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August 2000 NASA’s latest plan to visit nearby stars barrows technology from Christopher Columbus—the sail. This sail will catch sunlight instead of wind. This sail will span about ¼ of a mile and will be made of carbon fiber. The probe, yet unnamed, will be launched in 2010. Since air bags work best when you are sitting up "crash-dummy" straight, an airbag may soon appear in the seat belt. The belt will inflate 2 to 3 times faster than an air bag and will force you into the proper position before you hit the airbag. These belts should begin appearing on cars in 2002. Using a silicon recording head instead of a machined one can increase the amount of data stored on a digital cassette 3 times. The head is made of a single silicon wafer. France will equip the Stenor satellite, scheduled to launch in 2001, with four plasma engines. The engines use electricity to create jets of plasma instead of chemical rockets. These engines are lighter than current chemical rockets. Nuclear waste from the Chernobyl nuclear accident may have finally been contained. A new radiation resistant material known as Ekor was poured over piles of radioactive waste that have formed under the reactor. The foam is said to withstand the radiation without alteration of its physical properties. It is different from most coating in that the material itself does not become radioactive. |
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