Each year, billions of tons of goods are transported globally using cargo containers. Currently, there are concerns that this immense volume of traffic could be exploited to transport illicit nuclear materials, with little chance of detection. One promising approach to combating this issue is to measure how goods interact with charged particles named muons—which form naturally as cosmic rays interact with…
Tag: prototype
Biofuel-Powered Rocket Makes Historic Launch in Maine
Despite bad weather and early technical difficulties, employee-owned bluShift Aerospace “made history Sunday afternoon when it launched its prototype rocket, Stardust 1.0,” reports Maine’s Portland Press Herald:
The company became the first in Maine to launch a commercial rocket and the first in the world to launch a rocket using bio-derived fuel… It carried three payloads, two commercial and one, free of…
Surround Sound From Lightweight Roll-To-Roll Printed Loudspeaker Paper
“Researchers from the fields of print media technology, chemistry, physics, acoustics, electrical engineering, and economics from six nations developed a continuous, highly productive, and reliable roll production of loudspeaker webs,” reports project manager Georg C. Schmidt. [For those unfamiliar with roll-to-roll processing, it is the process of creating electronic devices on a roll of flexible plastic or metal foil, which, among…
Reddit Joins With Ethereum Foundation To Build Scaling Tools
Reddit is growing its role in the Ethereum ecosystem, with the goal of building out scaling tools for the blockchain network. From a report: The social media platform announced this week that it was expanding its work with the Ethereum Foundation to provide development resources to scaling tools. In the announcement, posted to the Ethereum subreddit, Reddit employee u/jarins said the…
Kia Will Lead Apple Car Project Work Under Hyundai Motor, Report Says
Hyundai Motor, the parent automaker of Hyundai and Kia, will task the Kia division with Apple Car work. The brand also said on Wednesday it’s looking at cooperation with foreign firms surrounding self-driving and electric vehicles. CNET reports: Kia made no mention of Apple, though the comment follows the reported connections to the tech giant. Earlier this month, various reports pegged…
SpaceX is about to run its final test of Starship SN9 before 1st launch
SpaceX plans to test-fire its enormous Starship prototype’s engines in Boca Chica, Texas at some point today (Jan. 20). Source: https://www.livescience.com/spacex-starship-static-fire-test.html
SpaceX’s 1st Starlink launch of 2021 is now set for Wednesday
SpaceX intends to launch tens of thousands of Starlink satellites, with lifespans of around 5 years, into low-Earth orbit. The goal is global internet access. Astronomers are concerned. Here’s how to watch Wednesday’s launch. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/spacexs-1st-starlink-launch-of-2021…
Using drones to create local quantum networks
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China has used drones to create a prototype of a small airborne quantum network. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the researchers describe sending entangled particles from one drone to another and from a drone to the ground. …
Artificial intelligence could train your dog how to sit
A prototype device can issue basic dog commands, use image recognition algorithms to check if they are carried out and provide a treat if they are Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264612-artificial-intelligence-could-train-your-dog-how-to-sit/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Meet PitRanger: Tiny rover designed to probe the lunar underworld
Researchers have been busily building a prototype of a 33-pound (15 kg) lunar mini-robot, set to be the key instrument in a future mission aimed at capturing high-definition images of moon pits. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/meet-pitranger-a-tiny-rover-to-probe-lunar-underworld…