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Category: energy – Page 151

A new analysis of the early universe sheds new light on the “cosmic dawn” of the universe

The absence of the 21-centimeter hydrogen line allowed scientists to determine specific properties of the earliest galaxies in the universe.

An international group of astronomers, led by scientists at the University of Cambridge, just shed new light on the cosmic dawn of the universe, a press statement reveals.

The cosmic dawn is a very early period of the universe, during which the first stars and galaxies formed. The researchers used data from India’s SARAS3 radio telescope to analyze this period of the cosmos and determine mass and energy output limits for the first stars and galaxies.

For the first time, Tesla just completed a full load 500-mile trip with its Semi truck

Tesla Semi carried 81,000 pounds for 500 miles on a single charge.

Just a few days before Tesla begins shipping the truck, Elon Musk has verified that Tesla Semi, the company’s Class 8 semi-truck, has successfully completed a crucial voyage.

Although there is no reason to question the outcome, it would be interesting to learn more about speed and energy usage. We are pretty interested in seeing some impartial vehicle tests.

Tesla.

Elon Musk recently tweeted that a Tesla Semi completed an 800-kilometer (500-mile) drive carrying 81,000 pounds (36,740 kilograms), which is nearly 100 percent of its Gross Combination Weight (GCW) of 82,000 pounds.

Higher speeds in free-space optical communications in the midinfrared band

Telecommunications have reshaped many aspects of our lives over the past few decades by providing incredibly convenient ways to share and access information. One of the most important enablers for this transformation has been the adoption and improvement of broadband technologies, which cram enormous amounts of data over wide frequency bands to achieve unprecedented transfer speeds. Today, most large cities have fiber optics-based networks that distribute high-speed internet directly to every home.

Unfortunately, it is not always feasible to deploy fiber optic links to and , due to the associated costs and civil engineering work required. Such places could benefit from a different approach to optical broadband communications: free-space optics. The main idea in free-space optical (FSO) communications is to set up aligned transmitter–receiver pairs where needed and use air as the medium to carry the signals.

While there are still many challenges to address in FSO systems (such as low energy efficiency, impact of weather, and high background noise), scientists worldwide are continuously trying out new ways of solving these issues and achieving higher data rates.

Hackers attacking energy sector using decades-old software, says Microsoft

Boa, an open-source web server suitable for embedded applications that was discontinued since 2005 is now becoming a security threat because of the complex nature of how it was built into the internet of things (IoT) device supply chain. A recent report by tech major Microsoft said that hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in the software to target organizations in the energy sector.

Microsoft researchers revealed in an analysis that a vulnerable open-source component in the Boa web server, is used widely in a range of routers and security cameras as well as popular software development kits (SDKs), a set of tools that allow developers to write or use an existing framework to develop applications for a given platform.

Despite the software being discontinued a nearly two decades ago, Microsoft reports that attackers are continuing their attempts to exploit the flaws of the Boa web servers which include a high-severity information disclosure bug (CVE-2021–33558) and another arbitrary file access flaw (CVE-2017–9833). An unauthenticated attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to obtain user credentials and leverage them for remote code execution.

Human-powered aircraft: Gossamer Albatross made history

It accomplished this record-breaking feat in two hours and 49 minutes.

After aeronautical engineer Paul MacCready won the first Kremer Prize in 1977 for the flight of his human-powered Gossamer Condor over a closed circuit course, he decided to cross the English Channel by air on human-power only, according to a report by The Museum of Flight.

He thus built the Gossamer Albatross aircraft from the lessons learned with the Condor. “This light and fragile aircraft was pushed by a propeller connected through a series of gears to a constantly pedaling pilot,” explained an article in The Museum of Flight.

“A new class of ultralight designs which are characterized by low power requirements”

Using only human power to do anything is an amazing feat but this becomes exceptionally impressive when it pertains to flight. Aeronautical engineer Paul MacCready managed to achieve a human-powered only flight.

Survey: China is slowly diminishing US dominance over science

China has more than doubled the percentage of ‘highly cited researchers’ over the last five years.

China has a steady increase in the number of “high-impact scientists” than the United States, which is still the leader but has seen a steady drop over the years.

Research fuels the race for knowledge.

Andrea Nicolini/iStock.

The numbers are showing a steady expansion over the last five years, according to a survey published last week by Clarivate Analytics, a U.K.-based analytical research group, which assesses the academic influence of scientists.

Photovoltaic windows unlock goal of increased energy efficiency for skyscrapers

Skyscrapers dominate city skylines, but these massive glass-walled structures can be made more energy efficient through the addition of thermally efficient photovoltaic (PV) windows, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Their findings, published in the journal One Earth, outline building design rules that can yield a structure with net-zero or even net-positive energy consumption.

“There are preconceived notions of what an energy-efficient building looks like, and it usually is not highly glazed, and it probably isn’t very tall,” said Lance Wheeler, a scientist at NREL who specializes in integrating PV technology into . “We found that there are other ways to build high-efficiency buildings.”

Hackers breach energy orgs via bugs in discontinued web server

Microsoft said today that security vulnerabilities found to impact a web server discontinued since 2005 have been used to target and compromise organizations in the energy sector.

As cybersecurity company Recorded Future revealed in a report published in April, state-backed Chinese hacking groups (including one traced as RedEcho) targeted multiple Indian electrical grid operators, compromising an Indian national emergency response system and the subsidiary of a multinational logistics company.

The attackers gained access to the internal networks of the hacked entities via Internet-exposed cameras on their networks as command-and-control servers.

Orion moonship operating in near-flawless fashion, mission managers say

NASA’s unpiloted Orion moonship, sailing smoothly toward a remote lunar orbit after a spectacular low-altitude flyby Monday, is operating in near-flawless fashion, mission managers reported Monday, out-performing expectations on a flight to pave the way toward the first piloted mission in 2024.

An analysis of the huge Space Launch System rocket that boosted the Orion capsule on its way early Wednesday showed it performed almost exactly as expected, taking off atop 8.8 million pounds of thrust and producing a ground-shaking shock wave that literally blew the doors off launch pad elevators.

The core stage’s four upgraded space shuttle main engines and twin solid-fuel boosters propelled the 322-foot-tall rocket out of the atmosphere and into space almost exactly as planned. At main engine cutoff, the SLS was within 3 miles of its target altitude and within 5 mph of the predicted velocity.