Planning space missions is traditionally a time-consuming and costly process. But the new Australian National Concurrent Design Facility (ANCDF), housed at UNSW’s Canberra campus, speeds things up so a mission can be planned in weeks rather than months. Harnessing the expertise, design processes and software of the French Space Agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales),…
Footage of HMAS Canberra available. Photos and video below. A new corrosion-resistant coating that halved the build-up of algae and barnacles on ship hydraulic components is now being trialled on HMAS Canberra, one of the Royal Australian Navy landing helicopter dock ships. Researchers from Swinburne University of Technology are collaborating with experts from the Defence…
Science is important in solving the world’s biggest problems. But can the social sciences solve our planet’s biggest issues on their own? Last month’s Woolworths’ and Coles’ plastic bag ban is a perfect example: environmental scientists have known for decades that plastic is harmful to the environment but changing habits at the individual level has…
We can’t cram any more processing power into silicon-based computer chips. But a paper published in Nature overnight reveals how we can make electronic devices 10 times smaller, and use molecules to build electronic circuits instead. We’re reaching the limits of what we can do with conventional silicon semiconductors. In order for electronic components to…
The sweet spot for rail repair vs efficiency Computer models to predict how railcars will respond to different track conditions are being developed by Indonesian and Australian researchers, to improve rail safety and efficiency in both countries. They’ve already created a successful model for passenger carriages, which has been validated against the performance of trains…
Monash engineers have designed, printed, and test-fired a rocket engine. Media call 9.30 am, Monday 11 September, Woodside Innovation Centre, New Horizons Building, 20 Research Way, Monash University, Clayton HD footage of static rocket testing and metal printers at work Media contact: Niall Byrne, 0417-131-977, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au The new rocket engine is a unique aerospike design…
Quick facts A joint Monash University/Amaero team of engineers successfully designed, built, and tested a rocket engine in just four months The engine is a complex multi-chamber aerospike design Additively manufactured with selective laser melting on an EOS M280 Built from Hasteloy X; a high strength nickel based superalloy Fuel: compressed natural gas (methane); oxidiser:…
Caring for Country in Arnhem Land Macquarie University Eureka Prize winners Macquarie University congratulates its winners in the 2017 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes and the winner of the Macquarie University Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher. High-power diamond lasers invented at Macquarie University High-power lasers have many potential applications: from medical imaging to manufacturing,…
High-power diamond lasers, invented at Macquarie University, Eureka finalist High-power lasers have many potential applications: from medical imaging to manufacturing, shooting down drones or space junk, or powering deep space probes. But current laser technologies overheat at high power. Rich Mildren and his team have developed a technique to make diamond lasers that, in theory,…
Assessing ageing bridges just got safer and easier, thanks to a high-tech radar device that fits inside a suitcase. Developed by Dr Lihai Zhang of The University of Melbourne as part of a collaborative research project supported by The Australia-Indonesia Centre, the IBIS-S radar technology can scan a bridge in 15 minutes from a kilometre…