Tapping Solar Power in Space

The global additive manufacturing industry is currently valued somewhere around $30 billion, depending on which analyst you ask, but many projections expect that value to grow beyond $100 billion as soon as around 2030. But according to Women in 3D Printing, a global organization ... Show More

Do you ever think much about paint and coatings? Or the fact that pretty much everything in the built environment has some sort of protection on it? Paint and coatings are a $200 billion global industry, according to the American Coatings Association. Engineers are constantly dev ... Show More

If you see a concrete structure of any kind, be it a building, road, or maybe piece of art, in all likelihood it’s supported by rebar. While there are a few varieties of steel rebar, from the standard steel to epoxy coated, they all suffer from corrosion issues. Two doctoral grad ... Show More

<p>Some solar mysteries, like the origin of the fast solar wind, can only be solved by getting up close and personal with the Sun. James Drake from the University of Maryland joins Planetary Radio this week to talk about the latest results from NASA's Parker Solar Probe as it soa ... Show More

It’s the highest-intensity solar power you can get. It’s available 24/7. And you can send it anywhere on earth. All you need to do is launch a ten-by-ten kilometer array of solar panels into geosynchronous orbit, capture solar energy, and beam it to earth using a massive antenna ... Show More

<p>Modern life runs on wireless technology. What if the energy powering our devices could also be transmitted without wires? This week we are revisiting a talk by electrical engineer Ali Hajimiri, where he explains the principles behind wireless energy transfer and shares his far ... Show More

<p>Modern life runs on wireless technology. What if the energy powering our devices could also be transmitted without wires? Electrical engineer Ali Hajimiri explains the principles behind wireless energy transfer and shares his far-out vision for launching flexible solar panels ... Show More

<p>Stretching over roughly nine million square kilometers and with sands reaching temperatures of up to 80° Celsius, the Sahara Desert receives about 22 million terawatt hours of energy from the Sun every year. That's well over 100 times more energy than humanity consumes annuall ... Show More

The European Space Agency is exploring a unique way to dramatically cut carbon emissions by tapping sunlight closer to the source.