engineers | Common News Update

Oct92020 by adminNo Comments

Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020: ‘Covid-critical’ broadband engineers awarded

Technology

The centre, which had been mothballed, was suddenly needed again, as demand for food and other goods soared, with people panic-buying in the face of a forthcoming lockdown. The warehouse needed new cabling and a taskforce of engineers to fit it. Typically, such a job would take two months to complete - but it was finished in two days.Let's block ads! (Why?) BBC News - Technology

Sep22020 by adminNo Comments

Engineers test Space Launch System rocket booster in Utah

Science

Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Engineers successfully performed a test fire of the Space Launch System rocket's full-scale booster on Wednesday afternoon. Live footage of the test, which took place at Northrop Grumman's facilities in Promontory, Utah, showcased the tremendous force generated by the system's rockets. Advertisement The broadcast showcased a massive trail of fire and exhaust emanating from the base of the rocket and blowing across the desert dunes, scorching the sage brush in its path. The rocket fired for two minutes, with the booster performing nominally. "To pull [the test] off now, after six months of what we've been through, it feels like a really big milestone," Bruce Tiller, manager of the SLS boosters office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said durin...

Jul92020 by adminNo Comments

Engineers design reusable silicone rubber face mask with N95 filter

Science

July 9 (UPI) -- Researchers said Thursday that they have developed a resusable silicone rubber face mask with an N95 filter. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Women's Hospital said in a statement that they think the new face mask is as effective at stopping viral particles as N95 masks. Advertisement The goal in developing and testing the new face mask is to meet the "dire need for personal protective equipment within healthcare settings during the COVID-19 pandemic," researchers said in the study, published Thursday in British Medical Journal Open. Many hospitals have used hydrogen peroxide vapor to sterilize masks for reuse, but the process requires specialized equipment that is not available everywhere. And while the cleaning allows for up to 20 r...

Jun172020 by adminNo Comments

Engineers grow optical chips in a Petri dish

Science

June 16 (UPI) -- Researchers in Russia have successfully grown optical chips in a Petri dish. The breakthrough could pave the way for a variety of smaller and more precise optical technologies. Optical chips are made of tiny lasers and waveguides. Lasers inside the optical chips currently deployed by the modern photonics industry rely on infrared emissions. Advertisement In order to build a more compact optical chip, engineers at IMTO University set out to pair microlasers and waveguides that use light in the visible spectrum. Visible light features smaller wavelengths. "The size of a chip depends on the wavelength of its emission," Sergey Makarov, chief researcher with ITMO's department of physics and engineering, said in a news release. Microlasers produce light emissions, while wavegu...

Apr212020 by adminNo Comments

‘It’s like building Spitfires’: The F1 engineers helping battle COVID-19

Technology

The head of a group of businesses collaborating to build ventilators says he's "never seen anything like" the effort being put in to help save lives in his 40-year industrial career.Dick Elsy, chief executive of VentilatorChallengeUK Consortium, said the group was set to deliver an estimated ten years' worth of production in just a few months. The group is made up of 15 firms including some of the biggest names in engineering and technology.Airbus, McLaren, Ford, Siemens and medical specialists have all been involved.The consortium is currently working on mass producing two types of ventilator at speed. ...