Show Notes 9 June 2023
Story 1: Japan aims to beam solar power from space by 2025
Source: yahoo!finance Story by Anthony Cuthbertson
Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japan-aims-beam-solar-power-151851436.html
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri3DSTrPCQ8
- This news story, and story 2, are focused on the international race to tap the sun’s energy in space and transmit it to Earth. Story 1 looks at Japan’s efforts, and programs in Europe. Story 2 looks at two efforts in play here in the United States.
- Japan is aiming to become the first country in the world to beam solar energy from space back to Earth to generate electricity at scale.
- A public-private partnership led by Japanese space agency JAXA will see the first satellite transmitters set up by 2025, according to local reports.
- The satellites will convert solar power into microwaves and send them to ground-based receiving stations, which then convert the microwaves into electrical energy.
- The concept, which was first theorized in 1968, has several advantages over terrestrial solar power setups, notably being able to harvest solar energy for much longer, unhindered by the Sun’s typical cycle.
- And microwaves are capable of passing through clouds, so the technology is also able to operate in adverse weather conditions.
- Japan has already achieved several firsts in this field, having been the first to transmit power via microwaves in space in the 1980s.
- In 2015, Japanese space agency scientists beamed 1.8 kilowatts of power down to an Earth-based receiver – roughly enough to power an electrical kettle.
- Several other countries and regions are also working on the technology, with the European Space Agency unveiling a plan last year to test the viability of space-based solar power.
- The Solaris program aims to make Europe a global leader in this untapped energy resource, with the hope of setting up a development program in 2025.
- More research still needs to be done before it becomes feasible at a significant scale, though recent advances in high-efficiency solar cells, wireless power transmission and robotic in-orbit assembly make the prospect “viable”.
- And China and the US are also working on ways to tap the Sun’s energy from space.
- Reality check: Among the concerns surrounding the technology are the health impacts of low-power microwaves on humans, animals, and plants.
Story 2: Two efforts in the US to capture solar energy in space and transmit to Earth
First up: Scientists at Caltech claim they’re the first to transmit space-based solar power to Earth
Source: Engadget.com Story by Dana Wollman
Link: https://www.engadget.com/space-based-solar-power-first-successful-experiment-caltech-000046036.html
Also see this news release: https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/in-a-first-caltechs-space-solar-power-demonstrator-wirelessly-transmits-power-in-space
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5SBF48WqV4
and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2mgpMy-_mU
- A team of researchers from Caltech announced on June 1 that their space-borne prototype, called the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1), had collected sunlight, converted it into electricity and beamed it to microwave receivers installed on a rooftop on Caltech’s Pasadena campus.
- My comment – seems very much like what the Japanese are pursuing
- The experiment also proves that the setup, which launched on January 3, is capable of surviving the trip to space, along with the harsh environment of space itself.
- “To the best of our knowledge, no one has ever demonstrated wireless energy transfer in space even with expensive rigid structures. We are doing it with flexible lightweight structures and with our own integrated circuits. This is a first,” said Ali Hajimiri, professor of electrical engineering and medical engineering and co-director of Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project [which was founded back in 2011].
- The experiment — known in full as Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment (or MAPLE for short) — is one of three research projects being carried out aboard the Space Solar Power Demonstrator.
- The effort involved two separate receiver arrays and lightweight microwave transmitters with custom chips, according to Caltech.
- In its press release, the team added that the transmission setup was designed to minimize the amount of fuel needed to send them to space, and that the design also needed to be flexible enough so that the transmitters could be folded up onto a rocket.
Second USA-based effort: University of Pennsylvania solar panel breakthrough paves way for ‘utility-scale’ space farms
Source: The Independent Story by Anthony Cuthbertson
- The next-generation solar panels, built by a team from the University of Pennsylvania, use layers that are over a thousand times thinner than a human hair, yet capable of absorbing a comparable amount of sunlight to commercially available solar cells. The extreme thinness earned them the label two-dimensional, as they are only a few atoms thick.
- The ability to produce more electricity per weight compared to traditional silicon solar cells makes them highly suitable for sending into space to harvest the Sun’s energy, according to the researchers.
- “The number of [silicon] solar cells you would have to ship up [into space] is so large that no space vehicles currently can take those kinds of materials up there in an economically viable way,” says Deep Jariwala from the University of Pennsylvania.
- By modelling the innovative solar cell computationally the team was able to come up with a design that has double the efficiency compared to what had previously been demonstrated.
- The weight of 2D solar cells is 100 times less than silicon or gallium arsenide solar cells, so suddenly these cells become a very appealing technology.
Story 3: New Cellulose Film Might Offer an Electricity-Free Air Conditioning Alternative – This iridescent film uses plant-based material to shed heat without warming the air
Source: Extremetech.com Story by Adrianna Nine
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z46EB4A9VTY
- Recently scientists at the University of Cambridge reported the development of an eco-friendly plant-based film that gets cooler when exposed to direct sunlight and comes in a variety of textures and bright, iridescent colors.
- The material could someday keep buildings, cars and other structures cool without requiring external power.
- The film uses passive daytime radiative cooling to shed heat without warming the surrounding air. Cellulose is one of just a few plant-based compounds capable of passive daytime radiative cooling.
- Side note: What is a simple definition of cellulose? It is a complex carbohydrate that is the chief part of the cell walls of plants and is commonly obtained as a white stringy substance from vegetable matter (as wood or cotton) which is used in making various products (as rayon and paper). Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cellulose
- The researchers extracted cellulose nanocrystals, or CNCs, from wood and other plant sources, then dispersed the CNCs in water and allowed the suspension to evaporate.
- The evaporation process created a flexible arrangement of crystals that could then be applied over a white ethyl cellulose sheet to create a bi-layered iridescent film.
- Side note, what is Ethyl cellulose – Ethyl cellulose (EC) is a partly O-ethylated cellulose ether derivative. It is available in a variety of grades, which differ in viscosity. Ethyl cellulose is prepared by the reaction of ethyl chloride with alkali cellulose. Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/ethyl-cellulose
- The Cambridge researchers presented their experimental film at the American Chemical Society’s spring 2023 meeting.
- When the team placed the film under direct sunlight, they found it was roughly 7 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the surrounding air.
- One square meter of the film produced more than 120 watts of cooling power, nearly reproducing a residential air conditioner’s cooling effects without using any external power resources.
- If the exterior of a building or vehicle was covered in the material, it could eliminate the need for conventional air conditioning.
- While some [existing] white and mirrored films produce similar cooling effects via passive daytime radiative cooling, their unattractive appearance limits usage.
- The new Cambridge solution acts like a soap bubble, the surface of the cellulose film reflects visible light to create a colorful appearance without the use of added pigment. (This is crucial, as pigments would reduce the material’s passive daytime radiative cooling capabilities.)
- The result is a pleasant prismatic effect that might lend well to aesthetic-focused real-world applications like residential and automotive design. It might also be possible to mimic wood finishes, drastically expanding the film’s applications. The team is working on this next.
Story 4: Scientists Decode Brain Waves Linked to Chronic Pain – A new way to objectively measure chronic pain could lead to new treatments for the common condition that can be debilitating
Source: Smithsonian Magazine Story by Margaret Osborne
- Chronic pain is one of the most common conditions in the world. In the United States, about one in five adults—or 50.2 million people—experience it. This persistent pain can last for weeks, months or years, despite treatment.
- But chronic pain is difficult to measure and treat. Doctors often rely on patients to self-report pain levels using a numeric or visual scale, which may not always be reliable, especially for children or adults who have difficulty communicating.
- Now, a team of scientists at the University of California San Francisco has discovered a new way to objectively measure chronic pain by reading brain signals from volunteers.
- They say this research could eventually be used to create personalized therapies for those with severe pain, such as electrodes that can intercept the brain’s pain signals to give a patient relief.
- To measure chronic pain, the researchers implanted electrodes in the brains of four volunteers who were experiencing pain after an amputation (phantom limb pain) or a stroke.
- As the participants went about their usual days, the devices recorded activity in two brain regions where researchers think pain responses occur: the anterior cingulate cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex.
- Side note – what is the anterior cingulate cortex – it is the front-most portion of the cingulate cortex [see yellow highlight below], the anterior cingulate cortex (or ACC) has been implicated in several complex cognitive functions, such as empathy, impulse control, emotion, and decision-making. Source: https://neuroscientificallychallenged.com/glossary/anterior-cingulate-cortex
- The orbitofrontal cortex [see green highlight below] is a prefrontal cortex region in the frontal lobes of the brain which is involved in the cognitive process of decision-making. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbitofrontal_cortex
- Several times a day for up to six months, the patients rated their pain levels on standard scales and then pressed a button that would cause the electrode implants to record their brain signals for 30 seconds.
- The research team then built machine learning models that could find patterns in the data to predict each patient’s pain level based on the signals in their brain.
- Next, the researchers wanted to compare these results with brain signals for short-term pain, so in the lab, they applied heat to the patients’ bodies and recorded how their brains responded.
- They found that acute pain was more associated with the anterior cingulate cortex, providing the first direct evidence that chronic pain and acute pain involve different areas of the brain.
- While this research might eventually help doctors find new targets for treatment and assess treatment responses, so far, data has only been collected on four participants, and all of them had chronic pain caused by nerve damage.
- The research team is now trying to treat chronic pain by using mild electrical currents near the electrodes. They hope to eventually expand their study to include 20 or 30 people.