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Simulation technology could help future lunar missions to collect Moon dust

Teleoperated robots for gathering Moon dust are a step closer, according to new research by scientists at the University of Bristol. The new race for the Moon is well under way. With its Artemis programme, Nasa is aiming to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon. It expects to return humans to the lunar surface by 2030 and build a permanent research station near the Moon’s south pole shortly after. But Nasa is far from alone in the race. The UK Space Agency estimates that more than 250 missions may go to the Moon in the next decade. Alongside a boom in lunar lander missions this decade, several public and private organisations are now researching how best to extract valuable resources, such as oxygen and water, from readily available materials such as lunar regolith (moon dust…

E+T Magazine in Space
Saudi Arabian megacity is using 20% of the world's available steel

The Neom gigaproject under construction in the Saudi desert is reportedly using one-fifth of the entire world’s available steel. The project was first announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in October 2017. Neom is intended to be an independent, liberal, high-tech megacity with its own tax and labour laws and judiciary. It will cover three countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan) across 26,500km2 of empty desert along the Red Sea. Neom is owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund and is part of Saudi Vision 2030, a plan that seeks to diversify the country’s economy and reduce its dependence on oil. In July 2022, Saudi Arabia presented the first designs for one region of Neom called The Line, a ‘linear city’ expected to accommodate nine million people. The Line consists…

E+T Magazine in Built Environment Technologies
Transport secretary vows to clamp down on ‘out-of-control’ HS2 costs

Transport secretary Louise Haigh has said the costs of HS2 have been allowed to “spiral out of control” and has launched an independent review to get spending back on track. In 2013, HS2 was estimated at just £37.5bn (in 2009 prices) for the whole high-speed network, which included now-binned extensions from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds. But earlier this year, HS2 chair Jon Thompson admitted that costs for just Phase 1 (which will join Old Oak Common in west London to Birmingham Curzon Street and open around 2030) are now estimated to be between £49bn and £56.6bn at 2019 prices. Adjusting for inflation involves “adding somewhere between £8bn and £10bn”, he added. Haigh blamed the soaring costs on a combination of poor project management, inflation and poor performance from the supply…

E+T Magazine in Management of Technology
Engineering a cyber defence: The new skills needed to fortify critical infrastructure

Cyber-informed engineering could empower mainstream engineers with the know-how they need to secure operational tech against rising cyber threats. Cyber threats targeting operational technology (OT) have posed a hazard for infrastructure engineers for more than a decade. Increased integration with IT systems has brought in extra attack vectors that can expose OT environments to the downstream consequences of hacks primarily launched against line-of-business applications. Either way, OT attacks are differentiated in that they have physical consequences, such as production outages, equipment damage, environmental harms and human injuries or casualties. Waterfall Security’s 2024 threat report found that in 2023 there were 68 cyber attacks with physical consequences in/on OT networks (at more…

E+T Magazine in Built Environment Technologies
UK government urged to mandate solar panels on all newbuild homes from 2025

A cross-party group of MPs, environmental groups and fuel poverty charities have written an open letter to the government calling for solar panels and heat pumps to be mandatory on all newbuild homes. The open letter, addressed to housing minister Matthew Pennycook, has been signed by a group of 35 MPs from the Liberal Democrat, Conservative, Labour and Green parties, as well as more than a dozen fuel poverty charities and environmental organisations including Solar Energy UK, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition and the Energy Saving Trust. The letter is in regard to the Future Homes Standard (FHS), which is due to come into effect next year. With heating and powering buildings accounting for 30% of the UK’s total energy usage, the aim of the FHS is to ensure all newbuild homes produce 75-80…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software under investigation after low-visibility crashes

US regulators have launched an investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software after a number of crashes were reported when it was being used in an area of reduced road visibility. Rather than using expensive lidar hardware – the approach favoured by other driverless tech firms such as Google’s sister firm Waymo – Tesla’s Autopilot uses cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar to see and sense the environment around the car. Tesla has said Autopilot enables vehicles to steer, accelerate and brake within their lanes, while FSD lets vehicles obey traffic signals and change lanes. The company has said both technologies “require active driver supervision” with a “fully attentive” driver whose hands are on the wheel and that they “do not make the vehicle autonomous”. However, the…

E+T Magazine in Ethical Aspects
Volcanic magma could power next-gen geothermal energy systems, say scientists

A team of international scientists working at the Krafla Magma Testbed (KMT) in Iceland are exploring how energy extracted directly from magma could be used for next-gen geothermal systems. Geothermal energy is a largely unexplored renewable resource. With 99.9% of our planet being at a temperature greater than 100°C, scientists are investigating how we unlock this almost unlimited resource of magmatic heat. While there are geothermal systems that tap into hot water deep underground to generate electricity, scientists have now been wondering whether these systems could make use of magma’s extreme temperature. In 2009, it was discovered that Krafla, an active volcano in north-east Iceland that last erupted in the mid-1980s, hosts a geothermal system that consists of a highly evolved magma…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
UK urged to redirect military resources toward green manufacturing and climate goals

The UK government should redirect military industry resources towards addressing the climate crisis and improving the domestic economy, a report from the Common Wealth think tank has urged. In 2023, global military spending reached $2.4tn, with the UK ranking sixth in spending, allocating more funds as a proportion of GDP than peers such as France and Germany. Furthermore, there is cross-party consensus to increase military spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2025. The report, A Lucas Plan for the twenty first century, is based on 21 extended interviews with current and former workers in the UK’s military industry. It urges the government to adopt an alternative strategy that would repurpose parts of the UK’s military industry towards civilian sectors with a focus on green manufacturing. Currently…

E+T Magazine in Management of Technology
Tesco announces 15-year plan to buy enough solar energy to power 144 large stores

Tesco has signed a major power purchase agreement (PPA) for solar energy that will see it buy enough electricity for an estimated 144 large stores. Britain’s largest supermarket chain said it would purchase 65% of the solar power generation from Cleve Hill Solar Park in Faversham, Kent. The site is home to the UK’s largest solar and battery storage project, with a capacity of 373MW. It began construction in early 2023 and is set to become operational in early 2025. Tesco said the 15-year agreement represents the largest corporate PPA for solar power in the UK yet. Once complete, Cleve Hill will house more than 560,000 solar panels alongside energy storage infrastructure. The solar park will provide up to 10% of Tesco’s total UK electricity demand. Over the past five years, Tesco has announced…

E+T Magazine in Business Planning
CAA to relax drone rules from 2027 to allow for remote infrastructure inspections

New rules allowing drones to be flown beyond the visual line of sight could unlock their potential to inspect infrastructure such as power lines and wind turbines, as well as increase site security. According to a roadmap from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), routine drone inspections could take place by 2027. This would greatly reduce cost in comparison to human-led operations, which often involve hazardous scenarios requiring stringent safety rules. While some drones have been flying beyond visual line of sight in the UK for several years, these flights are primarily trials under strict restrictions. The regulator’s new rules will include activities where drones can remain at low heights close to infrastructure or near buildings where there is little or no potential for any other…

E+T Magazine in Ethical Aspects
Comment: Helping AI come out of the shadows

Teams should always be encouraged to find innovative applications for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to streamline workflows. However, in a phenomenon known as shadow AI, many employees are using the technology in ways that are not being sanctioned by their employers. This is a problem and not one that is not going to go away any time soon. A recent study from Deloitte found that only just under a quarter of those who have used GenAI at work believe their manager would approve of how they’ve used it. The unsanctioned use of AI could put an organisation in serious legal, financial, or reputational risk. Yet, nearly one-third of employees admitted in a separate survey that they placing sensitive data into public GenAI tools. Unsurprisingly, 39% of respondents in the same study…

E+T Magazine in Business Planning
From the archives - Concorde, Mary Rose and gasoline pump

Tanya Weaver looks back at a famous archeological feat, a gasoline pump lacking cars to fill up and a legendary plane’s final flight. 139 years ago Foot on the gas On 5 September 1885 the first gasoline pump was invented. However, the car had not yet been created. The pump, which featured marble valves, a wooden storage barrel and a wooden plunger to reliably dispense kerosene, was sold by its inventor Sylvanus Bowser of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to the owner of a nearby grocery store, where it was used to dispense kerosene for use in lamps and stoves. His design helped reduce dangerous spillages. Having patented his pump in 1887, Bowser later improved upon his ‘filling station’ design and began selling it to the first automobile-repair garages in 1893. Image credit | Getty21 years ago…

E+T Magazine in History of Engineering
Vast unveils plans for Haven-2 space station as potential ISS successor

Space firm Vast has revealed the first designs for its proposed successor to the International Space Station (ISS). Nasa currently plans to decommission the ISS in 2031 while supporting the creation of private Earth-orbiting space stations to be used by multiple customers both private and public. The ISS has had its operating lifespan extended numerous times over the course of its operation. Nasa is currently overseeing its Commercial LEO Destination (CLD) program, which will decide which firm will build the ISS successor, and is expected to select its Phase 2 winner in mid-2026. If selected, Vast plans to have the first module of its Haven-2 space station fully operational in orbit by 2028. The firm said it would be able to get the module in orbit quickly due to the significant private…

E+T Magazine in Space
Tokamak Energy hopes its pilot fusion energy plant could be built within a decade

Tokamak Energy has released initial designs for its pilot fusion energy plant, which it hopes can be built within the next decade. The early look into the plant was presented at the industry-leading Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Plasma Physics in Atlanta, Georgia, last week. If fully realised, the design will be capable of generating 800MW of fusion power and 85MW of net electricity – roughly enough to power and heat more than 70,000 American homes. The plant will include a complete set of new-generation high-temperature superconducting magnets to confine and control the deuterium and tritium hydrogen fuel in a plasma many times hotter than the centre of the sun. Initial designs are for the tokamak to have an aspect ratio of 2.0, plasma major radius…

E+T Magazine in Nuclear Power
UK considers mandating USB-C as universal charging port for electronics

The UK government is looking into whether to mandate a common charger for electrical goods as part of efforts to cut down on e-waste. In 2022, the EU introduced similar rules mandating that all small- and medium-sized portable devices have a USB-C charging port by 28 December 2024. The rules mean that USB-C ports need to be the standard for mobile phones, tablets, headphones, e-readers, low-powered laptops, keyboards, computer mice, earbuds, smart watches and electronic toys. However, as the UK had already left the EU by then, those rules did not apply to it. The government at the time said it would not introduce similar rules. Nevertheless, the Office for Product Safety and Standards has launched a call for evidence for adopting similar directives as it believes they would benefit…

E+T Magazine in Ethical Aspects
Google signs deal for small nuclear reactors to power AI

Google will buy nuclear energy generated by small modular reactors (SMRs) in a bid to power its increasing reliance on AI. SMRs are easier to scale and more affordable than larger nuclear power plants. The entirely factory-built facilities are typically transported as modules and assembled on-site, which reduces construction activity and makes SMRs a commodifiable product. Google has signed a deal with California’s Kairos Power to build six or seven reactors, with the first being completed in 2030. The search engine giant plans to operate all its data centres and offices on carbon-free energy by 2030 by funding various clean energy projects and technologies. But despite its efforts, the firm’s carbon emissions have actually increased by 50% over the last five years due to its increasing…

E+T Magazine in Nuclear Power
Stansted Airport’s £1.1bn expansion will see upgraded terminal and security systems

A £1.1bn expansion of London’s Stansted Airport has been announced that will create an additional 5,000 jobs and see an extension to its existing terminal. The plans were first announced at the government’s International Investment Summit and follow record-breaking passenger numbers for the airport in 2024 so far. The £600m extension to the airport’s existing terminal will take up the majority of the funds, creating more seating areas plus new shops, bars and restaurants. While planning permission for the extension was secured last October, Stansted only released its first design mock-ups of the new terminal yesterday. Stansted is the UK’s fourth busiest airport after Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester respectively. Some of the new funding will be used to deliver a 14.3 megawatt on-site…

E+T Magazine in Business Planning
‘A day for the engineering history books’ as SpaceX catches giant Starship booster

SpaceX’s quest for rapid reusability is a step closer as the company successfully caught the Starship rocket booster for the first time as it returned to Earth after launch. The 400-foot-tall uncrewed Starship rocket was launched for the fifth time yesterday (13 October) from its Starbase site in south Texas at 7.25am local time. The mission was to break new ground for Starship: rather than have its first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, land in the ocean, as is typical, it returned directly to its launch mount. Three minutes and 40 seconds after lift-off, Super Heavy separated, turned and reignited 13 Raptors (SpaceX-designed rocket engines) to head back toward the Texas launchpad. SpaceX then slowed the booster as it approached the mount, and a pair of huge mechanical arms reached…

E+T Magazine in Space
£1.5m solar heat installation project takes shape on the roof of the British Library

Solar tech company Naked Energy is installing the UK’s largest solar heat project across 712.5m2 of roof space on the Grade I listed building. The installation is expected to reduce the building’s CO2 emissions by 55 tonnes and generate 216MWh of energy annually – the equivalent of powering and heating a community centre or swimming pool for a year. Naked Energy’s technology combines solar photovoltaic and thermal (PVT) technology to generate both electricity and heat from a single collector. These solar PVT collectors, called VirtuPVT, which Naked Energy says are the highest energy density solar technology in the world, can deliver a peak efficiency of 80%, converting 20% of the sun’s energy to electricity and 60% to heat. Being modular in design, these collectors can easily be installed…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
Direct air capture plant in Canada aims to remove up to one million tonnes of CO2 a year

London start-up Mission Zero Technologies (MZT) is working with Montreal-based Deep Sky, the world's first tech-agnostic carbon removal project developer, to validate its electrochemical direct air capture (DAC) technology. MZT’s compact modular DAC system has been delivered and installed at Deep Sky’s carbon removal innovation and commercialisation centre, Deep Sky Labs, in Alberta, Canada. Powered by renewable solar energy, Deep Sky will use MZT’s containerised system to recover CO2 from the atmosphere for permanent storage underground. The aim is to initially demonstrate carbon removal on a small scale using MZT’s technology through capturing up to 250 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere each year. Having validated the technology, the DAC system will then be scaled into a commercial…

E+T Magazine
Climate change could push endangered whale sharks into ship collisions, study finds

Climate change could increase the risk of whale sharks colliding with large ships, according to a University of Southampton study. The authors predict that increased ocean temperatures will push this already endangered species into new habitats crossed by busy shipping lanes. Such a move could increase the chance of collisions by up to 15,000 times by the end of the century compared with the present day. Lead author Dr Freya Womersley said: “These shifts in the whale sharks’ habitat were most extreme under high-emission scenarios. A global reshuffling could lead to core habitat losses in some areas as well as increased co-occurrence with shipping traffic as oceans warm and other variables change.” Whale sharks, the world’s largest fish, are highly mobile and responsive to changes in temperature…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Iberdrola to invest £24bn in UK green energy, boosting grid capacity and renewables

Iberdrola, which owns ScottishPower, has committed to spend £24bn on upgrading the UK’s green energy infrastructure in a doubling of its initial investment plans. Investment in renewable energy generation has exceeded investment in transmission capacity over the past decade, resulting in bottlenecks in the electricity network. The current infrastructure is reaching its capacity and is unable to transport much more electricity without reinforcing the network. Earlier this year, National Grid’s Electricity System Operator said the UK’s grid needed a major revamp in order to connect a raft of new offshore wind facilities set to be built off the Scottish coast, costing an estimated £58bn. Iberdrola said that two-thirds of its investment would be directed to transmission and distribution networks…

E+T Magazine in Business Planning
Interview: Alexis Dabee-Saltmarsh on the HiVE Project and the future of STEM education

With building work almost complete, the High Value Engineering (HiVE) project is looking to welcome its first cohort of students to its high-tech facility. The 22,000-square-foot HiVE facility in Ebbw Vale, Wales, is the result of a £12m investment by the UK and Welsh governments to turn a redundant factory into a state-of-the art training and education establishment. Kitted out with various technologies, robotics and manufacturing equipment, the HiVE will to be used by both post-16 students and businesses, as well as by local primary and secondary schools, to help expand students’ STEM knowledge and skills. Alexis Dabee-Saltmarsh, lecturer in motorsports, aeronautical and composite engineering at nearby higher education college Coleg Gwent, has been involved in the project since its…

E+T Magazine in STEM Education and Skills
Rising costs for Hinkley Point C prompts EDF to seek £4bn from private investors

EDF, the French energy firm building Hinkley Point C, is reportedly trying to raise an additional £4bn to fund the megaproject as costs continue to spiral. According to Bloomberg, EDF is seeking to raise funds by offering investors a stake in the project, although it has pledged to return their funds if the construction is not completed. The interested parties include infrastructure and sovereign wealth funds. Once complete, Hinkley Point C will be the UK’s first new nuclear plant in a generation. Its two nuclear reactors are expected to be able to generate enough low-carbon electricity to power around six million UK homes. However, the project has faced repeated delays. In 2013, EDF estimated that the plant would begin operations by 2023. It now says the first generator won’t be ready…

E+T Magazine in Nuclear Power

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