Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd (MRL) and China Communications Construction Co Ltd (CCCC), the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) will now be 40 kilometers shorter for a total of 648 kilometers and pass through Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan instead of Gombak in the Klang Valley. The cost is RM44 billion (US$11 billion) which is 38% less …
A spinoff from the robot veterans at SRI is making a big bet on ubiquitous soft robotics: SuperFlex aims to establish a new product category with what it calls “powered clothing.” The company, which initially split off in April, hopes to have a product to show in a few months, and has raised nearly $10 …
China aims to fund infrastructure and public projects worth 10.6 trillion yuan ($ 1.6 trillion) through public-private partnerships (PPPs) to leverage investment from the private sector Authorities aim to fund a total of 9,285 infrastructure and public service projects through PPPs, said Shi Yaobin, China’s vice finance minister, at a forum in Shanghai. Yangtze River …
NASA is requesting help to minimize the production, operations, and maintenance (POM) costs of the Space Launch System (SLS), Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS). SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft are costing more than $3 billion per year in development costs. The request would also look at other launch systems. Clearly Spacex offers a lower …
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Argonne National Laboratory have designed an inexpensive thermal energy storage system that will be significantly smaller and perform more than 20 times better than current thermal systems. Argonne’s thermal energy storage system relies on a “phase-change” material that melts as it stores thermal energy and releases energy …
Seven Japanese nuclear power reactors are likely to be in operation by the end of next March and 12 more one year later, according to an estimate by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ). Judicial rulings and local consents will influence the rate of restart, it notes. In its Economic and Energy Outlook of …