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State news agency Xinhua is reporting that China is planning to launch a probe to the moon in the second half of 2013. The Chang’e-3, named after the Chinese moon goddess, will deposit a lander and rover on our natural satellite to survey its bumpy surface. It’ll launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province and is a sign of the continuing ambition of the nation’s space program — after it deposited a crew on its Tiangong-1 space station two months ago.
from Engadget
A power outage struck India’s northern and eastern electrical grids earlier today, hitting around 600 million people — that’s roughly half of the country’s population of 1.2 billion — cutting off electricity to businesses, transit and traffic lights, to name but a few. The power failure hit around 1pm local time “without warning” according to the electric company. The incident follows another major outage the day prior, which affected around 300 million people. Regions have taken to seeking out alternative energy sources such as hydro power, with local business utilizing backup diesel generators and the like, which have helped keep hospitals and airports in service.
[Photo by NASA]
from Engadget
Greenery may fulfill a superficial need to improve the landscape aesthetic, but plants play a much more critical role in regular life function, converting carbon dioxide to oxygen through a process called photosynthesis. Panasonic is among the companies attempting to replicate this natural procedure through artificial means, and it looks like the Japanese electronics maker is well on its way towards a viable solution. Presenting at the International Conference on the Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy this week, Panasonic announced the development of an Artificial Photosynthesis System, which uses a nitride semiconductor to convert water and carbon dioxide — a byproduct of factories and power plants — into an organic material called formic acid, which is used in the manufacturing of dyes and fragrances. Covering the planet in formic acid wouldn’t necessarily represent progress, but assuming demand isn’t exceeded, it certainly beats CO2. Best yet, Panasonic claims that the system converts the substances at plant-like efficiency rates, or 0.2 percent. Hit up the PR after the break for a more granular look at the company’s creation.
from Engadget
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA—Everyone hates commuting. (Disclaimer: I work at home, my commute is only about five seconds between my bedroom and my home office. Thanks Ars!) For most driving commuters, the biggest problem is that there are often hundreds of other cars that want to drive the same stretch of highway at the same time. Cars performing below optimal speed is not only inefficient; it pollutes, too.
So, Balaji Prabhakar, a Stanford professor of electrical engineering and computer science with a background in computer networks, had an idea. He found that there may be a new way to alleviate congestion: rather than imposing a penalty on drivers, why not pay them to simply alter their behavior slightly? That is, what if drivers were given a financial incentive to drive slightly earlier or slightly later than the prime 8 to 9 am window?
“The most important thing about congestion that’s worth knowing is that it’s a 10 percent phenomenon,†he told Ars this month. “That means if you shift 10 percent of the load from peak to off-peak, congestion will come down significantly for everyone. The reason is that as load approaches capacity, the rise in congestion is very severe at the high end. You don’t have to shift everybody. In fact, it’s not worthwhile to shift everybody.â€
from Ars Technica
