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Issue no. 15, 2008 Published: May 16, 2008
Researchers break solar cell efficiency record
Google beams cash into solar power
Machine turns urine into drinking water
Europe's first crewed spaceship on the horizon
Virtual telescope brings the cosmos to your desktop
NATO builds cyber-security bunker

Researchers break solar cell efficiency record
European researchers have claimed a new efficiency record for solar cells. Scientists at the Eindhoven University of Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute developed a technique of adding an ultra-thin aluminium oxide layer at the front of a crystalline silicon solar cell. This layer has an unprecedented level of built-in negative charges, through which the normally significant energy losses at the surface are almost entirely eliminated. Just over 23 per cent of all sunlight falling on these cells is now converted into electrical energy. This was formerly 21.9 per cent, which means a six per cent improvement in relative terms. The researchers claim an improvement of more than one per cent in absolute terms. Although this may appear modest, it can enable solar cell manufacturers to greatly increase the performance of their products because the costs of applying the thin layer of aluminium oxide are expected to be relatively low. This in turn will mean a significant reduction in the cost of producing solar electricity. Within 10 to 15 years the price of electricity generated by solar cells is expected to be comparable to that of 'conventional' electricity from fossil fuels, according to the researchers.
VNUnet UK May 15, 2008	back to top

Google beams cash into solar power
Google has stepped up its commitment to solar power with an investment of USD 10m in local company BrightSource Energy. The BrightSource deal is the second such investment Google has made in solar power, after taking a stake in eSolar last month. BrightSource is raising cash in the hope of constructing a series of huge solar power plants in California's Mojave Desert capable of supplying up to 900MW of electricity. The investments are part of Google's 'Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal' initiative. The company is assembling a team of researchers and engineers in the hope of creating a Gigawatt of energy for less than it costs to generate the same amount at a coal-burning power plant. In addition to solar power, the project is also looking at geothermal and wind sources. Google is looking to hire a head of renewable energy research to oversee all of the firm's renewable energy research and development programmes.
VNUnet UK May 15, 2008	back to top

Machine turns urine into drinking water
Astronauts living on the International Space Station soon will take recycling to new extremes: They will get some of their drinking water from the toilet. NASA has spent decades perfecting a system to transform urine into water that can be used in space for drinking, food preparation and washing. Agency officials say the water from the system will be cleaner than US tap water. Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to take the new USD 250 million machine to the station this autumn. If all goes well, the so-called toilet-to-tap system will be fully operational in six months. A toilet will funnel liquid waste to the new system through pipes, but the wastewater from the station's older toilet will have to be carried in tanks to the processing machine. There, water will be distilled from the waste and undergo six steps to cleanse it, including the addition of iodine to kill microbes. The machine will also suck in humidity from the astronauts' sweat and breath and clean it. The end product will fill the bowls of the new toilet and will also dribble from taps in a galley and a 'hygiene centre', where astronauts will bathe and brush their teeth. The new machine will provide roughly half of the crew's water intake.
ABC News / USA Today May 16, 2008	back to top

Europe's first crewed spaceship on the horizon
Europe's first crewed spaceship may be on the horizon. The European Space Agency may build a new spaceship - based on its recently launched cargo ship - that could transport humans to the International Space Station and possibly the Moon. Until recently, Europe had relied on NASA's space shuttles and Russia's Soyuz and Progress vehicles to transfer goods and astronauts to the space station. The Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which successfully transported supplies to the ISS in April, gave Europe its first taste of autonomy. But it can transport only goods, not people, and some experts have called for a crewed craft to build on this success. The project is long way from fruition. In November, it will be officially raised at a meeting of European space ministers, who will decide whether to allocate funding to develop the vehicle. Following that, it will take up to nine years before the first crews step on board the vehicle. But if it is successful, it will be a major step for the European space programme.
New Scientist May 15, 2008	back to top

Virtual telescope brings the cosmos to your desktop
Any Star Trek fan knows that space travel is not always easy, but Microsoft wants to make travelling the 'final frontier' as simple as turning on your computer. The company launched a free software application called WorldWide Telescope on Monday that allows everyone from space novices to astronomy professors easily explore galaxies, star systems and distant planets. The WorldWide Telescope stitches together 12 terabytes of pictures from sources including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The experience is similar to playing a video game, allowing users to zoom in and out of galaxies that are thousands of light years away. It allows seamless viewing of far-away star systems and rarely-seen space dust in breathtaking clarity. Microsoft expects the technology used in the WorldWide Telescope to help the company in future software applications, but the program's goal is to spark children's interest in space and encourage them to pursue careers in science and engineering. The software allows users to develop their own guided tours of the universe to share with others or take part a guided tour created by astronomy experts.
New Scientist May 13, 2008	back to top

NATO builds cyber-security bunker
NATO is to build a dedicated cyber-warfare centre to cope with online attacks against member states and their allies. The Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence will be built in Estonia, which was the first country to suffer a coordinated national online attack. The Centre will be staffed by experts from Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Spain. The attacks on Estonia sparked interest in online warfare when the country, which has pioneered electronic government, came under sustained attack from computers around the world. The attack is thought to have been the work of a flash mob of predominantly Russian computer users protesting against the removal of a memorial in Estonia.
VNUnet UK May 15, 2008	back to top