Category Archives: Engineering

NASA’s Opportunity Rover Just Completed an 11-year Marathon on Mars

March 27, 2015All Posts, Engineering, Spacecraft and MissionsEndeavor Crater, marathon on Mars, Mars, NASA, Opportunity roverDrummer

Peter Lobner

The Opportunity rover landed on Mars on January 25, 2004. It originally was designed for a 90 Sol mission (a Sol, one Martian day, is slightly longer than an Earth day at 24 hours and 37 minutes). The rover has proven to be far more durable than expected. A marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometers (26 miles and 385 yards). The rover Opportunity is the first extraterrestrial rover to complete this distance. The record time for this event was 11 years and 2 months.

Rover Opportunity; source: NASA

Map of the marathon trek; source: NASA

8 July 2015 Update:

On 2 July 2015, NASA/JPL uploaded an 8-minute time-lapse video of rover Opportunity’s marathon road trip on Mars. This compilation of images from the low-resolution, wide-field-of-view hazard-avoidance cameras on rover Opportunity between January 2004 and April 2015 shows the rover’s-eye-view of the Martian marathon from its landing location to the rim of Endeavour Crater. The sound in the video is synthesized from accelerometers on rover Opportunity. You can view this video using the link below. The view from the rover is in the left-hand panel, and a map of the rover’s path is on the right-hand panel of the video.

The URL for this embedded video is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b1DxICZbGc&feature=youtu.be

25 Teams From Around the World to Compete in DARPA’s 2015 Robotics Challenge Finals

March 23, 2015All Posts, Computer Technology, Engineering, RoboticsDARPA Robotics Challenge, DRC, Team ROBOTISDrummer

Peter Lobner

The international robotics community has turned out in force for the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals, a competition of robots and their human supervisors to be held June 5-6, 2015, at Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., outside of Los Angeles. In the competition, human-robot teams will be tested on capabilities that could enable them to provide assistance in future natural and man-made disasters. Fourteen new teams from Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the People’s Republic of China, South Korea, and the United States qualified to join 11 previously announced teams. In total, 25 teams will now vie for a chance to win one of three cash prizes totaling $3.5 million at the DRC Finals.

Team ROBOTIS entry from Korea

You can see photos of other competitors and read more about the challenge at the following links:

http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2015/03/05.aspx

and

http://www.theroboticschallenge.org

The Cylons are coming!

Scalability of 3-D Printing (additive manufacturing)

March 20, 2015All Posts, Engineering, Manufacturing, Medical3-D printed house, 3-D printed skin, 3-D printing, additive manufacturing, James Dyson Award, PrintAlive, University of Toronto, Wake Forest School of MedicineDrummer

Peter Lobner

We are only now starting to see the very broad implications of 3-D printing technology in many disciplines, some of which would not be considered as traditional “manufacturing” activities. Since the “ink” can be almost anything, and the scalability of the technology is vast, the potential applications are much broader than the early applications conceived so far.

Here are a couple of examples that illustrate the scalability of 3-D printing technology and show how the computer system driving the printer adds a layer of intelligence needed to manufacture remarkable products.

Where do you see applications for this technology?

Medical application: Treating burn victims

In Feb 2015, Wake Forest School of Medicine announced that it had designed, built and tested a printer capable of printing skin cells directly onto burn wounds. The “ink” is actually different kinds of skin cells. A scanner is used to determine wound size and depth. Different kinds of skin cells are found at different depths. With this data, a computer guides the printer as it applies layers of the correct type of cells to cover the wound. Read the story at the following link:

http://www.wakehealth.edu/Research/WFIRM/Research/Military-Applications/Printing-Skin-Cells-On-Burn-Wounds.htm

Another approach for treating burn victims was announced in 2014 by the University of Toronto. Their solution is called the “PrintAlive” 3-D bioprinter, which is capable of manufacturing continuous layers of tissue – including hair follicles, sweat glands and other human skin complexities – onto a hydrogel that can be used in place of conventional skin grafts. Read the story at the following link:

http://www.gizmag.com/printalive-biopronter-skin-grafts-burns/34057/

The students who developed the PrintAlive machine were the Canadian winners of the 2014 James Dyson Award, that is intended to that celebrate, encourage and inspire the next generation of design engineers.

Construction application: Building a house

This is a really large-scale application of 3-D printing technology that also requires a stock of certain parts that are more easily emplaced where needed rather than printing them in place (i.e., windows, doors, floors and ceilings). Additive manufacturing could be used to separately produce most of these emplaced items.

Read the article and see the 6 min video of the construction process at the following link:

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/new-giant-3d-printer-can-build-a-house-in-24-hours-470564?utm_source=howtogeek&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

History of the DOE National Laboratories

March 11, 2015All Posts, Engineering, Nuclear Arms & Arms Control, Physics, Power Generating Technology - NuclearDepartment of Energy, DOE, national laboratories, Office of Scientific & Technical Information, OSTIDrummer

Peter Lobner

Many at SAIC worked at or for one or more DOE national laboratories at some point in their careers. The following link to the DOE Office of Scientific & Technical Information (OSTI) web site provides links to other web sites with historical information on the various national labs.

http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/nuggets/historynatlabs.html

For example, on this OSTI web page, you can select the Idaho National Laboratory link, and a pop-up menu will display the available documents. If you select, “Proving the Principle: A History of the Idaho Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, 1949 – 1999,” this will take you to an INL web site that includes a 25 chapter history + a 2000 – 2010 addendum, all organized for chapter-by-chapter web access.

I hope you find some something of interest via the OSTI website.

The BLOODHOUND Project – Creating a 1,000 mph Land Speed Record Car and Inspiring a New Generation of Engineers

March 2, 2015All Posts, Automotive, EngineeringBloodhound SSC, land speed record, Rolls-RoyceDrummer

Peter Lobner

Updated 4 July 2016

This land speed record project has gained national attention in the UK, not only for it’s ambitious goal of setting a 1,000 mph speed record on land, but also as a source of inspiration for a new generation of engineers. The “car” is propelled by a Rolls-Royce jet engine + a rocket engine.

I think you’ll find the main website for the Bloodhound Project to be well-designed and very engaging, Check it out at:

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/project

On the BLOODHOUND website, click on the “Education” tab to see how the project team is working to engage young engineers.

4 July 2016 Update: BLOODHOUND announces date for world record attempt in October 2017

On 3 July 2016, the BLOODHOUND team announced:

“We’re delighted to announce that the target date for BLOODHOUND’s 800mph world land speed record attempt in October 2017, 20 years after Thrust SSC set the existing record. Funding has been secured, with major deals recently signed, and race preparation is underway for high speed runs at the Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape, South Africa, in Autumn next year.

BLOODHOUND SSC will travel under its own power for the first time at Newquay in June 2017, in a slow speed shakedown test at around 220mph (354km/h). This will also be an opportunity for the team to practice live-streaming data and imagery from the car.”

You can read their complete announcement at the following link:

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/news/bloodhound-supersonic-first-record-attempt-october-2017

If you haven’t done so already, you can sign up for newsletters from the BLOODHOUND team at the following link:

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/newsletters

Also check out my 8 September 2015 post, “Just How Flat is Hakskeen Pan?”. This will be the venue for the world land speed record attempts.

“Flow cell” Battery Technology Being Tested as an Automotive Power Source

January 31, 2015All Posts, Automotive, Engineering, Power Generating Technology - Alternate, Power Storage Technologye-Sportlimousine, electric car, flow-cell battery, nanoFLOWCELL AG, Quant, TeslaDrummer

Peter Lobner

Here’s a great looking new German all-electric car that was introduced at the March 2014 Geneva Auto Show. It’s a “research” car, not for sale, but an interesting preview of a possible future application of this battery technology in production cars. The flow cell battery capacity in the e-Sportlimousine is reported to be 120 kWh. Compare this to current all-electric cars using lithium-ion battery technology: the Tesla Model S has an 85 kWh battery and a Nissan Leaf has a 24 kWh battery.

Image credit: aetherforce.com

Check out the article on the e-Sportlimousine at the following link, which includes two short videos:

http://aetherforce.com/electric-car-powered-by-salt-water-920-hp-373-milestank/

See many more details on this car and power system at the following nanoFLOWCELL AG YouTube site:

https://www.youtube.com/user/nanoflowcell

A 2014 press release from NanoFLOWCELL AG describes their battery technology and it’s operational use in the e-Sportlimousine, including a description of the power train and how the car is refueled. See the following link:

http://mediacenter.nanoflowcell.com/mediacenter/press-release/news-detail/2014-03-04-introducing-the-nanoflowcellR/

Regarding the nano-network technology, Wikipedia reports: “In August 2014, the Quant e-Sportlimousine was approved for testing on public roads using the nanoFLOWCELL® system with a claimed energy or power density of 600 Wh per kilogram (per litre of salt water electrolyte).”

If you are interested in the Tesla lithium-ion battery, check out the Nov 2014, “The Tesla Battery Report”, at the following link:

http://www.advancedautobat.com/industry-reports/2014-Tesla-report/Extract-from-the-Tesla-battery-report.pdf