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Issue no. 38, 2008
Published: Nov 28, 2008

Europe's 10bn-euro space vision
Using invisibility to increase visibility
Light moves tiny devices
Invention: Month-long aircraft flights
Hand controlled computer system 'to make the mouse obsolete'
Actor robots take Japanese stage
Europe's 10bn-euro space vision
Memberstates of the European space agency (ESA) have agreed a EUR 10bn budget at their meeting in The Hague. The figure, which covers the next three to five years, represents a substantial increase in funding.

The new budget will allow ESA to grow its basic science programme, at 3.5% a year, whilst at the same time starting a number of new programmes. Europe's Ariane 5 rocket, which has come to dominate the commercial launcher market, will now be upgraded to allow it to carry heavier payloads than its current nine-tonne limit. Ministers agreed to put almost EUR 1.4bn into its ongoing activities at the International Space Station.

The second phase was approved of the world's most ambitious environmental monitoring project, known as GMES. This will take the 'pulse' of the planet and requires a series new Earth observation satellites to be launched. A project to build the next generation of meteorological satellites was also funded. In addition, Europe will now take the first step in a plan that could eventually lead to a manned spaceship based on its highly successful unmanned space-station cargo-vessel, known as the ATV.
BBC News    Nov 26, 2008 back to top

Using invisibility to increase visibility
Research into the development of invisibility devices has spurred two physicists' thought on the behaviour of light to overcome the seemingly intractable problem of optical singularities which could soon lead to the manufacturing of a perfect cat's eye. Thomas Tyc and Ulf Leonhardt show that it is possible to reflect light from all directions.

Cat's eyes and glow-in-the-dark clothing are effective because they send light back from where they came to either provide direction to a driver on the road or alert drivers of a cyclist's presence but although this works well for light from some angles, it does not work well for all.

Physicists measure the effect that materials have on light using the refractive index, with 1 as the speed of light unobstructed in air. What happens however when the material forces light down to zero or shoots it up to infinity on the refractive index? These are called optical singularities and have long been thought impossible to produce but it is what physicists need to understand to create a material that can reflect light from all directions and thereby create the perfect cat's eye.

Tyc and Leonhardt use ideas from one of the latest trends of optics called transformation optics to transmute the infinity mark on the refractive index into something more practical. Put simply, the scientists have developed a recipe of materials to create optical illusions – some can be used for invisibility devices, others to make things perfectly visible.
EurekaAlert / New Journal of Physics / Institute of Physics     Nov 28, 2008 back to top

Light moves tiny devices
Engineers at Yale University have shown that the force of light can be harnessed to drive nanomachines. The result could lead to all-optical mechanical devices made from nanometre-sized photonic circuits.

The work successfully combines two important emerging fields of research, nanophotonics and nanomechanics, and could make it possible to create tiny optical and mechanical components on the same silicon chip. Although the force exerted by photons is too weak to be felt in everyday life, it can be greatly enhanced by concentrating light in nanosized photonic circuits.

The researchers showed that, when they passed concentrated light through a free-standing nanomechanical photonic resonator, which also acts as a waveguide for light, the resonator bends. The optical force causing this displacement can be measured as a change in the coupling between the resonator and an underlying substrate. The force would be large enough to move nanoscale machinery on a chip, according to the researchers.

The optical force produced in the new method actually acts perpendicular to the direction of the light beam. This is in contrast to previous systems where the optical force was parallel to the direction of light propagation. This now means that mirrors or cavity configurations, which are difficult to implement in integrated chip-scale systems, are no longer required. And the light force is intrinsically fast and can thus drive nanomechanical devices at very high frequencies.
PhysicsWorld / Nature    Nov 26, 2008 back to top

Invention: Month-long aircraft flights
Aerospace giant Boeing wants to build uncrewed planes that can stay aloft for as long as a month, and a new patent application says powering them with hydrogen is the way to do it.

The aircraft is essentially a liquid-hydrogen fuel tank with a payload bay and very long wings. This design differs from most other uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), which use their wings as fuel stores, thus restricting their aerodynamic design. Because the wings don't have to serve double duty, they can be made longer, thinner and more efficient. The craft's fuel tank would store liquid hydrogen in vacuum flasks, thawing it out as needed to fuel propeller engines.

Boeing claims such a design could fly for 10 days or more at 18,000 metres and for as long as 30 days at lower altitudes, all while carrying payloads of up to 450 kilograms. Those capabilities should appeal to more than just the military. Such craft could make it easier to grab high-resolution aerial photos for online mapping services or wildlife monitoring, and could even provide wireless connectivity in remote areas.
New Scientist    Nov 26, 2008 back to top

Hand controlled computer system 'to make the mouse obsolete'
A real-life version of the system used by Tom Cruise in the science fiction film, Minority Report, to control computers simply by pointing could consign the mouse to history. Rather than navigate a cursor across the screen by sliding a mouse across a mat, users would don a pair of special gloves to operate the system known as G-Speak.

In the 2002 Steven Spielberg film characters use elaborate hand gestures to move data across giant screens as they study complex crimes. Any resemblance between G-Speak and the computers in the film is more than incidental: designer John Underkoffler, who developed the system, was one of the scientific advisers to the production team.

Using the intricate movements of the human hand, G-Speak gives the user far greater freedom to manipulate what is on the screen than the traditional drag-and-click system. Objects can be moved around the screen - or even on to another screen - by 'grabbing' them by hand and transferring them. They can even be made to appear larger by pulling them towards the viewer by hand.

The system, developed by Oblong Industries, can currently take up whole rooms but the designers hope to be able to develop much smaller versions.
Daily Telegraph    Nov 24, 2008 back to top

Actor robots take Japanese stage
First there were dancing robots, then house-sitting robots and now a new breed of acting robots is making its big debut on the Japanese stage. The play, which had its premiere at Osaka University, is one of Japan's first robot-human theatre productions. The machines were specially programmed to speak lines with human actors and move around the stage with them.

The play, called Hataraku Watashi (I, Worker), is set in the near future. It focuses on a young couple who own two housekeeping robots, one of which loses its motivation to work. In the play, the robot complains that it has been forced into boring and demeaning jobs and enters into a discussion with the humans about its role in their lives.

So far, the play is only 20 minutes long but it is hoped to become a full-length production by 2010. The Wakamaru robot is manufactured by Mitsubushi but the software to train it for the stage was developed over two months at the university. The 1-m tall humanoid robot is best known as a mechanical house-sitter and secretary. But soon they may be signing autographs or trying to roll away from paparazzi. No word yet on whether they are pleased with the apparent job promotion.
BBC News    Nov 26, 2008 back to top
 
         
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