Monthly Archives: August 2020

By: Tech Desk | Updated: August 18, 2020 11:35:27 am(Image: NASA Goddard YouTube channel)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has invited applications from university-level engineering students to participate in developing a method to harvest water on the Moon and Mars. Teams will be expected to submit their prototype or proposed concept design till November 24, 2020. Out of the designs received, NASA will pick up to 10 teams which will be selected in the next month to build and test their systems. All of them will receive 10,000 dollars development stipend.

Water is essential for long expeditions and astronauts also use it to try and grow plants and make rocket propellant with it. Carrying water into space for lengthy expeditions results and hence the need for a programme to develop water harvesting techniques on these celestial objects.

Under the Artemis program, astronauts will be searching for water on the south pole of the moon. It is unknown in which form they will find water.

The water well find when the next men and first women explore the lunar surface for the Artemis program is liable to be mixed with contaminants that need to be removed before drinking, or use as fuel, said Douglas Terrier, NASA chief technologist. Learning how to safely and efficiently prospect for and harvest water is key for sustainable human exploration not only on the Moon, but also on Mars and at other far reaches of our solar system.

Under this programme, eligible undergraduates and graduates will be expected to design and build hardware that will help astronauts identify, map and drill through different kinds of subsurface layers followed by a method to extract water from the ice blocks obtained.

Access to water is a key consideration for space exploration, said Richard (Rick) Davis, assistant director for science and exploration in NASAs Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Technological advancements that enable humans to live off the land on distant worlds and use resources such as water, will unlock significant opportunities to explore our universe first-hand.

ALSO READ | NASAs Insight lander helps uncover whats beneath Mars surface

The teams selected will be demonstrating the capabilities of their water harvesting systems in a three-day competition at NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, in June 2021. Out of these top-performing teams may also be awarded with travel stipends to showcase their design at a future NASA-chosen event or aerospace conference.

ALSO READ | NASA releases some stunning pictures of the Mars: Take a look here

The Artemis program is inspiring the brightest minds in academia, and it is important for us to provide those talented students with unique, hands-on opportunities to contribute to the future of human space exploration, said Dr. Prasun Desai, deputy associate administrator of NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). We look forward to seeing their technological breakthroughs as they progress through the competition.

Earlier this year, NASA also launched a challenge for the best-designed toilet. The winner of the award will receive a whopping 20,000 dollars whereas reward for the second-best and third-best invention was 10,000 and 5,000 dollars respectively.

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Excerpt from:

NASA to offer students $10,000 to help astronauts harvest water on Moon, Mars - The Indian Express

August 18, 2020

Biological organisms are made up of interconnected systems of tissues, liquids and similar substances continually at work maintaining vital functions vastly different in nature from inanimate matter. But not entirely so.

On and beneath the surfaces of manufactured materials, for example, there are countless interactions in motion within their microstructures, many at the atomic level, that determine how effectively those materials will perform the functions for which theyre made. With a multi-university team of colleagues, Arizona State Univesity Professor Karl Sieradzki is undertaking a five-year research effort aimed at enhancing the performance and durability of metal alloys like those used for military jets. Other kinds of aircraft, as well as ships, space flight technologies and automotive vehicles are made largely of alloys. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock Download Full Image

Karl Sieradzki, a professor of materials science and engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, is beginning work with six colleagues in his field at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Virginia and Northwestern University to get a deeper understanding of the workings of the fundamental structures and potential capabilities of metal alloys.

Were looking at the very smallest elements of what makes up these materials and how the environments they are exposed to impact them, said Sieradzki, who teaches in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, one of the six Fulton Schools.

One key objective is finding the right combinations of chemical components to mix into so-called multiprinciple element alloys also known as high-entropy alloys that would best resist high-temperature oxidation and aqueous corrosion.

The research is supported by the U.S. Department of Defense Multi-University Research Initiative, or MURI, which funds research to facilitate advances in emerging technologies that will help to address national security and military challenges and potentially have applications in the commercial sector.

ASU Professor Karl Sieradzkis expertise in materials science and engineering has earned him a place on his third research team to have won support from the U.S. Department of Defense Multi-University Research Initiative, or MURI. The program awards grants to fund high-priority science and engineering research considered essential to meeting the nations military and national defense challenges.

In the MURI project, supported through the Office of Naval Research, Sieradzki and his fellow research leaders aim to produce results that will improve alloys used in aircraft, ships and automotive vehicles, as well as space exploration technologies, Sieradzki said.

Research to date indicates high-entropy alloys can improve the tensile strength of materials and provide better resistance to fracture, but resistance to corrosion and high temperature oxidation remains a challenge the MURI project team will work to solve.

MURI projects often involve highly specialized areas of science and engineering. Researchers seeking funding must be able to show track records of progress in such demanding and multifaceted pursuits.

Sieradzki and his research team met that stringent requirement. The groups proposal is one of only 26 projects to be selected for MURI awards from among 365 that underwent merit review by the Department of Defense for funding in the current 2020 fiscal year. The team will receive approximately $7.5 million over the next five years to support its members research. Sieradzki will be given $1 million of that total.

This is Sieradzkis third MURI project, one in which he will drive work on some essential aspects of the research. His role will involve studies to expand the application of a process called passivation, involving the formation of protective oxide films on metal surfaces that can reduce the rate of corrosion and high-temperature oxidation.

That effort will include further development of the use of percolation theory, which involves arranging the atomic elements of metals in a certain way that results in effective passivation, he said.

Sieradzki will also conduct further examinations of high temperature oxidation, which causes materials to lose mechanical properties due to temperature increases and chemical reactions of metal with the environment.

Its a type of environment a jet engine would be exposed to, or that a spacecraft might be exposed to on reentry, he said.

Roger C. Newman, a professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry at the University of Toronto, said Sieradzki is a pioneer in methods to combat metals corrosion.

More than three decades ago, Sieradzki began delving into the complexities of percolation and produced valuable models of the outcomes that could be expected from emerging methods for that process, Newman says.

Recently, Sieradzki has greatly expanded the content and reach of such approaches, and tested them using electrochemical methods, Newman said. Now he is ready to tackle pressing issues of alloy design for corrosion resistance, using his vast experience in the relevant physics and electrochemistry. Among other outcomes, his research will lead to important economies in the use of scarce metals.

Such prominent achievements in the field led to Sieradzkis recruitment for the new MURI project team by Mitra Taheri, a professor of materials science and engineering at Johns Hopkins University, who led work on the MURI proposal and is now the projects principal investigator.

Taheri will lead the projects work on reducing the time needed to determine what alloy combinations are viable for testing, using advanced microscopy to get live views of new alloys reactions to real-life extreme conditions.

Among those with highly specialized expertise who will be involved in the MURI project are Northwestern University Professor Christopher Wolverton and Associate Professor James Rondinelli. They will provide the computational materials science and physics Sieradzki and others will need to move forward on their parts of the research project.

Sieradzki is now also recruiting postdoctoral researchers to assist with work on the project to be done in his ASU lab, which focuses on electrochemical surface science. He also expects several graduate students to be involved over the next five years.

Sieradzki is looking forward to the outcomes of the MURI endeavor for several reasons. The work promises to lead to designs for new families of alloys, which in itself would be an important achievement, he says.

There is also the possibility of discovering more successful combinations of high-entropy alloys that would open a path toward more-resilient, high-performing materials for an array of devices, systems and processes.

Most intriguing from a larger perspective, Sieradzki said, Were going to try to expand some of the boundaries of where materials science and engineering can take us.

Read more from the original source:

Mapping the road to more resilient metals | ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact - ASU Now

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Roger Nagel

RIO RANCHO, N.M. Heres some encouraging news: Declining costs and new capabilities have reached the tipping point. Were seeing a technology nirvana now, and New Mexico is at the center of a lot of it.

You may have read this quote of Col. Eric Felt, the head of the Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base in the Aug. 10 Albuquerque Journal Business Outlook.

Felt went on to say that emerging commercial technology will make up 80 percent of all new innovation and development, with the remaining 20 percent resting in the government sector. Sixty years ago, these roles were reversed.

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Admittedly, I have been fascinated by technological innovation since elementary school. Landing on the moon was a big deal during my formative years.

In hindsight, those programmable hand-held calculators by Texas Instruments were a sign of things to come.

We all know plenty of ways in which digital technology has changed our lives. But, space exploration? Well, consider the following.

Despite the disruption of COVID-19, 85 percent of our economy is little affected and continues to experiment, innovate, build and create new things with synergy. This adds jobs and fuels our state and local economies.

It also creates a tax base other than federal government funding and extractive industries. We need that.

But equally important, if not more, exciting new developments tend to generate more exciting new developments, which soon cross industry lines and markets. We have seen this in our recent past.

Watch for improvements in telecommunications, solar power applications and other industries. New, private-sector, commercial economic expansion will serve to create new demand in housing, dining, entertainment and retail sales. It will help fund our state and local governments.

How can our local, low-tech small businesses get in on the fun?

Start thinking beyond the next payroll. What can you begin to do differently today to pave the way for a new, better and more profitable future? New facility? More trained staff? More computers and enhanced software tools? New marketing campaigns and a beefed-up sales force for new customers?

Where will the money come from to fund these new initiatives? Will new sales generate enough profits fast enough to pay the way, or will you need to borrow funds from outside your business?

Talk with your commercial banker first, and then consider family, friends and neighbors. Even key vendors may help with liberalized credit terms. You do not know if you do not ask.

Now is the time to engage your key advisors. Share your goals and aspirations candidly with them. Get their initial response, listen and react objectively, not emotionally.

Surely, you will benefit from legal services for new contracts. Your seasoned CPA can help design incentive compensation packages to attract key people. They can create forecasts and projections for investors or lenders. They will challenge you to think differently.

The most experienced advisors will know the tough questions that need answering. They can find those who know the answers and can assist in validating assumptions, estimates and risk. Go have fun.

(Roger Nagel, CPA/PFS, CMA, CGMA, is the managing director of Nagel CPAs, LLC Accountants and Advisors, serving the middle Rio Grande Valley and beyond. Learn more atnagelcpa.us.)

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Nagel on Finances: Time to get in on the fun of new technology - Albuquerque Journal