Lifeboat Foundation

Study is first demonstration of a fully 3D-printed thruster using pure ion emission for propulsion.

A 3D-printed thruster that emits a stream of pure ions could be a low-cost, extremely efficient propulsion source for miniature satellites.

The nanosatellite thruster created by MIT researchers is the first of its kind to be entirely additively manufactured, using a combination of 3D printing and hydrothermal growth of zinc oxide nanowires. It is also the first thruster of this type to produce pure ions from the ionic liquids used to generate propulsion.

WASHINGTON — Electric propulsion company Phase Four flew its first plasma thrusters on two spacecraft that were part of a SpaceX dedicated rideshare launch Jan. 24.

Phase Four said its Maxwell plasma propulsion systems were on two of the 143 spacecraft launched on the Transporter-1 mission. The company declined to name the satellites at the request of its customer, which is flying an operational mission but is also testing other new designs on those spacecraft.

The thrusters on those two satellites are the first developed by Phase Four, founded in 2015, to fly in space. In an interview, Beau Jarvis, chief executive of the company, said the company eschewed an approach of quickly building and flying a technology demonstration and then raising money to build a commercial model.

“With this approach, we don’t try to eliminate noise in the surroundings; instead, we “trick” the system into thinking it doesn’t experience the noise,” first author Kevin Miao, postdoctoral researcher at UChicago, said in the statement.

They used both electromagnetic pulses and a continuous alternating magnetic field to keep the quantum system under control. They then tuned this magnetic field in just such a way, that the rest of the noise was simply tuned out.

“To get a sense of the principle, it’s like sitting on a merry-go-round with people yelling all around you,” Miao explained in the statement. “When the ride is still, you can hear them perfectly, but if you’re rapidly spinning, the noise blurs into a background.”

Specifically, the researchers looked at lupus, which attacks the body’s own immune system, along with antiphospholipid syndrome (often associated with lupus), which causes blood clots. Both the diseases cause widespread inflammation and ravage organs overtime. In mice with either of the disease, 6-gingerol stopped the neutrophil extracellular trap release caused by the diseases’ production of autoantibodies.

“Neutrophil extracellular traps, or NETs, come from white blood cells called neutrophils,” explained lead author Ramadan Ali, Ph.D in a press release. “These sticky spider-web like structures are formed when autoantibodies interact with receptors on the neutrophil’s surface.”

The webs, according to Ali, play a fundamental role in the pathogenesis of lupus and antiphospholipid syndrome in which they set off autoantibody formation and contribute to clots in blood vessels and other damage.

How would the ability to genetically customize children change society? Sci-fi author Eugene Clark explores the future on our horizon in Volume I of the “Genetic Pressure” series.

Here’s a riddle: What do the Moon, nuclear weapons, clean energy of the future, terrorism, and lung disease all have in common?

The answer is helium-3, a gas that’s extremely rare on Earth but 100 million times more abundant on the Moon.

The capability to show anatomic details of the lungs and airways, and the ability to display functional imaging as a patient breathes, makes helium-3 MRI far better than the standard method of testing lung function. Called spirometry, this method tells physicians how the lungs function overall, but does not home in on particular areas that may be causing a problem. Plus, spirometry requires patients to follow instructions and hold their breath, so it is not great for testing young children with pulmonary disease.

Continue reading “Shoot for the Moon: Its Surface Contains a Pot of Gold” »

Several nations are sending spacecraft to explore Mars this year. Other projects include efforts to test new space vehicles, explore asteroids and put the Webb Space Telescope into orbit.

Better Zoom calls, simpler email attachments, smart iPhone cases and other patents from Big Tech.

A combination of satellite images and deep learning computer algorithms can spot elephants from space as well as the human eye.