Electric Solar Sail Technology Moving Forward
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- Published on Monday, 14 January 2013 14:36
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The electric solar sail, or ESAIL, is a ‘sail’ that provides propulsion for a spacecraft simply by using the solar wind, no fuel whatsoever. Invented only very recently, in 2006, a prototype has not yet been created. But now one of the primary limitations have been overcome, the production of the 1-km-long ESAIL tether, something which had been considered impossible by most global experts in ultrasonic welding.
The technology, which works by creating a electric field that deflects solar wind protons and takes momentum from them, offers the future possibility of fast, cheap, and fuel-less travel throughout the solar system. And perhaps more interestingly, an economically viable way to extract resources from asteroids.
Four years ago, it was the view of international experts in ultrasonic welding that it would be impossible to produce tethers made of extremely thin wires welded together every centimeter. (It’s necessary for the tethers to be created this way, though, so that micrometeoroids, like those that cause meteor showers, don’t cause debilitating damage to the structure.)
But now, researchers at the University of Helsinki have succeeded in creating a 1-km-long ESAIL tether, featuring 90,000 ultrasonic welds. This provides proof that it is possible to manufacture full-size ESAIL tethers. And thanks to this breakthrough, “the theoretically predicted electric sail force will be measured in space during 2013,” the University of Helsinki notes in a news release. The Estonian ESTCube-1 satellite launching in March will first test out a 15-meter-long tether. Followed by a test of a 100-meter tether in 2014.
The development of such a technology would allow for extremely cheap, large-scale gathering of the abundant resources available in space, primarily those available in asteroids and comets.
In fact, all of the “gold, cobalt, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium, ruthenium, and tungsten” that we mine from the Earth’s crust was deposited by asteroid impacts well after the crust on the planet cooled. It’s been estimated that these and many more elements that are used by modern civilization in large quantities may run out within 50-60 years.
The ESAIL also would allow the large-scale mining of water, oxygen, hydrogen, and construction metals; to be used in space. This would completely bypass the currently extremely expensive process of sending objects into space — simply build it there first if it’s possible to do so.
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Recycle and Re-use Machining Candle Filter and Grinding Lubricants
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- Published on Monday, 14 January 2013 14:12
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The new PRAB Candle Filter is specifically engineered to meet the challenges of effectively removing fine particulate from circulating oil in machining and grinding applications. The new filter uses a permanent media in a long cylinder that houses more than 10,000 thin membrane wafers to effectively and consistently capture grinding swarf down to 1 micron. The filters operate with virtually no downtime for maintenance – a self-cleaning, air-driven backwash system automatically clears the filter of dirt and debris so the filter can perform reliably under long production runs.
Engineered for oil filtration in EDM, tungsten carbide tool grinding, electrical discharge machine, honing machine, and bearing grinder applications, swarf and oil is purged into an external receptacle for easy collection and recycling. An optional chiller ensures constant fluid temperature, varying only 1-3 degrees Fahrenheit, to maximize tool life and part quality.
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3D Printer ExOne Files for an IPO
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- Published on Monday, 14 January 2013 11:50
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It's looking to grow in a suddenly hot tech market
ExOne, which is a developer of 3D printing technology, has filed to go public. Founded in 2003, ExOne builds 3D printing machines for industrial customers. It also sells associated products like consumables and replacement parts.
ExOne’s 3D printers manufacture casting molds and cores that are based on speciality silica sand and ceramics. They also handle other materials like titanium, tungsten carbide, aluminum and magnesium.
All in all, ExOne is a fairly small company. For the first nine months of 2012, revenues came to $15.9 million, up from $12.6 million in the same period a year before. During this time, its loss went from $5.3 million in 2011 to $11 million in 2012.
Yet ExOne has snagged a variety of top customers. They include Boeing, Ford, Caterpillar and Tesla.
The market potential is also attractive. According to a report from Wohlers Associates, the 3D manufacturing segment is expected to grow from $1.7 billion in 2011 to $6.5 billion by 2019. 3D printing is coming on fast and made a big splash at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And one of the hottest stocks around (perhaps too hot?) is 3D Systems.
The lead underwriter for ExOne’s offering is FBR Capital Markets, and the company plans to list on the NASDAQ under the ticker of XONE.
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Men's Wedding Bands at Reduced Prices on Valentine's Day
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- Published on Monday, 14 January 2013 13:59
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Mens-Wedding-Rings.com has just commenced its Valentine’s Day Sale, featuring discounted prices on men’s wedding rings in a variety of materials and styles. This seasonal sale is ideal for couples who became engaged over the holiday season and are looking to purchase a men’s wedding band or anniversary ring for Valentine’s Day.
Jensen Beach, FL (PRWEB) January 11, 2013
Valentine’s savings start early this year with the newly launched Valentine’s Day Sale at online retailer Mens-Wedding-Rings.com (MWR). With many couples recently engaged over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, this seasonal promotion is perfectly timed for those looking to purchase high quality yet affordable men’s wedding bands for Valentine’s Day.
Mens-Wedding-Rings.com has already established a reputation for consistently low prices on men’s wedding rings and anniversary bands, but the Valentine’s Sale has further reduced pricing on over 200 styles of rings. Wedding bands in this special sale section range from items in affordable contemporary materials like stainless steel, titanium, sterling and Argentium silver, tungsten, ceramic and cobalt chrome to higher end precious metals like palladium and platinum.
MWR carries the U.S. based designer brand Benchmark exclusively, and there are a considerable number of highly sought after Benchmark designer rings to be found in the Valentine’s Day Sale section. Men’s diamond rings are also proving to be particularly popular with shoppers. Mens-Wedding-Rings has an array of traditional and contemporary diamond bands on sale, with both white and black diamond options and a variety of settings in different materials to choose from.
While there are many upscale rings in the Valentine’s Day Sale section at MWR, there is certainly no shortage of affordable bands. Prices start at just $15.95, with plenty of options priced under $50. These budget-friendly rings maintain MWR’s high standards of quality and durability, and make for great “placeholder” wedding rings, pre-engagement rings or affordable wedding bands or anniversary rings.
“Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to surprise the man you love with an unforgettable wedding band or anniversary ring,” notes Mens-Wedding-Rings.com president and owner Roy Devine. “Many of our Valentine’s Day Sale shoppers were proposed to over the holidays and want to present their fiancés with a wedding band in an equally memorable fashion.”
In addition to the reduced prices in the Valentine’s Day Sale section, Mens-Wedding-Rings offers free worldwide shipping, with all in-stock items shipped within one business day. MWR also has a 30 day money back guarantee and Lifetime Warranty on all items site-wide. Designer rings have an additional manufacturer issued guarantee with free lifetime resizing and refinishing.
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Nanotech Research Yields Bouncing Liquid Metal Marbles
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- Published on Monday, 14 January 2013 10:09
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Coating liquid metal droplets in a nanoparticle mix creates an extra strong non-stick conductive material that retains its shape even under high impact, Australian research has found.
The breakthrough paves the way for new developments in soft electronics, said lead author of the research, Dr Vijay Sivan from RMIT’s Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“It’s a bit premature at this stage but in future we can see it may have a lot of applications,” he said, including extendable antennas, and stretchable and reconfigurable wires.
The research team’s paper, published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, described how droplets of galinstan liquid metal were coated with powdered insulators including Teflon and silica and semiconductors such as titanium dioxide tungsten trioxide, as well as conducting carbon nanotubes.
Once given their nanoparticle coating, the liquid metal marbles “can be split and merged, can be suspended on water, and are even stable when moving under the force of gravity and impacting a flat solid surface,” with semiconducting properties at their surface, the researchers said in their paper.
“This new element thus represents a significant platform for the advancement of research into soft electronics,” the paper said.
A before-and-after video created by the researchers shows how, without the coating, the liquid metal marbles lose shape and stick when dropped onto a hard surface. The coated liquid droplets, however, retain their shape and bounce like a soft ball.
Associate Professor Patrick Kluth from the Australian National University’s Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, said the researchers had produced an interesting finding.
“The applications and limitations for practical use for systems like this can be: reproducibility of the fabrication process, scalability and cost of the fabrication (can they be manufactured in sufficient quantities at reasonable cost), and long term stability under application conditions (how long do they last in applications). Such factors will certainly determine the industrial success of an innovation such as this,” said Dr Kluth, who was not involved in the RMIT research.
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