revealed an impressive…
The iodine and bromine-based aqueous battery showed an energy density of 1,200 watt-hours per liter, surpassing the 700Wh/L of non-aqueous lithium batteries.
After signal loss, Voyager 1 reconnected with Earth using retro transmitter not used since 1981
Voyager 1 reconnected with Earth using a backup transmitter inactive for over 40 years.
NASA’s Voyager 1 probe, the most distant human-made object, briefly lost contact with Earth between Oct. 19 and Oct. 24 due to an unexpected shutdown of its main radio transmitter. This signal loss occurred after a command sent to power one of Voyager’s heaters unintentionally triggered the probe’s fault protection system. As a safeguard, the fault protection system automatically powers down non-essential functions when the spacecraft detects an overdraw of its power supply or other malfunctions. Engineers have since reestablished contact through Voyager 1’s backup S-band transmitter, which hadn’t been used since 1981.
Ice Hunt: How NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Could Transform Moon Exploration
While scientists know there’s water on the Moon, its exact locations and forms remain largely unknown. A trailblazing NASA mission will get some answers.
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer mission, designed to map and study water on the Moon, will employ innovative instruments to explore surface water dynamics and support future lunar colonies by providing vital data on potential water sources that could be converted into oxygen or fuel.
Unveiling lunar mysteries: nasa’s trailblazer mission.
World’s brightest X-rays: China set to unveil High-Energy Photon Source
HEPS will transform scientific research by enabling high-energy X-ray probing at the nanoscale.
China is poised to unveil its cutting-edge High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) by year’s end, boasting some of the world’s most powerful synchrotron X-rays.
With a staggering investment of 4.8 billion yuan (approximately US$665 million), this facility marks a significant milestone for Asia, propelling China into the elite league of nations with fourth-generation synchrotron light sources.
Situated in Huairou, near downtown Beijing, the circular HEPS facility is a hive of activity as researchers meticulously calibrate thousands of components. These efforts are geared towards creating a light source capable of delving deep into samples, unveiling their molecular and atomic structures in real-time.
Off the clothesline, on the grid: MXene nanomaterials enable wireless charging in textiles
The next step for fully integrated textile-based electronics to make their way from the lab to the wardrobe is figuring out how to power the garment gizmos without unfashionably toting around a solid battery. Researchers from Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Accenture Labs in California have taken a new approach to the challenge by building a full textile energy grid that can be wirelessly charged. In their recent study, the team reported that it can power textile devices, including a warming element and environmental sensors that transmit data in real-time.
Tech that harvests electricity from ocean currents gets US funding
SNMREC is initiating a pioneering feasibility study to establish an offshore ocean current test facility in Palm Beach County, marking a first-of-its-kind project that utilizes top marine energy expertise.
Charting New Territory: The South Pole Landing Regions of Artemis III
“The Moon’s South Pole is a completely different environment than where we landed during the Apollo missions,” said Dr. Sarah Noble. “It offers access to some of the Moon’s oldest terrain, as well as cold, shadowed regions that may contain water and other compounds.”
Where will NASA’s Artemis Program precisely land astronauts near the lunar south pole? This is what the famed space agency hopes to figure out as they recently narrowed the list of potential landing regions from 13 to 9, underscoring NASA’s ongoing urgency in selecting a final landing site prior to landing astronauts on the Moon with the Artemis III in the next few years, along with landing the first woman and person of color on the lunar surface, as well. The selected regions will provide scientific opportunities based on geology, terrain, and access to water ice, the latter of which can be used for fuel, drinking, creating oxygen through electrolysis, and much more.
NASA has identified the following potential landing regions not listed in priority: Peak near Cabeus B, Haworth, Malapert Massif, Mons Mouton Plateau, Mons Mouton, Nobile Rim 1, Nobile Rim 2, de Gerlache Rim 2, Slater Plain. Each landing region consists of several square miles with more precise landing sites being determined later.
Big batteries lead renewable charge as record 45 gigawatts of new capacity seeks grid connection
The Australian Energy Market Operator has reported a significant increase in the capacity of new wind, solar and storage projects seeking a grid connection, with the total now exceeding 45 gigawatts for the first time.
AEMO’s latest connection scorecard and its Quarterly Energy Dynamics report for the September quarter says that the capacity of projects going through the connection process – from application to commissioning – has jumped by more than one third to 45.6 GW.
The biggest jump came in battery storage, which nearly doubled from the same period a year earlier to 14.7 GW, confirming that it remains the strongest part of Australia’s sometimes faltering green energy transition (the storage number for batteries varies from project to project and in some early development cases is not settled).
With ‘electro-agriculture,’ plants can produce food in the dark and with 94% less land, bioengineers say
The acetate would then be used to feed plants that are grown hydroponically. The method could also be used to grow other food-producing organisms, since acetate is naturally used by mushrooms, yeast, and algae.
“The whole point of this new process to try to boost the efficiency of photosynthesis,” says senior author Feng Jiao, an electrochemist at Washington University in St. Louis. “Right now, we are at about 4% efficiency, which is already four times higher than for photosynthesis, and because everything is more efficient with this method, the CO2 footprint associated with the production of food becomes much smaller.”
To genetically engineer acetate-eating plants, the researchers are taking advantage of a metabolic pathway that germinating plants use to break down food stored in their seeds. This pathway is switched off once plants become capable of photosynthesis, but switching it back on would enable them to use acetate as a source of energy and carbon.