Hyperloop One completed the world’s first successful Hyperloop full systems test. They completed systems test at their DevLoop site in the desert north of Las Vegas. They installed almost 1,000 feet of the linear motor in a 1,640-foot-long tube capable of reducing the air pressure down to the equivalent of 200,000 feet above sea level. …
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha government has approved the start of construction of a US$5 billion (S$6.9 billion) high-speed train project, to be developed by China. Bangkok to the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, a distance of more than 250km, will start later this year and is scheduled for completion in 2021. It will cost …
Construction of high-speed railways abroad is part of Beijing’s massive “One Belt, One Road” initiative to increase trade and infrastructure links with countries from Asia to Africa, but most of the current rail projects have stalled. China had a 124,000 km rail network as of the end of last year, featuring the world’s largest high-speed …
China has a new larger Type 055 destroyer. I has an estimated displacement of 12,000 tons and and overall length of 180 meters. The latest USA Arleigh Burke Flight IIA weighs in at 9,200 tons, with an overall length of 155 meters. The proposed Flight III upgrade adds an estimated 600 tons displacement without any …
China plans to launch its first cargo spacecraft in April, state media reported on Tuesday, taking a step toward its goal of establishing a permanently manned space station by 2022. President Xi Jinping has prioritized advancing China’s space program, saying it was needed to enhance national security and defense. Plans for the maiden voyage of …
Princeton engineering researchers have illuminated another path forward for LED technologies by refining the manufacturing of light sources made with crystalline substances known as perovskites, a more efficient and potentially lower-cost alternative to materials used in LEDs found on store shelves. The researchers developed a technique in which nanoscale perovskite particles self-assemble to produce more …
Elon Musk has tweeted out a picture of his tunneling machine. Last week, Musk admitted that “they don’t really know what they are doing” when it comes to digging holes, but he sees an opportunity to significantly increase the speed of making tunnels. Elon Musk estimates a 5 to 10x increase in tunneling speed is …
Roam Robotics wants to create light and affordable exoskeletons that will be usable by a lot of people for everyday use. They are developing a new generation of robotic orthotics that are constructed entirely out of fabric. These devices omit the rigid materials used in traditional exoskeleton designs for inflatable structures using high-strength fabrics to …
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 …
Femtosecond laser writing of vacancies into diamond can be used to produce optically coherentNV−color centers at desired locations. The submicrometer positioning accuracy achieved is sufficient for placing NV−centers in optical structures such as multimode waveguides and whispering gallery resonators or under solid immersion lenses. The demonstrated accuracy is limited by the diffusion of the vacancies …
A DARPA project could enable radio to be transmitted through water and rock. Radio frequency signals hit veritable and literal walls when they encounter materials like water, soil, and stone, which can block or otherwise ruin those radio signals. This is why scuba buddies rely on sign language and there are radio-dead zones inside tunnels …