• Rolls-Royce secures further funding to progress its space nuclear reactor technology

    Rolls-Royce’s space nuclear power technology is one of a number of national projects to secure funding from the UK Space Agency (UKSA). The £4.8m awarded to Rolls-Royce under the UKSA’s National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP) will help it advance the development and demonstration of key technologies in the space nuclear micro-reactor. The Rolls-Royce NSIP, with a total project cost of £9.1m, aims to bring the nuclear micro-reactor closer to a full system space flight demonstration before 2030. Over the next 18 months, in collaboration with academic partners from the University of Oxford and Bangor University, this funding will help accelerate the programme further. The limiting factor for long-term space exploration is ensuring there is sufficient power onboard a spacecraft. Unlike…

  • Ofcom promises to crackdown on deepfakes as new detection method is discovered

    Ofcom has warned it will penalise online platforms that fail to tackle the rising number of illegal deepfakes as researchers develop a new process for detecting them using techniques normally deployed in astronomy. The regulator commissioned research that showed that two in five people have seen at least one deepfake in the last six months that includes depictions of sexual content, politicians and scam adverts. Concern over their proliferation on social media is ramping; in January, research was published revealing that more than 100 deepfake video ads impersonating Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had reached 400,000 people on Facebook as part of a concerted smear campaign ahead of the general election. According to Ofcom, among adults who say they have seen deepfake content, one in seven…

  • Latest Typhoon successor concept unveiled at Farnborough Airshow

    Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) partners have unveiled a new concept model of its next-generation combat aircraft. In December 2023, Britain, Japan and Italy signed an international treaty to set up the GCAP, a next-generation fighter jet programme. The aim of this strategically important partnership is to bring together the three governments and their respective industry partners – BAE Systems (UK), Leonardo (Italy) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan) – to collaborate on shared military and industrial objectives in the development of the next-generation fighter jet. “The pace of the programme is extraordinary, building on a solid foundation and industrial legacy in each country and government-led partnership,” said Guglielmo Maviglia, chief global combat air programme officer…

  • Aviation sector faces sustainable aviation fuel mandate from January, government confirms

    A mandate on the aviation sector to supplant 2% of its jet fuel demand with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will be in place from 1 January 2025, the government has confirmed. The mandate was first introduced by the previous Conservative administration in 2022 and requires the sector to ramp up its usage of SAF until at least 10% of UK aviation fuel is derived from sustainable sources by 2030. In a written statement to parliament, transport minister Louise Haigh said the Labour government would to stick to the previous government’s plan after introducing a bill to support SAF production in the King’s speech last month. SAF is considered a major tool in helping to lower climate change emissions from air travel – widely regarded as one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonise. SAF can…

  • Global electricity demand set to rise strongly in 2024 and into 2025, IEA report finds

    The International Energy Agency (IEA) Electricity mid-year update report forecasts that global electricity demand will grow by 4% in 2024 and continue to rise in 2025. Solar is expected to meet roughly half of this growth in demand. The report explores the latest data for 2023 and 2024, and uses it to forecast global electricity demand for 2025. The report also explores supply by fuel type and CO2 emissions from the power sector, and analyses the latest developments in major markets, including China, the US, the European Union and India. The findings reveal that global electricity demand will grow by around 4% in 2024, up from 2.5% in 2023 – the highest annual growth rate since 2007. This 4% growth is set to continue into 2025. Global economic growth, intense heatwaves and increasing…

  • Vertical Aerospace announces testing programme of next-gen eVTOL at Farnborough Airshow

    The five-day Farnborough International Airshow, one of the largest aerospace shows in the world, kicks off today. Among the many debuts, demonstrations and announcements is the news that global aerospace and technology company Vertical Aerospace will commence testing of its next generation VX4 eVTOL prototype. Founded in 2016, Bristol-headquartered Vertical Aerospace is on a mission to develop the “world’s most advanced and safest” Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft. As the Farnborough Air Show kicks off, the company has revealed that testing on its recently announced VX4 prototype – a piloted, four-passenger eVTOL aircraft, with zero operating emissions – has commenced. This will involve powered propulsion testing of the prototype’s powertrain, which includes proprietary…

  • Paris Olympics: enhancing athlete performance with AI

    Advances in AI have made this summer’s Paris Games the most technologically advanced Olympics ever. A modern-day Olympic Games is much more than a sporting spectacle. It’s also a chance for the host nation to parade itself in front of, in this summer’s case, an estimated 15 million travelling fans and another billion watching on TV. The Olympics gives associated businesses an opportunity to promote and present themselves to investors, customers and partners all over the world. And of course, the Games provides a global platform for the latest technologies. “The Olympic Games has always been a facilitator of technological innovation,” says Richard Haynes, professor of media sport at the University of Stirling. “If the Olympics isn’t actually driving innovation, it certainly provides a huge…

  • Major global IT outage involving Microsoft PCs causing mass disruption around the world

    Many organisations across the globe have today been faced with the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ on their Microsoft PCs caused by a faulty cyber-security update. The inability to reboot their systems has led to mass disruption. Earlier today many organisations, firstly in Australia, started reporting “IT issues”. In particular, Microsoft’s Windows 10 PCs were displaying the ‘Blue Screen of Death’, with the user then unable to reboot the system. What started as one or two reports has escalated to a mass global outage, with reports streaming in from firms and institutions from all corners of the globe. Emergency services across the world are affected, flights are grounded at many major international airports, trains are being delayed, broadcasters have gone off air and in-store payments in many…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Case against new Cumbrian coal mine reaches High Court, with owner claiming it is ‘net zero’

    The case against a new Cumbrian coal mine has entered the High Court, with the owner defending it as a “unique net zero” mine – while Friends of the Earth calls it a “zombie coal mine that would be a huge mistake for our environment, economy and international reputation”. In December 2022, more than a year after the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicated in its net zero emissions (NZE) scenario that there was no need for “new coal mines or mine extensions”, the West Cumbria Coal Mine (or Woodhouse Colliery Mine) became the first new deep coal mine to be approved in the UK in 30 years. The previous government granted a development consent order to West Cumbria Mining (WCM) for the development of the large underground metallurgical, or ‘coking coal’, mine at Whitehaven on the Cumbrian…

  • Australian solar project with 2,671 mile undersea cable to Singapore gains environmental approval

    Australian renewable energy company SunCable has announced it has obtained principal environmental approval from Australia’s Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority to develop its Australia-Asia Power Link (AAPowerLink) project. The objective of the AAPowerLink project is to harness energy from solar panel farms in Australia’s reliably sunny Northern Territory, in an area known as Powell Creek in the Barkly region. This renewable energy will be stored in a nearby battery storage facility and then transmitted 24/7 to Darwin and Singapore via a high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system. This includes 800km of overhead transmission to Darwin and 4,300km of subsea cables to Singapore. According to SunCable, AAPowerLink is the world’s largest renewable energy and transmission…

  • Dual-headed floating wind turbine designed for deep sea applications is assembled in China

    A Chinese wind turbine manufacturer is a step closer to installing its giant floating offshore wind turbine platform in deep water following its assembly in the port city of Guangzhou. MingYang Smart Energy has launched OceanX, its new 16.6MW floating wind turbine design featuring a dual-turbine ‘V’ shape and with blade diameters of 182 metres. The firm made the announcement on a LinkedIn post, stating that the “innovative design optimises wind capture and efficiency”. The turbine has been specifically designed to operate in waters deeper than 35 metres. To keep it in place, the V-shaped structure is braced with high-tension cable stays and mounted on a Y-shaped floating platform. The floating platform weighs approximately 15,000 tonnes and is constructed with ultra-high-performance…

  • UK to import record amounts of electricity in 2024, nuclear industry warns

    The UK is on course to import record amounts of electricity from abroad in 2024, raising concerns that domestic energy infrastructure is not adequate to meet demand. Figures from the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) showed that the UK relies on other countries to power more than 10 million homes, and June saw the highest ever proportion of imported electricity. Nine different interconnectors with a total capacity of 9.2GW link Britain to six other European markets. Nuclear energy from France is currently the leading source of imported electricity to the UK, the NIA said. Government data showed that net electricity imports from France to the UK totalled 12.7TWh last year, with nuclear making up the bulk of that power. France’s grid is made up of around 70% nuclear. Norway is the second…

  • Lucid claims to have achieved the best energy efficiency yet for an electric car

    US carmaker Lucid Motors has claimed that the 2025 model of its Air Pure range will be the most energy-efficient mass-produced electric vehicle (EV) released to date. The firm, which was formed in 2017 by former Tesla vice-president Bernard Tse, says the new model can achieve a “landmark” 5.0 miles per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy, with a record 146 miles per gallon equivalent. The total range for the electric sedan is an estimated 420 miles, just one mile more than the 2023 model. However, this was achieved on a reduced battery size – 88kWh for last year’s version compared with 84kWh in 2025. Lucid said reducing the battery pack size allows more cars to be built from a given quantity of raw materials. When it is time to recharge, the smaller pack also reduces the demands on public power…

  • 200 years of electric dreams - EVs coming of age

    As tempting as it is to think that the current surge in EVs represents a frontier in breakthrough technologies, we’ve been quietly working away at delivering electric-powered transportation for close on two centuries. If you want to know what the appeal of today’s electric vehicles (EVs) is, look no further than the advertisements. Under the banner of ‘Take the Lead. Drive Electric’, Kia, maker of the EV6, says the ‘future of driving is now’. With its XC40 Recharge compact SUV, Volvo declares that ‘the future is electric’. A promotion for the Volkswagen eGolf shows a driver bidding a petrol pump assistant a tearful goodbye before driving off into an electric future. Of its Concept EQ, Mercedes simply states ‘Goodbye noise, hello electric’, while Polestar 2 is self-assured enough to poke fun…

  • Agriculture could become UK’s leading climate change contributor by 2030s

    The agriculture sector could become the UK’s largest contributor to climate change by the middle of the 2030s as decarbonisation efforts falter, an analysis has revealed. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has found that government data for the sector shows that progress on emission reductions for farming and land use is significantly off target. With the government pushing forward with efforts to decarbonise the UK’s energy supply by 2030, the ECIU finds that it is “likely” that agriculture and land use will leapfrog electricity generation this year to become the fourth biggest emitter. Emissions from agricultural activity are primarily generated by methane from livestock digestion, nitrous oxide from fertiliser application, carbon dioxide from the use of fossil fuels in…

  • UK grid operator outlines three ‘credible’ pathways to reach net zero by 2050

    The National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) has launched its 2024 Future energy scenarios (FES) report, which outlines possible pathways to “achieve a fair, affordable, sustainable and secure clean energy system by 2050”. Unlike previous years, in which the FES framework would assess a wide range of possible scenarios, the 2024 framework – Future energy scenarios: ESO pathways to net zero – presents a narrower range of pathways. Each pathway identifies strategic choices that can be made on the route to net zero. In the foreword to the report, Claire Dykta, National Grid ESO director of strategy and policy, said: “Decarbonisation of the energy system is the challenge of our generation. In recognition of the expansive industry transformation required to Great Britain’s energy network…

  • Burning ammonia as shipping fuel could create significant public health risks, according to study

    Ammonia has attracted wide interest as a source of zero-emission fuel for shipping, but a study from MIT has found that burning ammonia could significantly worsen air quality, leading to devastating impacts on public health. The huge container ships used to deliver cargo across oceans emit large quantities of air pollutants from their diesel engines that drive climate change and have human health impacts. It has been estimated that maritime shipping accounts for almost 3% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and that the industry’s negative impacts on air quality cause about 100,000 premature deaths each year. The International Maritime Organization has set goals to reduce the carbon intensity of international shipping by 70% by 2050 compared to 2008 emission levels. One potential…

  • Twenty Starlink satellites fall to Earth after botched rocket launch

    Twenty Starlink satellites have fallen to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere just days after being launched into orbit due to a faulty rocket. The Elon Musk-founded firm operates a constellation of over 3,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit that can provide a broadband-quality data service to devices across the globe, including in areas not served by traditional radio towers. On July 11, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 20 additional satellites for the constellation. While the launch was a success at first, a liquid oxygen leak developed on the second stage, which prevented one of the engines from firing. Starlink confirmed that this technical issue left the satellites “in an eccentric orbit” that was just 135km above the Earth, which caused them to face higher atmospheric drag…

  • Regulator clamps down on North Sea oil and gas decommissioning delays

    North Sea operators must take action on decommissioning oil wells to support the UK’s supply chain and stop costs spiralling, the industry regulator has warned. In its latest decommissioning cost and performance update, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) revealed that the North Sea oil and gas industry spent close to £2bn on decommissioning in 2023. However, despite this cost, operators only achieved 70% of planned decommissioning activities in 2023. Hundreds of wells will need to be decommissioned every year as more oil and gas fields shut down. In the decommissioning process, wells, once they have stopped producing, are plugged with concrete to protect groundwater resources and prevent surface pollution and methane emissions. Decommissioning is an expensive process. The report…

  • Laser communications promise 1,000-fold speed boost for satellite data

    Earth-bound lasers sending data to orbiting satellites will increase communication speeds with space 1,000-fold, researchers have said. A team from the University of Western Australia (UWA) has developed TeraNet – a network of optical ground stations specialising in high-speed space communications. The network received laser signals from OSIRISv1, a laser communication payload aboard a German satellite developed by the University of Stuttgart. The signals were detected using two of the TeraNet optical ground stations during fly-bys of the satellite last Thursday. “This demonstration is the critical first step in establishing a next-generation space communications network across Western Australia,” said Sascha Schediwy, associate professor at UWA. “The next steps include joining this network…

  • New EV charging point installed every 25 minutes, ChargeUK finds

    A new public chargepoint for electric vehicles (EVs) is being installed every 25 minutes in the UK – roughly keeping pace with the expanding market for the new vehicles, a lobby group has said. The new figures come as a welcome reprieve after years of warnings that EV infrastructure was not being installed at the rates needed to meet climate targets. In 2021, a study even warned that that the installation of chargers would need to increase by five times the rate at the time if the plan to phase out petrol vehicles by 2030 was to be achieved. But ChargeUK’s latest analysis shows that there are now over 930,000 public, home and work chargers supporting around 1.1 million EVs – or nearly one charger for every EV. The group launched in April 2023 to represent 18 of the largest companies responsible…

  • Plan to expand one of Germany’s busiest autobahns sparks backlash from campaigners

    A proposal to increase a section of Germany’s autobahn to 10 lanes has campaigners concerned that it will increase carbon emissions and noise pollution, as well as causing the demolition of homes and biodiverse habitats. The Autobahn 5 (A5) in Germany is one of the busiest highways in the country. Stretching 445km, it runs north to south from its junction with the A7 at Hattenbach to the Swiss border at Basel, closely following the Rhine. As it passes through many major cities as well as Frankfurt Airport, the A5 is notorious for heavy traffic. It is especially busy for 30km from a junction near Frankfurt Airport to the town of Friedberg to the north. This section is currently either six or eight lanes. A proposal to increase the A5 has been laid out in a feasibility study commissioned…

  • Will digital currency from central banks pay off?

    Central banks around the world are working on digitising cash. Will it pay off? The timing could not have been better for its fans. When the paper that introduced Bitcoin’s protocol appeared on Halloween 2008 under the pen name Satoshi Nakamoto, the financial system was running scared. Bitcoin was not about to fix the excesses of arcane financial magic gone wrong in the shape of collateralised debt contracts. But it promised believers with piles of cash a way to sidestep the traditional financial institutions. Nakamoto presented Bitcoin as ‘electronic cash’. But it shares few characteristics with cash other than the ability to spend it without relying on a bank or similar intermediary to process the transaction. Bitcoin enthusiasts are keen on one of these characteristics: it promises the…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Japanese spacecraft gets up close with bus-sized piece of floating space junk

    Astroscale’s active debris removal spacecraft, ADRAS-J, has sent images back to Earth of a close encounter with space debris in Earth’s orbit. Headquartered in Japan and with subsidiaries in the UK, US, France and Israel, Astroscale is a satellite servicing and space debris removal company. In February 2024, it launched ADRAS-J into orbit. Its mission is to test safe methods of approaching and surveying large pieces of space debris in orbit – what Astroscale calls rendezvous and proximity operations. To test its capabilities, ADRAS-J was aimed at a piece of floating space junk – the discarded upper stage of a Japanese H-2A rocket launched in 2009. This bus-sized piece of debris measures 11 metres by four metres, and weighs approximately three tons. In June 2024, ADRAS-J managed to get…

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