The Space elevator power beaming (climber) competition is on Sept 27, 2008
Vertical Distance: 1 kilometer (ten times the 2007 distance)
Speed for prizes: 2 m/s for $900,000 and 5 m/s for $2 million
11 teams have entered the 2008 power beaming / climbing contest
The University of Saskatchewan space design team
The University of Saskatchwan team almost won in 2007
University of Alberta racing team
Queen's space elevator team
McGill Space elevator team
Kansas City Space Pirates
MClimber from Michigan
NSS Space elevator team
Laser Motive
TXL group
Team Nippon
Earth track controllers
Proving Space Elevator components by 2010
The Space Elevator requires two major achievements: a tether which is at least 30 GPa-cc/g strong (see below), and a long-range power beaming system in the Mega-Watt range.
The Spaceward foundation plan to demonstrate by the year 2010, a 10 GPa-cc/g CNT tether, and a multi-kWatt km-scale power beaming demonstration.With these benchmarks demonstrated, the Spaceward Foundation plans to pursue a 5-year development phase (phase 1) of full-performance components, followed by a 5-year system development effort (phase 2). This puts the beginning of construction (phase 3) around the year 2020.
Tether strength to weight ratio seems to be on track to reach the necessary levels by 2013.
In 2007, 9 GPa g/cc strenth material for millimeter lengths
"High-Performance Carbon Nanotube Fiber", Krzysztof Koziolet al, Science Magazine, 2007 - Measurement of the strongest of a sample of mm-long pure aggregated carbon nanotube fibers.
In 2008, 40 GPa g/cc
from Sparse (Carbon nanotubes) CNT Composite
"The extraordinary reinforcing efficiency of single-walled carbon nanotubes in oriented poly(vinyl alcohol) tapes", Wang et al. IOP Nanotechnology vol. 18 –
inferred strength of SWNTs from a 1% CNT reinforced plastic tape.Abstract. This paper reports on oriented poly(vinyl alcohol)/single-walled carbon nanotube (PVA/SWNT) tapes that were prepared by a mild processing route, involving the use of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a solvent. Composite films with homogeneously dispersed SWNTs were cast from solution and drawn into oriented tapes using solid-state drawing. The obtained tapes showed the extraordinary reinforcing effects of the SWNTs, as the addition of 1.0 wt% SWNTs tripled the tensile strength of the PVA tapes. Micromechanical analysis showed that the nanotube contribution to the composite strength was as high as 88 GPa, which is very high when compared to other data reported in the literature, and for the first time begins to exploit the theoretical strength of nanotubes.
Goal 2010, 35 GPa g/cc for 1000 km x mm
Minimal value for Space Elevator ribbon, Taper Ratio=6.3 with 33% safety factor.
Comparative Ribbon Mass = 4.6 - May require more efficient power system.
Goal 2011, 50 GPa g/cc for 1000 km x mm
Basic value for Space Elevator ribbon, Taper Ratio=3.5 with 33% safety factor.
Comparative Ribbon Mass = 2.0
Goal 2012, 80 GPa g/cc for 1000 km x mm
Desirable value for Space Elevator ribbon, Taper Ratio=2.5 with 50% safety factor.
Comparative Ribbon Mass = 1.0
The 2008 work by Z Wang is getting a follow up navy study for increased percentages of carbon nanotubes in plasticThis STTR requests proposals that develop a clear scientific understanding of the main obstacles to ultrahigh CNT loading in nanocomposites and that proposes new methods or approaches to increasing the loading of well dispersed CNTs in structural resins beyond 10% weight fraction.
The Lunar Lander contest is October 24-25, 2008
There was almost a winner in 2007 and 2006. There should be a winner in 2008.
FURTHER READING
Space Elevator conference Friday, July 18 thru Sunday, July 20 in Redmond Washington
2nd European climber workshop - Luxembourg - October 18 thru October 19. 2008
1st Japanese space elevator conference Nov 2008
Wikipedia on the space elevator
June 24, 2008
Space elevator games and Lunar lander contest 2008 preview
Gas centrifuge versus laser uranium enrichment
General Electric has licenced and is commercializing a laser uranium enrichment process. The Silex laser uranium enrichment process has been indicated to be an order of magnitude more efficient than existing production techniques but again, the exact figure is classified.
Australian scientists Michael Goldsworth and Horst Struve developed the process, and from 1996 to 2002 received support from the United States Enrichment Corp. (Bethesda, MD); the two scientists have since formed a public corporation, Silex Systems (Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia). Last year they licensed the Silex process to General Electric. The process is based on selective excitation of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) molecules that contain U-235 by laser light at a narrow spectral line near 16 µm, but few details have been released (see figure). The Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, NM) initially explored the concept three decades ago, but the U.S. Department of Energy later abandoned it in favor of atomic-vapor laser isotope enrichment.
The CO2 lasers can generate 1 J pulses, but only at a limited repetition rate, and only a fraction of the pulse is in the pump band. Unspecified “additional nonlinear optical tricks” are needed to convert the CO2 pump light to the correct wavelength to pump the Raman cell. The lasers are 1% efficient and the Raman conversion 25% efficient, so the overall efficiency is 0.25%.
With many details classified or proprietary, it is hard to quantify the processing. Lyman wrote that if a laser could illuminate a one-liter volume at an ideal repetition rate, it would take about 100 hours to produce one kilogram of U-235-assuming complete separation of the U-235 and U-238 isotopes. However, most processes require multiple stages of separation, and according to Lyman’s comments, a 5000 Hz laser would be needed to process all the feed stream (a mixture of UF6 and an unidentified diluting gas).
Solid state lasers able to be continuously tuned from the 0.2 to 10 micron range
Free electron lasers can operate 3 to 100 microns and in the 6-35 micron ranges
The US Navy has funded development of megawatt solid state free electron lasers for delivery in 2012
The new solid state lasers could be more efficient for the desired frequency and wavelengths.
The specific energy consumption is 2300-3000 kWh/SWU for Gaseous Diffusion, versus 100-300 kWh/SWU for gas centrifuge. The number of stages required to produce LEU is about 30 times larger in the diffusion plant than in the centrifuge plant.
A kilogram of LEU requires roughly 11 kilograms U as feedstock for the enrichment process and about 7 separative work units (SWUs) of enrichment services. To produce one kilogram of uranium enriched to 3.5% U-235 requires 4.3 SWU if the plant is operated at a tails assay 0.30%, or 4.8 SWU if the tails assay is 0.25% (thereby requiring only 7.0 kg instead of 7.8 kg of natural U feed).
Areva's recently announced Idaho enrichment plant, estimated to cost $2 billion, is expected to supply 3 million SWU or half the capacity of the GE plant at full production. The full-scale GE plant, expected to supply 3.5-6.0 million SWU, will require additional investor commitments. The GE laser enrichment plant would start at 1 million SWU/year and then get expanded Close to one million kilograms/year of enriched uranium using 7 SWU per kg.
25 page powerpoint presentation made April 2008 on Silex
Silex is also examining Oxygen-18 (PET medical imaging) and Carbon-13 (medical diagnostic) laser separation.
FURTHER READING
Laser enrichment at Idaho Samizdat
Silex company site
Worldwide Uranium demand and Nuclear Reactor fuel requirements translate into a requirement for uranium enrichment separative work services in the range 35–38 million SWU/year over the next 10 years.
About 120,000 kg SWU are required to enrich the annual fuel loading for a typical large (1,000 MWe) nuclear reactor.
The Silex process is inefficient for highly enriched uranium at this time
The up to ten times greater enrichment efficiency improves the energy efficiency of nuclear power and the cost efficiency of nuclear fuel and operations.
Uranium: 8.9 kg U3O8 x $53 472
Conversion: 7.5 kg U x $12 90
Enrichment: 7.3 SWU x $135 985 [Silex could reduce this by 3-10 times]
Fuel fabrication: per kg 240
Total, approx: US$ 1787
June 09, 2008
Top Ten Near Term Developments for Vastly Improved Capabilities in Space
1. Fuel depots. 2-17 times more stuff to the moon or other space missions. Lowering costs for GTO closer to LEO orbit costs
Boeing Propellant fuel depot
2. Lunar concrete would reduce the amount of material needed to build things on the moon by ten times.
A 50 meter telescope could be built from lunar concrete, with the mirror covered with a thin layer of aluminum. It could directly image any potential continents on planets around nearby stars with no atmosphere on the moon to distort the massive light gathering area.
3. Successful Big and cheap rockets by Spacex or others
Spacex is trying to bring costs down to $500-3200/kg to get into space
Spacex Falcon 9 Heavy
Spacex Dragon space capsule
4. Bigelow - inflatable space stations
Bigelows planned habitable private space station
Bigelow Aerospace Lagrange point and lunar plans
5. Vasimr
The Vasimr 200kw unit is almost flight ready
A 12 MW Vasimr system could send a ship to Mars in less than 120 days one way. A 200 MW Vasimr could go to Mars in 39 days.
1-2MW Vasimr lunar cargo vehicle could transfer up to 39% of the mass from low earth orbit to the moon.
6. Solar electric sail
A simplified picture of the electric sail. An actual system would have 50 to 100 or more 20 kilometer wires. 100 kg spaceships could be accelerated to final speeds of 40-100 km/second. The electric sail is an extremely promising new propulsion technique which is nearly ready to be tested. If electron heating turns out to be successful performance may be increased even more. Costs for solar system missions will go down and new capabilities and performance will be possible.
7. Virgin galactic getting LEO orbit capabilities with SpaceshipThree
Spaceshiptwo at apogee
Virgin Galactic could expand the number of people (passengers) who get to fly by 10 to 1000 times versus the NASA plans. Seats on spaceshiptwo cost $200,000. Virgin Galactic says more than 200 individuals have booked, and another 85,000 have registered an interest to fly. Tens of millions of dollars in deposits have already been taken. If set prices drop to $100,000 each then 85,000 people would generate $8.5 billion in revenue. This could make Spaceshipthree (an orbital system) fully fundable from Virgin Galactic operational profits. Virgin Galactic appears to be offering a path forward to safer (100 times or more safer) and cheaper travel into space for a lot more people.
8. LEO solar power
Low earth orbit (LEO) systems offer the advantage of reducing the scale of the solar power systems. An interesting concept for solar power appears to be on track for testing in Palau by 2012. The Space Island Group is also proposing low earth orbit solar power beamed to multiple locations. Space Island Group hopes to have its first system up by 2010. Space Island group is targeting 10 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). The Space Island Group has almost completed financing for a prototype system that it claims will be in orbit within 18 months, at a total cost of $200 million. "The satellite will deliver between 10 to 25 megawatts of power," says Meyers. "It will 'site-hop' across base stations in Europe, beaming 90 minutes of power to each one by microwave."
9. Lorentz force propulsion
Successful simulated space conditions test of lorentz force propulsion
Refueling nuclear rockets using lorentz force propulsion
10.Power source breakthroughs: IEC fusion, focus fusion, uranium hydride reactors, Blacklight power
Tri-alpha energy
Farther out:
Laser arrays. Technology is possible but not funded.
Space elevators and space piers. Technology will take two decades or more to mature or to be funded.
Tethers. Minor development and projects funded.
May 09, 2008
Tracking progress to controlling light, life and matter
About two years ago, I was speculating about the never ending but rapidly progressing process of humanity gaining control (mastery) of information, light, energy, magnetism, and matter. (ILEMM control) I would also add another L for life referring to synthetic life, genomic, protenomics, epigenomics and control of stem cells and other cells. So ILLEMM control. Although life could be considered a mix of information, matter and energy. I believe that the advance in knowledge and the way that these gains are interacting is profound. It is the accelerating technology discussed by Kurzweil. However, I think it is possible to make projections as to where this progress will lead in a more detailed way.
I believe that superconductors and progress to room temperature superconductors is moving faster than I had believed. Having whole new families of superconducting material edges and having the tools to analyze effects at the nanoscale in size and at smaller slices of time [more powerful femtosecond lasers and optical clocks with accuracy to 10**-16 and 10*-17 seconds.. More on the improving accuracy of clocks.]
The improving tools for analysis and the increasing number of examples to be studied appears to be leading to an actual understanding of the true nature of the superconducting effect. There has also been the uncovering of an entirely new effect "superinsulation" which is the opposite of superconductance
There has been the resist confirmation and physical realization of a new basic circuit element, the memristor. This new element is added to the other three the resistor, capacitor and inductor as the fourth fundamental circuit element.
New states of matter are being discovered as frequently as when the periodic table of chemicals was being expanded a few decades ago.
Radically new things are being done with sound to create hypersound and acoustic lasers.
I will be adding other highlights major highlights to this article.
FURTHER READING
Peizoresistance effect that is ten times larger than in the past at room temperature for better motion detectors.
Carnival of Space Week 53
Carnival of Space week 53 is up at spacecynic
Nextbigfuture supplied its article about new lasers that are 100 times faster and able to improve the sensitivity of earthlike planet detection by one hundred times
Colony Worlds talks about whether Mercury is better than Mars for colonization
Centauri Dreams talks about life propogating through the interstellar space via microbes.
There are several other articles at the carnival of Space week 53 is up at spacecynic
May 07, 2008
New Laser increases sensitivity of Earthlike planet search up to 100 times
Scientists at the University of Konstanz in Germany and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated an ultrafast laser that offers a record combination of high speed, short pulses and high average power. [about 100 times faster and more powerful] The same NIST group also has shown that this type of laser, when used as a frequency comb—an ultraprecise technique for measuring different colors of light—could boost the sensitivity of astronomical tools searching for other Earthlike planets as much as 100 fold.
Among its applications, the new laser can be used in searches for planets orbiting distant stars. Other possible applications of the new laser include remote sensing of gases for medical or atmospheric studies, and on-the-fly precision control of high-speed optical communications to provide greater versatility in data and time transmissions.
Astronomers look for slight variations in the colors of starlight over time as clues to the presence of a planet orbiting the star. The variations are due to the small wobbles induced in the star’s motion as the orbiting planet tugs it back and forth, producing minute shifts in the apparent color (frequency) of the starlight. Currently, astronomers’ instruments are calibrated with frequency standards that are limited in spectral coverage and stability. Frequency combs could be more accurate calibration tools, helping to pinpoint even smaller variations in starlight caused by tiny Earthlike planets. Such small planets would cause color shifts equivalent to a star wobble of just a few centimeters per second. Current instruments can detect, at best, a wobble of about 1 meter per second.
Standard frequency combs have “teeth” that are too finely spaced for astronomical instruments to read. The faster laser is one approach to solving this problem. In a separate paper,** the NIST group and astronomer Steve Osterman at the University of Colorado at Boulder describe how, by bouncing the light between sets of mirrors a particular distance apart, they can eliminate periodic blocks of teeth to create a gap-toothed comb. This leaves only every 10th or 20th tooth, making an ideal ruler for astronomy.
Both approaches have advantages for astronomical planet finding and related applications. The dime-sized laser is very simple in construction and produces powerful and extremely well-defined comb teeth. On the other hand, the filtering approach can cover a broader range of wavelengths. Four or five filtering cavities in parallel would provide a high-precision comb of about 25,000 evenly spaced teeth that spans the visible to near-infrared wavelengths (400 to 1100 nanometers), NIST physicist Scott Diddams says.
Osterman says he is pursuing the possibility of testing such a frequency comb at a ground-based telescope or launching a comb on a satellite or other space mission.
April 14, 2008
Solid state Megawatt lasers for 2012
Solid state laser components.
Wired reported that the Navy is funding a follow on megawatt laser project to the 100 kilowatt solid state free electron laser project.
I had previusly covered the progress and technical details of the 100kw laser project and here
The Navy is pushing ahead with a five-year, $163 million dollar plan make megawatt free electron lasers. So by the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013, the goal is to have a new megawatt laser prototype.
Previous megawatt lasers like the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)required hundreds of gallons of toxic chemicals for each shot. So a "mobile system" was eight cargo containers in size.
There was also the airborne megawatt chemical based laser for shooting down missiles.
New navy ships could have electric generators and engines.
Superconducting engines are 1/3 of the weight (69 tons instead of 200 tons) and half the size of conventional engines and are up to 10% more fuel efficient at low speed A typical destroyer has 200,000 gallons of fuel (300 gallons per ton is 6700 tons of fuel).
Existing nuclear powered submarines tend to have one or two reactors in the 190MW range. The nuclear reactors for naval ships range in size up to 550MW. A nuclear aircraft carrier can have eight of the 190MW reactors.
Naval reactors are pressurized water, liquid-metal-cooled, or boiling water types, which differ from commercial reactors producing electricity in that:
Naval reactors have a high power density in a small volume; some run on low-enriched uranium (requiring frequent refuelings), others run on highly enriched uranium (>20% U-235, varying from over 96% in U.S. submarines (They do not need to be refueled as often and are quieter in operation from smaller core) to between 30–40% in Russian submarines to lower levels in some others), the fuel is not UO2 (Uranium Oxide) but a metal-zirconium alloy (circa 15% U with 93% enrichment, or more U with lower enrichment), the design enables a compact pressure vessel while maintaining safety. 
If this is to scale then the reactor and engine take up half the nuclear submarines volume. With the reactor within a 33 foot hull diameter and about 25 feet long for about 25,000 cubic feet of volume.
Here is a site with a lot of details on naval nuclear reactors.
The navy nuclear reactors are about 1100 to 2250 tons.
The OK 650B nuclear reactor.
Nuclear batteries (Uraniam hydride reactors) could also be developed by 2012 and could offer smaller power sources for powering Megawatt lasers or new railguns. A nuclear power source would lighter be than an fossil fuel engine and fuel. The uranium hydride or other liquid core reactors would be smaller than current reactors.
Better solid state lasers will help enable space launches with laser arrays.
If the Bussard fusion system proves successful, then the world of 2025-2035 could have powerful interplanetary spaceships with multi-Megawatt lasers and railguns.
FURTHER READING
Powerful lasers could create plasma channels to trigger and guide lightning from thunderstorm clouds
More military laser projects.
On the way to being able to make the equivalent of the fictional Mark V to Mark X Bolos (fictional tanks).
Mark XX bolo
Bolo at wikipedia
Hellbores are measured in megatons/second.
1 megaton is equal to 4.183 X 10**15 joules One watt is one joule/second.
March 31, 2008
Stanford researchers develop tool that 'sees' internal body details 1,000 smaller
This technique, called Raman spectroscopy, expands the available toolbox for the field of molecular imaging, said team leader Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, professor of radiology. signals from Raman spectroscopy are stronger and longer-lived than other available methods, and the type of particles used in this method can transmit information about multiple types of molecular targets simultaneously.
“Usually we can measure one or two things at a time,” he said. “With this, we can now likely see 10, 20, 30 things at once.”
Gambhir said he believes this is the first time Raman spectroscopy has been used to image deep within the body, using tiny nanoparticles injected into the body to serve as beacons.
When laser light is beamed from a source outside the body, these specialized particles emit signals that can be measured and converted into a visible indicator of their location in the body.
Technology Review also has some information on this new imaging technology.
There are several techniques that employ the Raman effect, but this study used SERS (surface enhanced Raman scattering), which relies on roughened surfaces of metal nanoparticles to greatly boost the Raman effect. To create Raman nanoparticles, scientists attach small dye molecules, which scatter light, to these molecular amplifiers. They can then affix molecules that allow them to target the particles to a location in the body, such as antibodies that bind to specific proteins in cells.
The key advantage of this technique is that it allows for what imaging researchers call multiplexing: creating images of several different molecules at once. "One of the problems with imaging is, we tend to only be able to look at one or two things at a time," says Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, lead author of the study and codirector of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford. Multiplexing is important in complex diseases like cancer, in which several events occur within tumor cells, each of which could give information about the tumors' status and the likelihood that it will spread. As a first demonstration of multiplexing, Gambhir's team injected mice simultaneously with four kinds of Raman nanoparticles at different concentrations and showed that it is possible to locate the different particles and calculate their concentrations based on their Raman signal.
The most widely used molecular imaging technique in the lab is fluorescence. What makes Raman spectroscopy unique is that "you get a very sharp signal back, unlike [with] fluorescence, where you get a broad spectrum of energy," Gambhir says.
Claudio Vinegoni, an imaging specialist at the Center for Molecular Imaging Research at Harvard and at the Massachusetts General Hospital, who was not involved in the study, says that although scientists can use fluorescent molecules of different colors to see more than one molecule at a time, the ability to multiplex is limited because their signals quickly begin to overlap. In contrast, with Raman spectroscopy, "every molecule has its own Raman spectrum," Vinegoni says, so there is no possibility of the signals interfering. Because of their specificity, Raman nanoparticles can also be imaged at concentrations a thousand times lower than what can be detected using fluorescent quantum dots.
One of the major shortcomings of this technique, as in all optical imaging methods, is the limited ability of light to penetrate deep into tissue. Although it can be used to visualize the internal organs of a mouse, Gambhir says that in humans, the technique would be more useful for visualizing tumors close to the surface of the skin, such as melanomas or even breast cancer. The technique could also be used in conjunction with endoscopes that probe inside the body. Gambhir's team is planning a clinical trial to test the use of Raman particles in conjunction with colonoscopies for detecting early-stage cancers. In this procedure, the nanoparticles could simply be sprayed onto the surface of the colon rather than injected into the body. But a key challenge for bringing this technique into the clinic will be determining the safety of nanoparticles as probes--studies that Gambhir's group is currently undertaking.
Imaging of animals and humans can be done using a few different methods, including PET, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, optical bioluminescence and fluorescence and ultrasound. However, said Gambhir, none of these methods so far can fulfill all the desired qualities of an imaging tool, which include being able to finely detect small biochemical details, being able to detect more than one target at a time and being cheap and easy to use.
Postdoctoral scholars Shay Keren, PhD, and Cristina Zavaleta, PhD, co-first authors of the study, found a way to make Raman spectroscopy a medical tool. To get there, they used two types of engineered Raman nanoparticles: gold nanoparticles and single-wall carbon nanotubes.
First, they injected mice with the some of the nanoparticles. To see the nanoparticles, they used a special microscope that the group had adapted to view anesthetized mice exposed to laser light. The researchers could see that the nanoparticles migrated to the liver, where they were processed for excretion.
Using a microscope they modified to detect Raman nanoparticles, the team was able to see targets on a scale 1,000 times smaller than what is now obtainable by the most precise fluorescence imaging using quantum dots.
When adapted for human use, they said, the technique has the potential to be useful during surgery, for example, in the removal of cancerous tissue. The extreme sensitivity of the imager could enable detection of even the most minute malignant tissues.
February 20, 2008
Lasers could used to scan for a broad range of disease and health Biomarkers
Although it has yet to be tested in clinical trials, a new apparatus may allow doctors to screen people for certain diseases simply by sampling their breath, according to JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado (CU-Boulder).
Known as optical frequency comb spectroscopy, the method is powerful enough to sort through all the molecules in human breath and sensitive enough to distinguish rare molecules that may be biomarkers for specific diseases, said Ye.
When many breath molecules are detected simultaneously, highly reliable, disease-specific information can be collected. Asthma, for example, can be detected much more reliably when carbonyl sulfide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen peroxide are all detected simultaneously with nitric oxide.
While current breath analysis using biomarkers is a noninvasive and low-cost procedure, approaches are limited because the equipment is either not selective enough to detect a diverse set of rare biomarkers or not sensitive enough to detect particular trace amounts of molecules exhaled in human breath.
"The new technique has the potential to be low-cost, rapid and reliable, and is sensitive enough to detect a much wider array of biomarkers all at once for a diverse set of diseases," Ye said.
To test the technology, Ye's team had several CU-Boulder volunteer students breathe into an optical cavity -- a space between two curved mirrors -- then directed sets of ultrafast laser pulses into the cavity. As the light pulses ricocheted around the cavity tens of thousands of times (covering a distance of several kilometers by the time it exited the cavity), the researchers determined which frequencies of light were absorbed, indicating which molecules -- and their quantities -- were present by the amount of light they absorbed.
The remarkable combination of a broad spectral coverage of the entire comb and a sharp spectral resolution of individual comb lines allows them to sensitively identify many different molecules, Ye said. They detected trace signatures of gases like ammonia, carbon monoxide and methane from the samples of volunteers. In one measurement, they detected carbon monoxide in a student smoker that was five times higher compared to a nonsmoking studen.
There is a podcast on this research
The university of Colorado podcast list is here
February 06, 2008
Rewritable holograms will revolutionize medicine and advertising
University of Arizona optical scientists have broken a technological barrier by making three-dimensional holographic displays that can be erased and rewritten in a matter of minutes. Currently 4 inch by 4 inch red displays, but soon life size color displays that could still be rewritten in minutes. If they can increase the writing speed 5000 times then 3d television and movies would be possible. Full size color without special eyewear that changes every 3 minutes would be huge for advertising. In terms of giving people a day to day feeling that "the future has arrived" this will be one of those things. Full color life size holograms that can be viewed without glasses and that change every few minutes and which advertisers have placed along with every billboard and busstop and store front will be something that people will be running into dozens of times a day.
The holographic displays – which are viewed without special eyewear – are the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory ever to be developed, making them ideal tools for medical, industrial and military applications that require "situational awareness."
The 4-inch-by-4-inch prototype display that Peyghambarian, Tay and their colleagues created now comes only in red, but the researchers believe much larger displays in full color could be developed. They next will make 1-foot-by-1-foot displays, then 3-foot-by-3-foot displays.
"We use highly efficient, low-cost recording materials capable of very large sizes, which is very important for life-size, realistic 3-D displays," Peyghambarian said. "We can record complete scenes or objects within three minutes and can store them for three hours."
The researchers also are working to write images even faster using pulsed lasers.
"If you can write faster with a pulsed laser, then you can write larger holograms in the same amount of time it now takes to write smaller ones," Tay said. "We envision this to be a life-size hologram. We could, for example, display an image of a whole human that would be the same size as the actual person."
January 22, 2008
More autonomous robot through new instantaneous 3d freezeframe LADAR
iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) (maker of the millions of Roomba vacuums and military Packbots) may be on the verge of creating a new generation of robots with a much higher degree of autonomy than is currently possible. This is another example of how important the sensing systems and other non-artificial intelligence parts of a robot are to improving functionality. By giving a system better "artificial eyes" a far more capable and useful system is created without any advance in processing power or coding.
The robotics maker is announcing a deal with Santa Barbara, CA-based Advanced Scientific Concepts under which it has obtained the exclusive rights (in exchange for future purchasing commitments) to ASC’s 3-D Flash LADAR (for Laser Detection and Ranging) technology.
the camera and laser setup for the 3d flash ladar
Schematic design of part of the 3d flash ladar system by Advanced Scientific ConceptsLaser range detectors have been employed in the robotics community for years, Greiner points out. “In fact, we’ve done it for many, many years,” she says. The problem is, the systems are not especially rugged or durable, they’re susceptible to glare from the sun, and have trouble cutting through dust or fog. In short, they don’t do as well as they should in the extreme conditions in which they must typically be deployed.
What ASC brings to the table is a new approach to the problem. As Greiner puts it, “These guys have invented a new type of LADAR system.” The Flash-based, solid-state system has no moving parts, one factor in improving its ruggedness. Instead of scanning the terrain one line at a time like traditional LADAR, ASC’s system illuminates an entire scene at once with diffuse laser light, providing a full, instantaneous 3D picture of the territory around it. The flash technology, Greiner says, can “visually freeze the entire geometry.”
The new LADARs going not only on Packbots but larger vehicles like Humvees or even tanks. Outside the military, she envisions it enabling robot-driven tractors or other large industrial robots.
(5 pages) Three Dimensional Flash LADAR Focal Planes and Time Dependent ImagingAccurate three-dimensional data can be acquired a frame at a time with frame rates of at least 30 Hz using a flash ladar 3-D camera invented and fabricated by ASC. Each frame of data is acquired instantaneously with respect to the mechanical motion of the objects within the 3-D flash ladar camera field of view. Although only 50 – 100 m time dependent data was presented, the static image at 1 km suggests that this data could also be acquired a many kms. The current camera has an FPA of 128 x 128 pixels but there is no technological limitation restricting the array size. Furthermore, although in general larger arrays take longer to readout, 30 Hz is certainly not the upper bound frame rate and the camera can quantitatively describe high-speed or rapidly contorting objects.
Applications of the 3-D flash camera abound and are seemingly limited only by imagination. However, the camera appears to offer an immediate breakthrough in collision avoidance or navigation of unmanned or manned vehicles. Vehicle motion can distort the 3-D image of conventionally scanned ladar system which collect a full data frame over time rather than instantaneously. By making a precision scanner unnecessary, 3-D flash ladar systems offer low weight, small size, high reliability, optical zooming and eventually low price.
This paper reviews the progress of Advanced Scientific Concepts, Inc (ASC). flash ladar 3-D imaging systems. the system has the ability to look past obstructions and obscuring objects (like smoke or things in the way of or hiding a target)
FURTHER READING
Wikipedia on LIDAR
LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is an optical remote sensing technology that measures properties of scattered light to find range and/or other information of a distant target. Other terms for LIDAR include ALSM (Airborne Laser Swath Mapping) and laser altimetry. The acronym LADAR (Laser Detection and Ranging) is often used in military contexts. The term laser radar is also in use but is misleading because it uses laser light and not the radiowaves that are the basis of conventional radar
Real time comes to LADAR
In MEMS ladar, which is a “single-point” or scanning ladar, a collimated laser pulse hits a MEMS mirror tilted toward a point in the field of view (FOV) that represents an image pixel. After the pulse is reflected from the target, the portion reflected back to the ladar’s photodetector (PD) is then analyzed for time-of-flight and intensity.
To yield the same energy at the target area, the pulse from a flash ladar’s laser would have to be at least 65,000 times more powerful than that from a MEMS ladar’s laser (assuming all other characteristics are the same) to produce a 256 x 256 pixel image (top). Furthermore, because the pulse reflected back from the target is being distributed over the entire FPA, the flash ladar’s laser would have to be an additional 65,000 times more powerful to yield the same pulse energy per pixel as the MEMS ladar (bottom)
Google techtalks on the 3d cameras of ASC
January 18, 2008
2008 space elevator goals, 1 kilometer height
The Spaceward Foundation announces the goals for the 2008 Space Elevator Power Beaming Challenge. Building on the results of the 2007 Challenge, the goals for 2008 have been set at 1 km height, 5 m/s minimum speed, for a prize level of $2M. An intermediate prize level of $900k will be given for a speed of 2 m/s. Additionally, teams that can reach an altitude of 1 km at between 1 and 2 m/s will be awarded a prize of up to $50k. In the last two competitions in 2007 and 2006, teams have come close to winning the robotic climbing prize. 
2008 Space elevator proposed 1 kilometer high test track graphic if over asteroid crater
The pyramid is as tall as it is wide, and with a 4-Ton lift balloon at its apex can withstand winds above 30 MPH. The cables are 1/2" diameter Spectra lines, similar in feel to Nylon rope. The central climb tether is between 3/8" and 1/2" in diameter, and will be tensioned to approximately 200kg.
Here is what the pyramid would look like over the 2007 test site (the orange circle).
The target date for the competition is early September 2008.
A world leader in disc laser technology, TRUMPF took a natural interest in the power beaming games, and is providing both hardware and expertise to enable the 1-km climb. TRUMPF is contributing a top-of-the-line TruDisk 8002 high power laser for use at the 2008 and 2009 games, as well as on-site operation and engineering support for participating teams.Dilas supplied the two Laser Diode power sources in the 2007 games, and is offering this year an integrated light source designed specifically for power beaming application to the 1 km range.
2007 entrant in the climbing competition
December 11, 2007
Nanolasers to help heat assisted magnetic recording to achieve 10 terabit per square inch density
Right now, the laser can concentrate 250 nanowatts of power on a 30-nanometer-wide spot. "Our technology can be scaled down to 5 to 10 nanometers for sure," says Sakhrat Khizroev, an electrical-engineering professor who is leading the work at UCR. A 10-nanometer spot size should be small enough to get a density of 10 terabits per square inch.
He and his colleagues make their 250-nanowatt laser by depositing a very thin layer of aluminum on the emitting side of a semiconductor diode laser. Then they focus a beam of positive gallium ions on the aluminum to etch tiny nanoscale apertures. As predicted by physics theory, a C-shaped aperture lets the most energy come through into the smallest spot size.
there are many engineering challenges to solve before the technology can be brought to market. They include mounting the laser on a slider so that it can move to various areas of the hard disk to record data, designing a new disk material that works with heat-assisted recording, and making disk lubricants that can handle the high temperatures during the heat-assisted writing process.
"Heat-assisted magnetic recording is a real systems problem and requires development and progress on a lot of fronts simultaneously," Schlesinger says. "The nanolaser is a nice step forward and brings the technology closer."
November 30, 2007
A review my favorite space launch and propulsion systems
Accelerating future had reviewed systems for getting into space in 2006
I had covered the EM drive but is definitely one of the long shots with a lot of unknowns in the science (ie. I seriously doubt that it will work).
My preferences are for:
Bussard IEC fusion earth to orbit spaceship. Credit: Tom Ligon and EMC2fusion
Fusion propulsion if Bussard IEC fusion or Trialpha energy colliding beam fusion or laser fusion or Z pinch fusion work. The fusion systems would have a superior version for getting from ground to orbit. However, as we have experienced fusion technology could disappoint and take longer than we would like to develop.
Laser launch concept
Laser mirror concept for station keeping. For laser mirror propulsion, there would be an array of large (100+ kw solid state) lasers firing at one of the mirrors and the other non-moving mirror would be on the moon or the earth.
Mirror Laser array launches Solid state high power lasers are progressing far faster in power and efficiency than many people realize. I think convergence of technology could make this happen far quicker than many would expect. It would bring the cost of launches down to about the cost of electricity (even better with mirror systems)
I would really like it if people would become rational and allow nuclear rocket launches. The liberty ship is one that could luanch 1000 tons at a go and would not release radiation into the atmosphere I think nuclear rocket systems would be safer than chemical and space planes because there is so much safety margin to play with.
Project Orion definitely made sense. It would be cheaper than the space elevator. The launch cost for the largest Orions was 5 cents per pound (11 cent/kg) to Earth orbit in 1958 dollars. In 2005 dollars, the cost would be 32 cents/lb or 70 cents.
Minimag Orion and other external nuclear pulse propulsion systems One thing to note is the pussy footing around with sub-critical explosions is stupid if we have technology for achieving 10+% of the speed of light and have 20+GW laser arrays. 10 kiloton TNT equivalent bombs would be like hand grenades.
What seems like a cheap system for bringing the cost of gravity hardened systems and cargo into space for less than 25% of current costs is ram accelerators (big guns)
A nuclear powered vasimr might look more like this nuclear electric vehicle. Replace the MPD thrusters with vasimr engines, replace the Brayton units with advanced thermoelectric devices. 
Image of a vasimr rocket
Nuclear powered Vasimr for getting around from orbit to other places
My issues with the space elevator is that it will take longer than I would like to make it happen. It brings the goal of bringing the cost of getting to space to approach the cost of the electricity to lift mass to the right height. The mirror laser array system seems like something that could come together faster than the space elevator. I also prefer a longer space pier over the space elevator. However, I still support the space elevator project because other approaches might have development delays as well. Capturing mind share and imagination are useful things for making something happen.
I am also concerned about the performance of the recent contest climbers when they could not climb because of wind. The actual climbers will have to go through high winds at higher altitudes. I do not think this is a show stopper but a possible show delayer.
J Storr Hall's space pier seems like a better approach than the space elevator. One design would lift 10-ton payloads up a 100 km elevator and then accelerating it to 8.2 km/s would only consume about 5,000 US dollars (USD) worth of electricity, working out to about half a dollar per kilogram.
A description of the space pier is here.
The space pier is 100 kilometers tall and 300 kilometers long.
FURTHER READING
Island one survey of earth to orbit launch systems
Space fountain at wikipedia
Launch loop at wikipedia
Orbital rings at wikipedia
November 16, 2007
New method to manipulate light a million times more efficiently
The team, led by Dr Fetah Benabid, reports on the discovery, which relates to the emerging attotechnology, the ability to send out pulses of light that last only an attosecond, a billion billionth of a second.
It is 1000 times shorter than a femtosecond. Short pulse lasers are a very interesting and emerging tool for science and technology They can destroy viruses and bacteria. They can vaporize matter without heat and be used for precise micromachining
These pulses are so brief that they allow researchers to more accurately measure the movement of sub-atomic particles such as the electron, the tiny negatively-charged entity which moves outside the nucleus of an atom. Attosecond technology may throw light, literally, upon the strange quantum world where such particles have no definite position,only probable locations.
To make attosecond pulses, researchers create a broad spectrum of light from visible wavelengths to x-rays through an inert gas. This normally requires a gigawatt of power, which puts the technique beyond any commercial or industrial use.
Dr Benabid’s team used a photonic crystal fibre (pcf), the width of a human hair, which traps light and the gas together in an efficient way. Until now the spectrum produced by photonic crystal fibre has been too narrow for use in attosecond technology, but the team have now produced a broad spectrum, using what is called a Kagomé lattice, using about a millionth of the power used by non-pcf methods.
Tthe team makes use of the fact that light can exist in different ‘modes’ without strongly interacting. This creates a situation whereby light can be trapped inside the fibre core without the need of photonic bandgap. Physicists call these modes bound states within a continuum.
October 23, 2007
University of Sask Space Design team almost wins 2007 Space elevator games
It appears that no one won the Space elevator games competition for 2007. I previewed the competition.
The University of Saskatechwan's Space Design team came closest to winning.
Their fastest run was 54 seconds. We’re not sure exactly how quick that was as we need to measure the ribbon. This will be done tomorrow. But we’re sure that the ribbon was not 108 meters, and therefore there was no way they could have met the 2 m/s requirement. But the runs were spectacular. They actually picked up speed in a few runs the higher they climbed. It looks like they have some work to do on their tracking software, but I’m sure they’re going to be taking care of that. They greatly increased their speed over last year (approximately double) and are fulfilling NASA’s and Spaceward’s goal of advancing the state of the art.
Next up is the Oct. 27-28 lunar lander competition
The Xprize cup site is here
The two competitors for the 2007 lunar lander prizes are:
Acuity Technologies is led by Robert Clark, who founded the company in 1992. The team, which has previously designed unpiloted aerial vehicles for the Department of Defense, hopes that the lightweight craft they have concocted will give them an advantage in the Challenge.
Armadillo Aerospace is powered by John Carmack, founder of id Software. They are the only team to fly a vehicle in last year's Challenge, arguably giving them a lunar leg up on the rocket rivalry. Additionally, they have backed that view by repeat flights throughout the year of h