Show Notes 20 January 2023
Story 1: NASA Just Announced Funding for 14 Futuristic Space Exploration Concepts
Source: Extremetech.com Story by Ryan Whitwam
- Last week the latest round of NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Awards was announced, including 14 Phase 1 projects that envision technologies that don’t currently exist but are reasonably plausible.
- Here are four examples:
- University of California researchers have proposed a laser-propulsion system that could push a spacecraft so fast it could reach the edge of our solar system in just three or four years! That’s a distance of about 3 billion miles from Earth!
- There’s a ton of extremely geeky science in this proposal, which, and I don’t pretend to understand this, says they proposed a Pellet-Beam Propulsion system that would use a stream of microscopic hypervelocity particles propelled by laser ablation to push a spacecraft to incredible speeds.
- Another project award winner is aimed at exploring Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
- Washington-based Planet Enterprises has developed a concept for a seaplane they call TitanAir that would have the ability to fly through Titan’s nitrogen atmosphere or sail on its oceans of liquid hydrocarbons.
- The plane’s mission would be to collect liquid and atmospheric samples as it flies using vents on the wing’s leading edge.
- Another project, proposed by a researcher at MIT, would create a new kind of space observatory comprised of thousands of identical small satellites that would be precisely positioned in deep space.
- They could, for example, work together to measure the magnetic fields of terrestrial exoplanets, helping identify planets outside the solar system that are rocky like Earth and Mars.
- The 4th project I wanted to highly proposes a lunar south pole oxygen pipeline, proposed by Houston-based Lunar Resources.
- Their concept focuses on the ability to extract oxygen from lunar regolith at the south pole and pipe it to the Artemis Moon base.
- Side note: Lunar regolith is approximately 45% oxygen by mass. Most of the oxygen is bound in silicate minerals. Previous efforts have shown that it is possible to extract oxygen from regolith using various techniques.
- The oxygen will be used for:
- 1) human habitats, rovers, other life support systems with a constant supply of high purity oxygen for human consumption.
- 2) oxidizer for launch vehicles departing the Moon.
- These oxygen extraction technologies are planned to be demonstrated at large scale on the Moon as early as 2024 and provide direct support to Artemis astronauts as early as 2026.
- According to the Lunar Resources team “A lunar pipeline has never been pursued and will revolutionize lunar surface operations for the Artemis program and reduce cost and risk!”
Story 2: New solar-powered machine turns carbon dioxide and waste plastic into valuable products
Source: Futurism.com Story by: Maggie Harrison
Link: https://futurism.com/solar-machine-co2-plastic-fuel
Source: TechXplore.com [University of Cambridge press release]
Link: https://techxplore.com/news/2023-01-solar-powered-plastic-greenhouse-gases-sustainable.html
- Researchers at the University of Cambridge recently announced a solar-powered machine that transforms both carbon dioxide and plastic waste into sustainable fuel and other valuable materials.
- In tests of their new “photoelectrochemical” machine it was able to convert climate warming carbon dioxide into syngas, a key building block for sustainable liquid fuels.
- And, simultaneously the machine converted plastic bottles into glycolic acid, which is widely used in the cosmetics industry.
- And the University of Cambridge machine is not limited to just making syngas and glycolic acid.
- The system can easily be tuned to produce different useful products by changing the type of catalyst used in the reactor.
Story 3: Apple expected to launch a mixed reality headset this year
Source: AIBusiness.com Story by Ben Wodecki
Link: https://aibusiness.com/verticals/here-comes-apple-s-mixed-reality-headset
- Industry experts are predicting Apple will enter the gaming headset market, but with a twist.
- But first, let’s set the stage.
- On TV you’ve probably seen ads for the large goggle-like headsets used for immersive video gaming.
- You can move your head to look around a computer-generated environment, and use your arms and hands to, for example, throw a virtual football, you name it. It’s a lot of fun!
- And then there’s been a lot of buzz lately about the so-called “metaverse” where headsets deliver a virtual-reality experience that adds interacting in real-time with other users within a computer-generated environment.
- It’s predicted that Apple will try to differentiate itself in the headset market by strongly emphasizing one element from today’s metaverse experiences called mixed reality.
- In fact, Apple CEO Tom Cook is known to be bullish about augmented reality.
- “Mixed Reality” [also known as Augmented Reality] refers to a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world in front of them, creating a composite visual experience.
- It’s also predicted that the Apple headset will feature its M2 chip, Apple’s Arm-based system on a chip built for Mac and iPad.
- Apple is reportedly going to launch its mixed reality high-resolution-focused headset sometime before its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, with a retail price of between $2,000 and $3,000.
Story 4: Researchers develop a blood test that can reliably detect Alzheimer’s disease
Source: Engadget.com Story by Igor Bonifacic
Link: https://www.engadget.com/researchers-develop-blood-test-detects-alzheimers-disease-224320271.html
- When doctors need to confirm an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, they often turn to a combination of brain imaging and cell analysis.
- But both have their downsides.
- Cell analysis involves a lumbar puncture, an invasive and painful procedure that’s more commonly known as a spinal tap.
- And MRI scans are less invasive but often expensive and not every community has access to the technology.
- So, the next best tool for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease is a blood test.
- Today we have blood tests to detect abnormal tau protein counts – which is an indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Tau [that’s spelled T A U] is a protein that helps stabilize the internal framework of nerve cells (or neurons) in the brain.
- But here’s the problem, current tau protein blood tests are less effective than brain imaging and cell analysis at spotting the significant indicators of neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
- But – Good News – that could soon change.
- A multinational team made up of researchers from Sweden, Italy, the UK, and the United States recently announced a new antibody-based blood test that can accurately detect the tau proteins that originate in the brain which are specific indicators of Alzheimer’s disease.
- After a study involving 600 patients, the team found their blood test could reliably distinguish Alzheimer’s disease from other neurodegenerative diseases.