Engineering news
Starship nails the landing
Space.com
A prototype of SpaceX’s Starship rocket finally stuck the landing after another high-altitude flight test. The SN15 craft touched down softly following the six-minute flight, which reached 10km altitude and included a number of manoeuvres. Four previous prototypes had exploded following flights.
Royal Marines test Gravity jet suit in boarding exercise
New Atlas
Jet suit pilots have flown between moving inflatable boats and a larger ship in choppy seas, successfully demonstrating the technology from Gravity Industries and its possible applicability in military and naval operations. The suits use back and arm-mounted turbines, with the arms providing direction.
Most manufacturers hit by cyber-crime during pandemic
E&T
More than half of manufacturers were victims of cyber-crime in the last year, according to manufacturers’ organisation Make UK. 63% lost up to £5,000, while 22% lost between £5,000 and £25,000 as a result of the attacks. Automotive companies were reportedly hit ‘particularly hard’, with 62% reporting hacks in the last year.
Lightweight turbines could bring hydrogen production home
Professional Engineering
Members of the public could one day produce and use hydrogen at home thanks to lightweight, efficient wind turbines and safe storage tanks. Both technologies are under development in Germany, at a partnership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (IAP), BTU Cottbus and an industrial partner. The systems could provide hydrogen for heat and power at home, or fuel for cars.
Wind energy hits record levels during bank holiday
The Guardian
Wind farms around Great Britain provided almost half of the energy used on a windy bank holiday on Monday (3 May). Onshore and offshore turbines generated 48.5% of the electricity grid, more than gas, nuclear power stations and biomass combined.
Zero-gravity battery experiments could lead to better fast charging
Professional Engineering
Technology behind the first ever five-minute charge lithium-ion electric vehicle (EV) battery could be improved further by tests in zero gravity. Coin-style cells of StoreDot’s extreme fast charging (XFC) battery will be charged and discharged hundreds of times during experiments onboard the International Space Station. Results could help optimise safety and cycle life.
London City airport goes remote controlled
E&T
Air traffic control at London City airport is now handled 80 miles away in Swanwick, Hampshire. The move was enabled by a ‘digital control tower’, with 16 HD cameras streaming live video, audio and radar data to a control room fitted with 14 screens displaying augmented views of the air space.
Voltage-activated adhesive fixes blood vessels
The Engineer
Researchers at NTU Singapore and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a device that could fix broken blood vessels inside the body. A catheter deposits ‘Voltaglue’ adhesive patches before applying voltage to harden the patch and glue holes shut.
Photosynthetic material could be made into living clothes
Professional Engineering
A new living, photosynthetic material could be used for clothes, energy harvesting or medical applications, its developers have said. An international team of researchers from the University of Rochester in New York State and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands used 3D printers and a novel bioprinting technique to print algae into the ‘tough and resilient’ material.
Transparent wood could have structural applications
E&T
A transparent wood material developed at Stockholm’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology could have structural applications, its developers have said. The team used an extract from orange juice production to strengthen the wood after stripping out lignin, which forms rigid cell walls but also absorbs light.
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