Google announced today that it partnered with three private cyber-security firms — ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium — to start a new project called the App Defense Alliance. From a report: The purpose of this new project, Google said, was to unify malware and threat detection engines and improve the security scans that Android apps go through before being published on the…
Tag: Engines
NASA studies plan to send an orbiter to Pluto
Remember when New Horizons swept past Pluto in 2015? That was exciting! Who knew Pluto had a heart? Now scientists are proposing a new Pluto orbiter mission. It would gather details on Pluto’s heart and the rest of its youthful surface, its hazy bluish nitrogen atmosphere, and its system of 5 known moons. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-studies-plan-to-send-an-orbiter-to-pluto…
New Clean-Combustion ‘Ducted Fuel Injection’ Could Eliminate Soot From Diesel Engines
Thelasko shared Sandia’s report:
Ducted fuel injection, developed by Chuck Mueller at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility, is able to fine-tune the amount of diesel used in an engine to the point of eliminating between 50 and 100% of the soot… [H]e and his team, Christopher Nilsen, Drummond Biles and Nathan Harry, began experiments that have now resulted in an assembly of four…
Air-breathing engine precooler achieves record-breaking Mach 5 performance
UK company Reaction Engines has tested its innovative precooler at airflow temperature conditions equivalent to Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. This achievement marks a significant milestone in its ESA-supported development of the air-breathing SABRE engine, paving the way for a revolution in space access and hypersonic flight. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-10-air-breathing-precooler-record-breaking-mach.html…
UK Man Invents Aluminum-Air Battery In His Garage
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CleanTechncia: UK engineer and former Royal Navy officer Trevor Jackson began experimenting with aluminum air batteries at his workshop in the Cornish town of Callington in 2001. At that time, the electrolyte used was extremely caustic and poisonous. After years of experimentation, Jackson devised a new electrolyte — whose composition is a closely guarded…
Volvo To Roll Out a New Electric Vehicle Every Year Through 2025
Volvo Car Group President and CEO Hakan Samuelsson laid out the company’s new business strategy that includes introducing a new EV every year through 2025 and slashing the carbon footprint of the lifecycle of every car and SUV it builds by 40%. All of the changes are aimed at Volvo Cars’ target to become a climate neutral company by 2040. TechCrunch…
China and Taiwan Clash Over Wikipedia Edits
Ask Google or Siri: “What is Taiwan?” “A state”, they will answer, “in East Asia”. But earlier in September, it would have been a “province in the People’s Republic of China.” From a report: For questions of fact, many search engines, digital assistants and phones all point to one place: Wikipedia. And Wikipedia had suddenly changed. The edit was reversed, but…
Startup That Aims To 3D-Print Rockets Says It’s Fully Funded For Its First Commercial Missions
Aerospace startup Relativity Space — the company that aims to launch the first fully 3D-printed rocket to orbit — says it has raised all of the money it needs to launch its first mission and then enter commercial operations as early as 2021. After raising $140 million in its latest funding round, Relativity says its total funding now equals $185 million,…
China Hacks Airbus Suppliers For Commercial Secrets
An anonymous reader quotes International Business Times: European aerospace giant Airbus has been hit by a series of attacks by hackers targeting its suppliers in search of commercial secrets, sources told AFP, adding they suspected a Chinese link. AFP spoke to seven security and industry sources, all of whom confirmed a spate of attacks in the past 12 months but asked…
NASA Wants To Send Nuclear Rockets To the Moon and Mars
NASA engineers want to create a rocket engine powered by nuclear fusion. “A nuclear rocket engine would be twice as efficient as the chemical engines powering rockets today,” reports Wired. “But despite their conceptual simplicity, small-scale fission reactors are challenging to build and risky to operate because they produce toxic waste. Space travel is dangerous enough without having to worry about…