(Artist concept of the reactor. via Galaxy Wire)

NASA and the DOE are set to create a new type of power system for use in future space exploration. The concept is a mini-fission reactor that is 1.5 feet wide and 2.5 feet high.  "[It is] about the size of a carry on suitcase," said project leader James E. Werner at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Werner continued, "The biggest difference between solar and nuclear reactors is that nuclear reactors can produce power in any environment. Fission power technology doesn't rely on sunlight, making it able to produce large, steady amounts of power at night or in harsh environments like those found on the Moon or Mars. A fission power system on the Moon could generate 40 kilowatts or more of electric power, approximately the same amount of energy needed to power eight houses on Earth."

No exact word was said about how the actual device operated past saying it had a power conversion system. With a device that size, and lack of water in the destined locations, a steam turbine could not be used. From what I can gather, it will use some sort of thermal heat to electricity method. A Peltier junction, for example, could do exactly what they need.

Space exploration is not ended like NASA's shuttle program, it is just waiting for advancements like this mini-reactor to become reality.

Eavesdropper

Honda Soltec Co., Ltd. will this year release a new thin-film solar cell with an even more compact design than the current model to allow efficient installation on a wide range of roof shapes. The prototype manufactured using existing Honda Soltec equipment achieved a module conversion efficiency of 13.0%. Honda is working to further improve module conversion efficiency as it brings the product to market. Honda’s independently developed CIGS thin-film solar cells require little energy in the manufacturing process, further contributing to environmental preservation. Honda will continue to contribute to the preservation of the global environment by developing thin-film solar cells that respond to market needs, thereby promoting further widespread use. The performance of the photosensitive CIGS layer has been improved and the surface area of the surrounding frame and other non-photosensitive portions reduced, resulting in approx. 10% increase in module conversion efficiency compared to the current model. This results in more power generated from the same installed surface area. The new model is more compact, with only approx. two-third the module surface area of the current model, allowing it to be installed in limited space on a wide range of roof shapes. This will facilitate the efficient installation of more thin-film solar cells in a variety of locations. For more information visit: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.honda.co.jp/soltec/&ei=6O5GTfbSLMP98Ab1-M2eAg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.honda.co.jp/soltec/%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DhsI%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Divns

Eavesdropper

Researchers from the University of Washington have developed a completely tree-powered electrical circuit. The nano-scale device, approximately 130 nanometers in size, consumes just 10 billionths of a watt (10 nanowatts). Unlike the legendary science fair experiment in which a potato-based electric circuit is created using two electrodes (each electrode being a different metal, which react with the starch, causing a potential difference and thus a current), the UW device utilizes electrodes comprised of the same metal, and is able to generate (output) 1.1 volts. “As far as we know, this is the first peer-reviewed paper of someone powering something entirely by sticking electrodes into a tree,” according to paper co-author Babak Parviz, associate professor of electrical engineering at the UW. Recently researchers at MIT discovered that a constant current of about 200 millivolts is generated between plant and soil. But that work did not involve attempting to power any device or circuit, which would require making a device capable of running (performing some function) on exceedingly low voltages. The UW researchers sought to apply this knowledge to power an actual device. In seeking an ideal candidate power source under-graduate student Carlton Himes discovered that the broad-leaf Maple tree (common in the area) supplied a steady voltage of a few hundred millivolts. Despite this, the researchers realized that they would need a bit more juice to power such circuit. To solve this challenge, co-author and UW assistant professor of electrical engineering Brian Otis led a team that developed a ‘boost converter’ which takes the low incoming voltage and stores it to produce a stronger output. The device is able to work with voltages as low as 20 millivolts and can output 1.1 volts–enough to power a small sensor that can be used to take the ‘pulse’ of the tree (its periodic pulsing of electrical energy) which may indicate its overall health.

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While scientists are finding ways to make batteries smaller and even more powerful, problems can arise when these batteries are much larger and heavier than the devices themselves. University of Missouri researchers are developing a nuclear energy source that is smaller, lighter and more efficient. “To provide enough power, we need certain methods with high energy density. The radioisotope battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries,” said Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at MU. Kwon and his research team have been working on building a small nuclear battery, currently the size and thickness of a penny, intended to power various micro/nanoelectromechanical systems (M/NEMS). Although nuclear batteries can pose concerns, Kwon said they are safe.  His innovation is not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor. Kwon’s battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor. “The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor. By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem,” explained Kwon. For more information please visit: http://ceramics.org/ceramictechtoday/tag/jae-kwon/

Eavesdropper

Wladek Walukiewicz has lead a group of scientists working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Rose Street Labs Energy and Sumika Electronic Materials, Inc. They have been studying the properties of GaNAs alloys, and they believe that the characteristics of these semiconductor alloys could lead to more efficient solar cells. “In solar cells made of standard semiconductors, the electric current is produced by electron-hole pairs photo-excited across the band gap separating the conduction and the valence band, only the photons with the energy larger than the band gap can produce electric current. This creates the solar cell power conversion dilemma,” said Walukiewicz. This dilemma means that in order for a solar cell device to be efficient, it must be complex, incorporating different layers with different gaps so that different portions of the solar spectrum can be absorbed. Walukiewicz and his colleagues believe that they have found a way around this. By using GaNAs alloys, the group has created a single material that can absorb multiple portions of the solar spectrum. “Scientists have been mixing semiconductors for years, creating materials with properties tailored for specific applications. But they were working with semiconductors that wanted to be mixed. We work with materials that don’t want to be mixed, using special methods to force them,” Walukiewicz says. When this mixing happens, Walukiewicz points out, interesting properties are seen, like the one that allows for an intermediate band of states to be formed in a wide gap semiconductor. The band acts as a stepping stone in the semiconductor band gap. As a result, solar cells developed with the GaNAs alloys have the potential to contribute to solving a problem in the world of solar energy.

Eavesdropper

Researchers at Northwestern University have placed nanocrystals of rock salt into lead telluride, creating a material that can harness electricity from heat-generating items such as vehicle exhaust systems, industrial processes and equipment and sun light more efficiently than scientists have seen in the past. The team dispersed nanocrystals of rock salt into the material lead telluride. Past attempts at this kind of nanoscale inclusion in bulk material have improved the energy conversion efficiency of lead telluride, but the nano inclusions also increased the scattering of electrons, which reduced overall conductivity. In this study, the Northwestern team offers the first example of using nanostructures in lead telluride to reduce electron scattering and increase the energy conversion efficiency of the material. “We can put this material inside of an inexpensive device with a few electrical wires and attach it to something like a light bulb, the device can make the light bulb more efficient by taking the heat it generates and converting part of the heat, 10 to 15 percent, into a more useful energy like electricity,” said Vinayak Dravid, professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. Dravid continued, “The energy crisis and the environment are two major reasons to be excited about this discovery, but this could just be the beginning, these types of structures may have other implications in the scientific community that we haven’t thought of yet, in areas such as mechanical behavior and improving strength or toughness. Hopefully others will pick up this system and use it."

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