Using low-bandgap III-V materials such as InAsSb in nanostructured arrays to limit potential loss mechanisms, a 25x improvement in mass specific power and ten thousands times decrease in volume from a MMRTG is an early estimate, with higher performance possible depending on operating conditions. TRC technology will allow a proliferation of small versatile spacecraft with …
Copper-substituted lead apatite, aka LK-99, was claimed to be room-temperature superconductor, but due to the complicated components and structures, the reproduction is still controversial. Chinese researchers have some replication of the Korean work and have extended with better procedures and research. They have updated a prior paper with new synthesis (instructions about how to make …
Dyson spheres (aka Dyson Swarms) are hypothetical structures where civilizations build solar power satellite collection around a star. We currently generate about 50 megawatts from space based solar power out of a total of about 20 terawatts. The total solar energy that hits the earth is about 10,000 times more and the total energy from …
An 83 page 2023, report to the US Congress by the Department of Energy has three citations to articles by Nextbigfuture.com Alternate Fuels: Thorium and Uranium-233, Report to Congress March 2023 This report describes the potential use of thorium fuel and uranium-233 (U-233) in future eneration IV reactor designs and in current light water reactors. …
There has been a lot of speculation about why Tesla cut the 500 person team for Tesla Supercharging infrastructure. Patrick Bet David, successful entrepreneur, podcaster and youtuber has posted the case that Elon Musk cut the Tesla Supercharging infrastructure team and slowed/paused Supercharging network buildout as a power move to get concessions and leverage over …
Unit 2 of the Shin Hanul nuclear power plant in South Korea has entered commercial operation, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) announced. The unit is the second of two APR-1400 reactors at the site, with a further two planned. Georgia Power has announced the start of commercial operations at the second of the two …
Tesla has updated their future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of their previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025. These new vehicles, including more affordable models, will utilize aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of the current platforms, and will be able …
Ate-a-Pi has a weird claim that Mark Zuckerberg does not believe in AI compute scaling delivering better performance. There is also a claim about energy constraints for data centers and AI chips maximizing on performance per watt. Zuckerberg says that the exponential curves are still scaling. He says no ones how long that scaling continues. …
The Princeton Physics Lab has built a Stellarator nuclear fusion reactor prototype using permanent magnets. This is a scientific first that enables mostly off the shelf magnet for simple and low cost experiments to test new concepts for future fusion power plants. It does not generate net energy, but it has some nuclear processes and …
First Light Fusion is developing an inertial fusion with a pulsed process. They fire physical projectiles at high speeds like 40 kilometers per second to generate fusion OR they may use high-power lasers to generate the fusion. They are working on methods with the targets and other systems to amplify the pressures generated and increase …
Would everyone switch to electric cars if good cars with good range could be made for much less than $10,000? What technology could enable those prices? Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It …