kerbiloid Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 6 hours ago, farmerben said: Hydrogen can be used instead of Carbon as a reduction agent in steel making. It looks possible for Earth to switch over entirely to this technique in <100 years, if green policies are a priority. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/green-steel-emissions-net-zero/ The fun part: the most part of the hydrogen is produced with carbon or its compounds.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 Raw reentry vid from Varda: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 (edited) That was oddly beautiful. Fixed perspective and the slow tumble made me hum Blue Danube. Edited February 28 by AckSed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 (edited) A sample of printed cardiac tissue for Redwire, and 11 kilometres of ZBLAN optical fibres (sold by the company Flawless Photonics at standard going rate of $1000/m), were returned from the ISS on a Cargo Dragon the other day. Are we approaching a level of It's Happening? Edited May 16 by AckSed Grammar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrandedonEarth Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 $11M worth of fibre, nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 On 9/26/2021 at 2:37 PM, JoeSchmuckatelli said: Kublai does not approve of the export of silk worms Penalties are stiff Spider silk is better anyway. Lost your job? Learn to herd and milk spiders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 4 hours ago, darthgently said: milk spiders Shudders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 Okay, so. Six NIAC projects have been selected to enter Phase II. One of them is about constructing lenses and mirrors in zero-G from suspended ionic liquids. That's not the important part for the purposes of this thread. What is important is that it cites a mission on the ISS, which turned out to be run by Axiom-1 in 2022 to make perfect, solid polymer lenses in microgravity, and I somehow tracked down the video of the entire experiment: My observations: You have to build up a bead on the nozzle of the syringe that also sticks to the rim of the frame, then trace a line around the outside before the blob gloms together. Tricky in a glovebox. You really have to keep it still, and bubbles are a problem. Not a major problem, as he simply used a pipette to suck them out, and you can just wait for the jiggling to subside before curing. I can easily see this being automated. Controlling the curve depends upon controlling the volume of resin. First syringe used less than 9.5 ml to make an estimated 5-6cm lens. Used a literal egg-timer to time the UV curing (4 minutes). Mission control had to ask everyone to stand still while it cured. First lens looked almost perfect. Taping the cap to the side of the next syringe is a trial. Mission control asked him to just take the major bubbles out of the next thicker one, as time was ticking. Couldn't see very well to judge the position of the bubbles to take out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 34 minutes ago, AckSed said: Okay, so. Six NIAC projects have been selected to enter Phase II. One of them is about constructing lenses and mirrors in zero-G from suspended ionic liquids. That's not the important part for the purposes of this thread. What is important is that it cites a mission on the ISS, which turned out to be run by Axiom-1 in 2022 to make perfect, solid polymer lenses in microgravity, and I somehow tracked down the video of the entire experiment: My observations: You have to build up a bead on the nozzle of the syringe that also sticks to the rim of the frame, then trace a line around the outside before the blob gloms together. Tricky in a glovebox. You really have to keep it still, and bubbles are a problem. Not a major problem, as he simply used a pipette to suck them out, and you can just wait for the jiggling to subside before curing. I can easily see this being automated. Controlling the curve depends upon controlling the volume of resin. First syringe used less than 9.5 ml to make an estimated 5-6cm lens. Used a literal egg-timer to time the UV curing (4 minutes). Mission control had to ask everyone to stand still while it cured. First lens looked almost perfect. Taping the cap to the side of the next syringe is a trial. Mission control asked him to just take the major bubbles out of the next thicker one, as time was ticking. Couldn't see very well to judge the position of the bubbles to take out. The bubbles could be centrifuged to the other end of the syringe prior to injection maybe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 On 5/16/2024 at 5:51 PM, darthgently said: Spider silk is better anyway. Lost your job? Learn to herd and milk spiders Hint: Larger spiders are easier to milk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 German company Dcubed preparing a cubesat to build the support structures for a thin-film solar panel in space: https://spacenews.com/dcubed-raises-4-4-million-euros-for-in-space-manufacturing/ Their thing seems to be providing deployable parts for smallsats, including solar panels, so they have experience. No indication on materials or method however, which is saddening. Although going by this photo: Spoiler It looks like they're going to be extruding plastic and curing it with UV light? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 3 hours ago, AckSed said: German company Dcubed preparing a cubesat to build the support structures for a thin-film solar panel in space: https://spacenews.com/dcubed-raises-4-4-million-euros-for-in-space-manufacturing/ Their thing seems to be providing deployable parts for smallsats, including solar panels, so they have experience. No indication on materials or method however, which is saddening. Although going by this photo: Hide contents It looks like they're going to be extruding plastic and curing it with UV light? Wow. I wonder if they coat the plastic with a UV reflective coating before it goes into service. If someone had suggested plastic to me as a good material to withstand the harsh UV and temperature ranges of space I'd have thought I'd misheard them. Plastics in general are typically really bad at that. Are UV-curing plastics better in general at resisting UV damage? Serious question, I don't know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted August 10 Share Posted August 10 Note: I am guessing. That looked like a strong UV light. This may simply be a zero-G print head with fancy lighting or laser measuring. However, a quick search suggests that no, they typically aren't resistant to UV once cured, though the arts-and-crafts video I found showed varying levels of yellowing for different clear resins exposed to 30 days of sunlight, from very little to visible. More speculation: if this is a thermosetting plastic as opposed to a thermoplastic, and they are using fibre reinforcing, it's more plausible, as the combination gives excellent tensile strength, good elasticity and fair thermal resistance. Situating it behind a solar panel may shade it enough from the UV that it's viable. Reference: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Continuous-fiber-reinforced-thermosetting-polymer-3D-printing-device-composites-and_fig5_351217124 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted August 11 Share Posted August 11 7 hours ago, AckSed said: Note: I am guessing. That looked like a strong UV light. This may simply be a zero-G print head with fancy lighting or laser measuring. However, a quick search suggests that no, they typically aren't resistant to UV once cured, though the arts-and-crafts video I found showed varying levels of yellowing for different clear resins exposed to 30 days of sunlight, from very little to visible. More speculation: if this is a thermosetting plastic as opposed to a thermoplastic, and they are using fibre reinforcing, it's more plausible, as the combination gives excellent tensile strength, good elasticity and fair thermal resistance. Situating it behind a solar panel may shade it enough from the UV that it's viable. Reference: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Continuous-fiber-reinforced-thermosetting-polymer-3D-printing-device-composites-and_fig5_351217124 Shading from panels makes sense, as by definition the panels will typically be oriented to the sun. And planet shine is low on UV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted September 21 Share Posted September 21 ESA does 3D metal printing on ISS: https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/06/esa_metal_3d_printing/ It's just a few metal dumbells, but hey - first steps. What made me prick my ears up was this section (emphasis mine): Quote During a panel discussion following the UK premiere of Fortitude, a film about the emerging commercial space industry, Advenit Makaya, Advanced Manufacturing Engineer at ESA, remarked on the potential for recycling space debris in the process rather than having to rely on raw materials launched to the ISS. A new film about commercial space? Give. Turns out it's on Amazon Prime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmerben Posted September 30 Share Posted September 30 One of the easiest mining processes to do on the Moon and Mars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted September 30 Share Posted September 30 2 hours ago, farmerben said: One of the easiest mining processes to do on the Moon and Mars. I highly appreciate him showing what his initial thoughts were and how his process evolved. That's good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerbiloid Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 On 9/30/2024 at 4:57 PM, AckSed said: I highly appreciate him showing what his initial thoughts were Spoiler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing The Moon has seas, so it should have an aquifier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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