Energy Industry Articles

NASA’s Self-Driving Perseverance Mars Rover ‘Takes the Wheel’

NASA’s newest six-wheeled robot on Mars, the Perseverance rover, is beginning an epic journey across a crater floor seeking signs of ancient life. That means the rover team is deeply engaged with planning navigation routes, drafting instructions to be beamed up, even donning special 3D glasses to help map their course.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES Breaks Ground On New Fab In Singapore

GLOBALFOUNDRIES® (GF®), the global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing, today announced it is expanding its global manufacturing footprint with the construction of a new fab on its Singapore campus. In partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board and with co-investments from committed customers, GF’s more than US $4B (S$5B) investment will play an integral role in meeting the growing demand for the company’s industry-leading manufacturing technologies and services to enable companies worldwide to develop and scale their business.

SolAero Technologies’ Solar Panel Powers NASA’s Mars Helicopter – Ingenuity

SolAero Technologies Corp. (SolAero), a leading provider of high efficiency solar cells, solar panels, and composite structural products for satellite and aerospace applications, congratulates the team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL) on the successful maiden flight of the Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity. SolAero is proud to have supplied the solar panel that has enabled the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

Low-cost solar-powered water filter, inspired by pufferfish, removes lead and other contaminants

A new invention that uses sunlight to drive water purification could help solve the problem of providing clean water off the grid. The device resembles a large sponge that soaks up water but leaves contaminants – like lead, oil and pathogens – behind. To collect the purified water from the sponge, one simply places it in sunlight. The researchers described the device in a paper(link is external) published this week in the journal Advanced Materials.

Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 29.2% Year-to-Year

Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 29.2% Year-to-Year

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors were $44.5 billion in June 2021, an increase of 29.2% from the June 2020 total of $34.5 billion. Sales in June were 2.1% more than the May 2021 total of $43.6 billion. Sales during the second quarter of 2021 were $133.6 billion, an increase of 29.2% over the second quarter of 2020 and 8.3% more than the first quarter of 2021. Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average. SIA represents 98% of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firms.

Nanotechnology Solves the Problem of Thermal Insulation for Chemical Tanks and Chemical Plant Process Equipment

Nanotechnology Solves the Problem of Thermal Insulation for Chemical Tanks and Chemical Plant Process Equipment

Finding a thermal insulation that can withstand the highly corrosive conditions of chemical tanks and chemical plant heat process equipment has been virtually impossible. The constant exposure to acids and bases and everything in between wreaks havoc on conventional thermal insulation and severely limits both the lifespan and performance qualities of the insulation.

Manipulating single atoms with an electron beam

Manipulating single atoms with an electron beam

An electron beam with sub-atomic precision, allowing scientists to directly see each atom in two-dimensional materials like graphene, and also to target single atoms with the beam. Each electron has a tiny chance of scattering back from a nucleus, giving it a kick in the opposite direction.

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Nanomaterial Superconductivity Lost? Physicists Uncover Why

Nanomaterial Superconductivity Lost? Physicists Uncover Why

Scientists discovered the phenomenon 30 years ago, but the mechanism for superconductivity remains an enigma because the majority of materials are too complex to understand QPT physics in details. A good strategy would be first to look at less complicated model systems.

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Neural Network Recognizes Molecular Handwriting

Neural Network Recognizes Molecular Handwriting

Researchers at Caltech have developed an artificial neural network made out of DNA that can solve a classic machine learning problem: correctly identifying handwritten numbers. The work is a significant step in demonstrating the capacity to program artificial intelligence into synthetic biomolecular circuits.

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Nanoscale Kirigami Technique Could Enable Microchip-Based 3-D Optical Devices

Nanoscale Kirigami Technique Could Enable Microchip-Based 3-D Optical Devices

Nanoscale Kirigami has taken off as a field of research in the last few years; the approach is based on the ancient arts of origami (making 3-D shapes by folding paper) and kirigami (which allows cutting as well as folding) but applied to flat materials at the nanoscale, measured in billionths of a meter.

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Indium Oxide Nanocrystals Comprise New UV Narrow-Band Photodetector

Indium Oxide Nanocrystals Comprise New UV Narrow-Band Photodetector

Semiconductor quantum dots (nanocrystals just a few nanometers in size) have attracted researchers’ attention due to the size dependent effects that determine their novel electrical and optical properties. By changing the size of such objects, it is possible to adjust the wavelength of the emission they absorb, thus implementing selective photodetectors, including those for UV radiation.

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Inert Polymer Added to Plastic Solar Cells Enables High Efficiency & Easy Production

Inert Polymer Added to Plastic Solar Cells Enables High Efficiency & Easy Production

Polymer plastic solar cells remain an industry priority because of their light weight, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Now scientists from Stony Brook University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have demonstrated that these types of solar cells can be more efficient and have more stability based on new research findings.

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