Engineers create origami-inspired solar array for space deployment

One big problem when sending things into space is, well, space. Rockets have limited payload capacity and given the costs involved, every inch counts. That's why Brigham Young University researchers have turned to origami as their inspiration. Their folding solar array is designed to be compact at launch and expand to around 10 times its size once it's deployed in outer space.

Sporting 1-cm thick solar panels on a thin flexible membrane, the array will fold down to a diameter of 2.7 m (9 ft), and unfold to about 25 m (80 ft) across.

"The main advantages are its deployed size compared to its stowed size, which makes a larger surface array possible for the same launch volume," the team's leader Larry Howell tells Gizmag. "It can also be scaled to various sizes, such as for Cubesats."

The absence of sliding parts in the solar array also decreases the likelihood of anything failing during deployment. With an array designed this way, scientists would only need to launch, deploy and monitor a single system.

While this array is expected to generate 150 kW of power, the researchers aim to create one that can generate 250 kW for use in satellites or space stations. It's an ambitious plan, especially when you consider that the eight solar arrays currently in use on the International Space Station generate a total of 84 kW of power.

The idea of a deployable solar array came about when grad student Shannon Zirbel spent a summer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Working along with NASA, the team got together with origami expert Robert Lang, whose previous high-tech origami work includes a folding telescope lens prototype. To create the array, they began to investigate compliant mechanisms – elastic structures that work by flexing their parts instead of using joints to achieve movement.

"If something bends to accomplish something useful, then it is a compliant mechanism," Howell tells us. "There was a realization that origami is a compliant mechanism because it gets its motion from bending flexible parts rather than from hinges or bearings."

Getting a solar array to fold up isn't as easy as creating an origami boat or frog. Aside from coming up with a proper fold design, the team also had to find a flexible material of sufficient thickness that could support solar panels, wiring and more. While they still haven't settled on a final material, their current 1/20th-scale prototype makes use of a fiberglass composite called Garolite. The final design will not only have to withstand the harsh conditions of space but also squeeze into a rocket.

"The 25 m (80 ft) array is designed to fit inside an Atlas V rocket for launch," Zirbel tells us. "It hasn't been designed for any specific satellites, but we expect to deploy it with a perimeter truss, such as the AstroMesh from Northrop Grumman."

The team believes that origami-inspired designs could also be used to create expandable nets that can catch asteroids, antennas and solar sails. They're currently working on a compliant pointing mechanism that can be used to orient devices like thrusters and antennas without using bearings.

"We see opportunities ranging from medical products, such as devices for minimally invasive surgery that are small at the incision and expand at the surgery site, space applications (such as the deployable solar array), and consumer products (devices that are compact for shipping or storage but expand for use)," adds Howell. They've also started applying the origami-based solar array design to more down-to-earth applications, and have begun looking into backpackable arrays.

In addition to its NASA funded projects, the team is about a third of the way through a four-year origami-based engineering research contract funded by the National Science Foundation and Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The researchers aim to develop new engineering systems with unprecedented performance capabilities, with insights gained from origami.

"It is stunning to consider the possibilities offered by origami-based engineering," Howell tells us. "It has the potential to change how we engineer products on earth, and beyond."

Source: Gizmag

Kulturinsel Einsiedel: A night in Germany’s bizarre Treehouse Hotel

Kulturinsel Einsiedel: dawn view from the balcony of the treehouse hotel

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The wife and I have just left Blow Up Hall 5050, which (depending on your viewpoint) is either the classiest or most pretentious luxury art hotel in Poland – so we're feeling a bit aloof and sophisticated and thoroughly grown-up as we barrel down the autobahn.

But if there's one place on Earth that could knock just about anybody off their high horse, it's our destination. Sitting right on the Polish-German border, Kulturinsel Einsiedel (which translates as "Culture Island") is a giant, lovingly handcrafted fun park where childish adventure rules the day and creature comforts are left … well, to the creatures.

We're here to stay in the Baumhaushotel, or Treehouse Hotel, but first we have to make our way there, which is a little more difficult than it looks. Our English-speaking guide Ulrike Konrad explains, "what looks like the short cut is never the fastest way here" as she leads us through maze-like bamboo channels, over rope bridges and ladders, and through underground tunnels to the back of the complex. Word to the wise: don't bring your oversized suitcase on wheels. Your correspondent was not wise in this regard.

The five hectare Island (it's not actually an island) is the brainchild of one man, explains Konrad: "The founder of this place is called Jürgen Bergmann. He started off as a forester, but then he learned the craft of … let me think how to say it in English – like wood carving? Specifically in the way of being an artist, like big sculptures and stuff. Sculptures for playgrounds all over the place. He also had an exhibition of all his playground objects, and every time people visited, even if they were just passing by, they were playing with those things. So he finally decided, let's open up a park. It grew from just being a farmhouse to being an area of five hectares."

She points at a purple tower – the Zauberschloss, or Enchanted Castle: "See that on top? It's an antenna. It's supposed to make people who grew accidentally into adults – it returns them into children." And with that we're going in an oddly-shaped wooden door, up a claustrophobic spiral staircase, across a balcony, down a tube slide in pitch darkness into an underground cave, before finally popping back out, completely disoriented. "The tunnels are really fun," says Ulrike, "especially when there's lots of guests and everyone gets stuck in the middle."

There's no such thing as a right angle at the Culture Island, yet every piece of wood fits perfectly against the next, and structures often weave themselves in with the landscape and trees. It boggles the mind how the Island’s craftsmen can work with such organic shapes.

"In the shared living complex, there’s a horse, and donkeys, and a buffalo – they’re housemates,” Ulrike points out as we cross a high and narrow wooden bridge. "And over here, this is a hot tub, you can light a fire underneath and take a bath. We call it the cannibal pot."

Finally we reach the Treehouse Hotel, and it’s a marvel in itself. There are nine tree houses in total, connected by a series of ramps, walkways and platforms built into and around the tall trees. Everything is hand-carved in a precise yet ramshackle style that defies photography but feels quite magical. Some houses sit around 10 meters off the ground, others are higher, and there’s a conveniently located tunnel slide at one end of the complex if you want to take the express route down.

Source: Gizmag

Worms produce pre-colored silk after eating dyed leaves

Like most other fabrics, silk is colored with dye. Unfortunately, the dyeing process results in wastewater laden with toxins. Now, however, scientists from the National Chemical Laboratory in India are developing an alternative. They're feeding dye to silkworms, which in turn are producing pre-colored silk fibers.

The researchers sprayed or dipped mulberry leaves in seven types of azo dye, which is the dye family most commonly used in the food and textiles industries. Those leaves were then fed to Bombyx mori silkworms.

Of the seven dyes, it was found that three ended up making their way into the worms' silk, causing it to take on the color of the dye. None of the dyes appeared to affect the worms' health.

This isn't the first time that silkworms have produced colored silk after eating dye, although the type of dye used in previous efforts was reportedly too expensive for commercial use. Azo dyes, by contrast, are relatively cheap.

Source; American Chemical Society, Gizmag

Japan moving to label nuclear power as 'important' in energy policy

Members of a government panel broadly agreed Friday to draft a long-term national energy plan stating that nuclear power is an "important" source of electricity in resource-poor Japan, even as the country struggles to recover from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis.

"Nuclear power should continue to be used on the condition that its safety is ensured, and it is an important and basic power source that supports the stability of Japan's energy supply and demand structure," a preliminary draft summarizing the opinions of the panel said.Akio Mimura, the head of the panel and senior adviser to Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., told reporters after the meeting that he felt there was "no strong opposition" to the draft. The panel members will meet again next Friday to wrap up their discussion.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Japan approves $182 bln economic package, doubts remain

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet approved a $182 billion package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the impact.

The package has a headline value of 18.6 trillion yen, which is an exaggerated figure as the bulk of the package includes loans from government-backed lenders and spending by local governments that was already scheduled.The core of the package is 5.5 trillion yen in spending measures which Abe ordered in October to bolster the economy ahead of a national sales-tax hike in April. The government does not have to sell new debt to fund this spending.
The steps approved on Thursday include measures to boost competitiveness; assist women, youth and the elderly; accelerate reconstruction from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami; and build infrastructure for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The overall size of the package is on a par with Abe's 20 trillion yen burst of spending early this year as part of his campaign to end 15 years of falling prices and tepid growth.

Source: NewsOnJapan

Ex-Mitsui exec arrested over bribery involving Deutsche Bank unit

Police arrested Thursday a former executive of the Mitsui & Co. group and an employee of Deutsche Bank AG's investment banking arm in Tokyo over an alleged bribery case, they said.

Yutaka Tsurisawa, 60, former Mitsui managing director in charge of handling a corporate pension fund, is suspected of having received bribes from Deutsche Securities Inc. employee Shigeru Echigo, 36, in return for purchasing 1 billion yen worth financial products, according to the Tokyo police.

Echigo allegedly provided Tsurisawa with entertainment such as overseas travel, golfing and dining totaling around 900,000 yen between April and August last year, the police said.

Source: NewsOnJapan

South Africans say to maintain Mandela legacy

Former president Nelson Mandela' s next door neighbors in Soweto on Friday said the best way for South Africa to mourn Mandela's death is for the nation to keep his legacy of "unity and love."

Florence Mabhena, who lived next to Mandela's Vilakazi Street house since the 1960s, said Mandela is a true example of love. Mandela not only loved his neighbors but all South Africans regardless of their races, Mabhena said.

"From now we must continue to love one another," the grandmother in her late 70s told Xinhua in tears. "We must forget the past. Lets take the past as the past, this is what Tata Mandela thought us," she added.

"South Africa must stop saying I hate this person and that person. We must learn to love as Mandela loved us all,"Mabhena said, while calling on all South Africans, black and white, not to be distracted "from unity that Mandela taught us."

Mandela was South Africa's first democratically elected president, serving from 1994 to 1999. Before being elected, he was imprisoned for 27 years.

Upon his release Mandela strived hard for reconciliation in South Africa. His political acumen united a country once dominated with racial and tribal enmity.

"When we saw him going and coming from work we all ran to the street raising our hands and thumbs shouting Africa, Africa, long live Africa. He greeted everybody in the street," another neighbor Ana Maila said.

"We morn the death of Tata (father) by extending love to a person next to you. Mandela was a good example of unity and love in South Africa. I urge all South Africans to keep this legacy," Maila said.

House No. 8115 was the place where Mandela lived and strategized the struggle to bring freedom to South Africans of all races.

The house has been turned into a national museum, with various memorabilia, arts and crafts, honorary doctorates conferred on Mandela and picture collections of the Mandela family.

Mandela and his family lived at this house from 1946 to the 1990s, with his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase, and second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

After Mandela's death, people from all walks of life thronged to the house to show their respect.

"We are here because we love him," Soweto's Elias Motsoaledi Village community leader Lucky Ngobeni told Xinhua. "We are here because he is our father, our leader and our hero," 24-year-old Jomo Maduna from nearby Zola township added. "We are all saddened by this news. This is the death of the son of Soweto,"said Andisiwe Dlomo, 56.

Soweto, an acronym for South-Western Townships, is the largest black residential area in South Africa and a product of the apartheid government's policy of segregation.

Mandela himself didn't spend much time at this house. His growing role in the anti-apartheid struggle drove him underground before his arrest in 1962.

Upon his release from Robben Island in 1990, Mandela moved back to the house for 11 days before moving to Houghton, Johannesburg where he died on Thursday.

Source: Xinhua

Japan enacts controversial state secrecy law

Japan's House of Councillors passed into law a controversial state secrecy law on Friday after days of a standoff between the ruling and opposition camps.

The 242-member Upper House controlled by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its New Komeito ally adopted the bill by a vote of 130 to 82.

The Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese

Source: Jiji Press

Xinhua Insight: Megalopolis strategy spurs mid-west China latecomers

 Kaifeng, known as the "capital of eight dynasties" for its role in China's history, is expected to regain its former glory under a national strategy that will see it turned into the center of a megalopolis.

The ancient capital will be linked with the current provincial capital of Zhengzhou in central China's Henan by a 50.5-km intercity rail line before the end of 2013. While it presently takes an hour to drive between the two cities, that transit time will be cut to 17 minutes by train.

This is the latest major step toward the status of megalopolis, which can be defined as a giant urban area consisting of several large adjoining and interconnected cities. Zhengzhou and Kaifeng have also started to use the same telecom area code, and charges on long distance and roaming calls were canceled in late October.

The Zhengzhou-Kaifeng integration is poised to be the core of the Central Plains Economic Zone, a Henan-centered cross-administrative region which covers 30 cities in Henan and the surrounding Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi and Anhui provinces.

Officials are aiming to have the zone taking shape by 2015 and built into a prosperous, environmentally friendly region by 2020.

The plans come as a shining example of China's work to tap its mass urbanization to facilitate economic upgrading and sustainable growth. As this drive was accelerated during the recently concluded key reform meeting of the Communist Party of China, new focus has been placed on Zhengzhou-Kaifeng integration.

"The formation of megalopolises during the urbanization process is a global trend," said Sun Tingxi, director of the leading group office of the zone and director of the Development and Reform Commission of Henan.

Lagging behind in China's reform and opening up in the past three decades, the central and western regions of the country are expected to generate strength from such urban structures, added Sun.

Chang'e-3 enters lunar orbit

China's Chang'e-3 probe entered a circular lunar orbit at 5:53 p.m. Friday Beijing Time, after about 112 hours on a Earth-Moon transfer orbit, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) said.

The probe entered the lunar orbit after 361 seconds of precise braking by the variable thrust engine, following orders by engineers with BACC.

The center later verified that Chang'e-3 had entered the 100 km-high lunar circular orbit.

The braking was important otherwise Chang'e-3 would have escapes from the Moon, or crashed into it, said BACC.

The probe was launched at 1:30 a.m. Monday from southwest China's Xichang Satellite Center. It should soft-land on the Moon in the middle of December.

Source; Xinhua

Planned orbit trim for Chang'e-3 canceled, it is not necessary.

Chinese lunar probe Chang'e-3 will not perform a planned third trimming of its trajectory along the earth-moon transfer orbit, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Chang'e-3, which is carrying moon rover "Yutu" (Jade Rabbit), was successfully launched early Monday morning from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

"The probe's carrier, an enhanced Long March-3B rocket, entered the orbit with comparatively high precision, and the first two orbital trimmings were highly exact, which resulted in the probe being capable of meeting the demands of near-moon deceleration and follow-up orbital control," said a statement released Thursday by the administration.

Noting good adaptability in the flying control plan for Chang'e-3, the statement added that "it has been decided that a third orbital trimming is not necessary."

If all goes well, the Chang'e-3 mission will mark the first time for China to send a spacecraft to soft-land on the surface of an extraterrestrial body, where it will conduct surveys of the Moon.

According to the administration, the variable thrust engine -- completely designed and made by Chinese scientists -- can realize continuous variation of thrust power ranging from 1,500 to 7,500 newtons. It will offer the main momentum for Chang'e-3 as it decelerates before reaching the lunar surface.

Chang'e-3 has been in normal operation for about 88 hours as of 6 p.m. Thursday, with a distance travelled of nearly 350,000 kilometers, according to the statement.

Source; Xinhua