Solar Panels for NASA's Juno Spacecraft Complete Testing

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
May 27, 2011

The three massive solar panels that will provide power for NASA's Juno spacecraft during its mission to Jupiter have seen their last photons of light until they are deployed in space after launch. The last of the Jupiter-bound spacecraft's panels completed pre-flight testing at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., and was folded against the side of the spacecraft into its launch configuration Thursday, May 26. The solar-powered Juno spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 30 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

"Completing the testing and stow of solar panels is always a big pre-launch milestone, and with Juno, you could say really big because our panels are really big," said Jan Chodas, Juno's project manager from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The next time these three massive solar arrays are extended to their full length, Juno will be climbing away from the Earth at about seven miles per second."
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WINDPOWER 2011 highlights industry trends, job creation

RenewableEnergyWorld.com
May 23, 2011

As thousands of wind industry members converged on the city of Anaheim, Calif., for the world's largest annual wind energy event, the WINDPOWER 2011 Conference & Exhibition immediately turned into a hub for the discussion of industry trends and new developments.

With General Session speeches still ahead from CNN Founder Ted Turner, from 8:30 to 10 am today, and other industry visionaries, following are some of the industry’s hot topics bubbling up in Anaheim—from session presentations to chatter on the tradeshow floor.

In addition to electrons, wind power generates jobs and economic development

Wind power’s vast supply chain, which produces the 8,000 components making up a typical wind turbine, continues to grow deeper roots here in the U.S. Today the industry employs 75,000 people, and over 400 wind-related manufacturing plants dot the map in 43 states, from California where the industry began 30 years ago, through the Midwest which now leads wind development, to the Southeast even though its first wind farm is still on the drawing board.

In 2010 the industry reached 50 percent domestic content for U.S.-deployed turbines, and that percentage will continue to rise with stable policy signals. Fourteen more manufacturing facilities came online in 2010 to serve the industry. In addition, wind farms provide lease payments to landowners – $3,000 a year per turbine is typical – providing America’s farmers and ranchers with a stable new cash crop, as well as adding tax revenue to local communities, allowing them to build hospitals, schools, town halls, and libraries.

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Solar Panels for Backup Power at Nuclear Plants

Nashua NH (SPX) 

May 31, 2011

The Foundation for Resilient Societies, a citizen group dedicated to protection of critical infrastructure against natural disasters, has proposed solar panels and other high-reliability power sources to supply backup cooling for spent fuel pools at nuclear plants. Because solar panels do not require ongoing maintenance and continual resupply of fuel, this would contribute toward making spent fuel pools "walkaway safe," a concept that has recently gained support in the nuclear industry.

Currently, cooling systems for spent fuel pools rely on commercial grid power, with emergency backup power supplied by diesel generators. Only seven days' worth of fuel is typically stored on-site for diesel generators at United States nuclear plants. Because emergency diesel generators have many moving parts, they require ongoing maintenance and are prone to malfunction. A recent report by the office of Congressman Edward Markey found "recurrent and prolonged malfunctions of emergency diesel generators at nuclear power plants in the U.S."

According to the report, in the past eight years there have been at least 69 reports of emergency diesel generator inoperability at 33 nuclear power plants. The failure of diesel generators at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan caused overheating and boiling of the spent fuel pools and may have contributed to a fire and explosion at Fukushima Daiichi Pool No. 4.

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
May 27, 2011

Graphene is a two-dimensional honeycomb of carbon, just one atom thick, whose intriguing electronic properties include very high electron mobility and very low resistivity. Graphene is so sensitive to its environment, however, that these remarkable attributes can be wrecked by interference from nearby materials. Finding the best substrate on which to mount graphene is critical if graphene devices are ever to become practical.

Groups led by Michael Crommie and Alex Zettl, scientists in the Materials Sciences Division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and professors of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, have joined forces to examine the best substrate candidates for preserving graphene’s intrinsic properties. Results of their research on graphene’s interaction with a boron nitride substrate recently appeared inNano Letters.
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Production Begins on second Aircraft Carrier

Glasgow, UK (SPX) 

June 01, 2011

Construction of HMS Prince of Wales, the second of the two new Queen Elizabeth (QE) Class aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy, started at BAE Systems' Govan shipyard on the Clyde.

Employees and guests gathered at the shipyard as Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Liam Fox, was invited to press the button on the company's plasma machine to cut the first steel for the vessel, marking a pivotal stage in the programme to deliver the nation's flagships.

Dr Fox said: "We are committed to delivering this next generation of powerful British aircraft carriers that will mark a step change in our carrier strike capability and form the cornerstone of the Royal Navy's Future Force 2020. This major construction project is creating and sustaining thousands of jobs in shipyards around the country."

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The fine art of etching

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
June 1, 2011

They see more than the naked eye and could make traffic safer: miniaturized thermal imaging sensors. But they are difficult to manufacture on a commercial scale. Researchers have now developed a new system. On it, special micro-electromechanical systems can be produced – with the correct etching technique.

A winding country road. It is dark, and a thick ground fog has settled in. The driver of a car cautiously enters the next curve, when suddenly a caution lamp flashes – a fallen motorcycle rider lies on the street. Thanks to the intelligent assistant, the driver has been warned and is able to brake in time. Infrared cameras see more than the naked eye and could make traffic safer. Indeed, thermal imaging cameras are already used in certain applications – in the construction industry and the military, for example. Such infrared cameras, however, are hardly available in the mobile area, for example in automotive safety systems. The reason: long-range infrared microsensors are currently difficult to produce commercially.
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Precise assembly of engines

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
June 1, 2011

In the automotive industry, combustion engines are still assembled mostly manually. Researchers from Fraunhofer are developing procedures and methods to automate assembly processes to continuously improve the quality of the engines. The use of the latest technologies helps to eliminate uncertainties during engine assembly.

Valves, nozzles, pistons, spark plugs and camshafts – the heart of each car is its engine. It is a complex structure with many levels and individual parts and must therefore be assembled in a correspondingly precise way. Parts that are slightly damaged, malformed or assembled the wrong way can cause engine damage. The results would be an angry customer and damage to the reputation of the car manufacturer.
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