'We are all interested in the future, because that is where you and I will be spending the rest of our lives.'
-- Criswell, Plan 9 from Outerspace

"When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat" -- Chuck Palahniuk, "Invisible Monsters"

Night Time Robotics

Critical Path Innovation: Robotics, Space ExplorationInstitutions: NASAFree Tagging: Centennial Challenges
Contest Name: 
Centennial Challenges
General Info: 

NASA is challenging teams to design a robot that can function at a high level during the night time as well as the day time. NASA is expecting the designs to feature either a non-solar power source or innovative batteries.


Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest

Critical Path Innovation: RoboticsInstitutions: Trinity College
Contest Name: 
Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest
General Info: 

The object of the competition is to have a robot navigate through a layout typical for a home and extinguish fires. The types of fires depend on the event. They range from a candle to a house on fire. The contest also has a robot waiter event.

Registrations are typically due by Mid-March. The contest is held in April. There are also regional competitions supported by the event.


Rolls Royce at Crosspointe

Institution Type: CorporationInstitutions: Rolls RoycePlaces: Richmond VAFree Tagging: CCAM, Commonwealth Center of Advanced Manufacturing
General Info: 

Rolls Royce will be building a new production center near Richmond, VA in Petersburg, VA at the new Crosspointe Center Industrial Park. The facility is expected to break ground in 2010 and be completed in 2014. Rolls Royce will be building RB 282 jet engines for mid-sized business jets built by France's Dassault Aviation. The Commonwealth Center of Advanced Manufacturing will also be centered at Crosspointe. This group intends to coordinate with Virginia schools (notably UVA and Virginia Tech) and potentially bring more aerospace and advanced manufacturing business to the area.

Rolls Royce Logo

Intellibot

Critical Path Innovation: RoboticsInstitution Type: CorporationInstitutions: IntellibotPlaces: Richmond VA
General Info: 

Located in Richmond, Va Intellibot creates intelligent floor care robotics, like the Gen-X. Since 2003 the company has been owned by Axxon Robotics and headquartered in Pittsburg, VA

Intellibot's Gen-X

Flexicell, Inc

Critical Path Innovation: RoboticsInstitutions: FlexicellPlaces: Richmond VA
General Info: 

Located in Ashland, Va Flexicell creates automated systems for case packing, palletizing, and material handling.


Nao: Robotic Emotive Posture and Response

Features: Current EventsCritical Path Innovation: RoboticsInstitutions: AldebaranProducts: Nao

The little robot shown in the linked video is called Nao, developed by a company called Aldebaran in France. Alok Jha of the The Guardian writes that this robot 'develops and displays emotions' and 'form bonds' with people depending on the person's mood. It looks to me as though the people at Aldebaran have programmed a few emotional postures and that those emotional postures are triggered by very specific cues from the user. This falls short of the claim.


Proposed Legislation: Space Investment Zones

Features: Current EventsCritical Path Innovation: Law effecting space travel, Space LegislationPeople: Bill Nelson

Bill Nelson, a US Senator from Florida has proposed the creation of 5 'space capital' investment zones within the United States. This proposal is outlined in an amendment to the 1986 Internal Revenue code titled 'Commercial Space Jobs and Investment Act 2010'.

The bill would set aside 5 locations, to be determined by the Commerce Secretary, which would provide investment monies and a 20% tax break for qualified 'commercial space entities'. The areas to be designated must have 'high unemployment and economic dislocation in the public space sector' and 'well developed human and capital infrastructure and the capacity to effectively use Federal tax incentives to promote progress in commercial space capability, including crew and cargo transportation systems, research and technology development and other potential activities in low-Earth orbit.'. There are a few other sections of the Bill that dictate the potential locations for the economic zones.


Space Station Crew Successfully Installs New Cooling Pump

Features: Current EventsCritical Path Innovation: International Space StationPeople: Tracy Dyson, Douglas WheelockProducts: Ammonia
Tracy Dyson and Douglas Wheelock install a new cooling pump

On August 16th, Tracy Dyson and Douglas Wheelock successfully installed a new cooling pump on the International Space Station. The installation took two weeks and three spacewalks to complete. The repair was initially scheduled to take two spacewalks, but the old cooling pump released some ammonia after being unstuck from the station. This hazardous ammonia release was concern for caution during the installation.

There are two cooling pumps on the Space Station. If the second pump had failed before the repair was completed, the space station would have been abandoned because the station would not have been safe for the astronauts. When the first cooling pump stopped functioning, many of the experiments and machinery on board needed to be shut down.


China Becomes World's Largest Energy Consumer

Features: Current EventsPlaces: China
Chinese vs. US Energy Consumption

According to the International Energy Agency, China has overtaken the US as the world's largest energy consumer. The United States still blows them out of the water with our per-capita demand for juice.


According to Jonathan Watts in the UK Guardian:
China's use of coal, oil, wind and other sources of power more than doubled in the past decade to reach the equivalent of 2.26bn tonnes of oil in 2009, creeping past the US total of 2.17bn tonnes

China is currently a major importer of coal from Australia. Presently, 50% of the nation's oil is imported. This could, and according to the Guardian, does have major ramifications for international energy markets. The Chinese have becomes a huge driver in the price of energy world-wide. In the same vein, the Chinese could become a major global driver for clean energy technologies such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, and nuclear.


Corning Gorilla Glass

Features: Current EventsCritical Path Innovation: Materials ScienceInstitutions: CorningProducts: Gorilla Glass

Gorilla Glass is a product from Corning. Originally developed in 1960, it was then called 'Chemcor'. Corning made only two changes to the composition of the glass in order to re-release it as Gorilla Glass in 2008.

What makes this glass neat is that it is wicked strong. The glass is 2 to 3 times stronger than other versions of lime-soda glass, even at half the thickness. According to Corning's website, "Currently, Gorilla glass is available as-drawn in thicknesses ranging from .5 mm – 2.0 mm." This additional thinness can make products such as televisions lighter and less expensive to ship. It is currently in use in some handheld and touch screen devices.

The process by which the glass is made sounds pretty neat too:

"Corning devised an ingenious method called "fusion draw" to make super-thin, unvaryingly flat glass. It pumped hot glass into a suspended trough and allowed it to overflow and run down either side. The glass flows then meet under the trough and fuse seamlessly into a smooth, hanging sheet of glass.


Joel Levine On The Future of Mars Exploration

Features: Current EventsCritical Path Innovation: Space ExplorationPeople: Joel LevineSites in Space: Mars

Hot Nerd Girl of the Fortnight : Joanne Manaster

Joanne Manaster : ScienceGoddess

It's been a little longer than a fortnight since I updated this topic. But I recently browsed across the website of Joanne Manaster and the Hot Nerd Girl of the Fortnight immediately came to mind. Joanne teaches histology and bioengineering related classes at the University level, but also gets involved with teaching younger women about science topics. She has a truly infectious interest in science and teaching, which she shows off through educational science videos involving gummi bears and beauty products. And she has some video book reviews that reveal a reading list of truly nerdy proportions. Knowledge and curiosity are hot. On top of that she's got plenty of natural talent, too.


Solar Sail Could Test Einstein's Frame Dragging Hypothesis

The Solar Sail of JAXA's IKAROS Space Craft after Deployment

Professor Roman Kezerashvili recently presented at the International Symposium on Solar Sailing at New York's City College of Technology. The topic of his presentation was using a sail sail space craft to test one of the hypothesis of Einstein's general theory of relativity, namely the frame dragging hypothesis.

What is the Frame Dragging Hypothesis
Frame Dragging predicts that a spinning object will drag space time around itself as it spins. This effect will move an object out of the position predicted by Newtonian physics. There are three types of frame dragging effect listed by Wikipedia; Rotational, Linear, and Static Mass Increase. It sounds like the solar sail would test the Rotational Frame Dragging effect. From WikiPedia:


United Space Alliance to Layoff Almost 1400

Features: Current EventsInstitutions: United Space Alliance
Space Shuttle Launch (NASA)

United Space Alliance, the private contractor which has been servicing NASA's space shuttle will layoff 1394 workers in October 2010. NASA has two scheduled flights of the shuttle remaining to complete the space station. After that, the maintenance contracts will no longer be needed.

There is some possibility that a Senate draft bill may change these plans by creating a third shuttle flight, or directing NASA to maintain some ability to carry large equipment to the space station in case of emergency.


Buckyballs Found in Space

Artistic Rendering of Buckball formation in Space (NASA/JPL/Cal Tech)

Buckyballs, a molecule also known as C60 or C70 depending on the number of carbon atoms within the molecule, has been observed forming naturally in space. The buckyballs were discovered in the planetary nebula Tc-1 about 6500 light years away in the constellation Ara. On earth, laboratories have been able to create buckyballs by vaporizing graphite in the presence of helium. Until now the natural occurrence of buckyballs has been theoretical.


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