Engineering FYI, August 2010

The recent efforts by engineers focusing on biomimcry for improved aircraft design is highlighted by Flight International. Biomimcry studies nature and biological systems for inspiration.

Several aviation companies are increasingly using biomimcry research to look for ways to reduce aircraft drag, improve fuel-efficiency, and even adapt to changing conditions during flight. Read the full article here

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The Miami Herald recently reported on news from Energy Collective announcing that “solar power has become cheaper than nuclear power.”

Read the report here, for information about the article that sites researchers from Duke University, “who found that the cost of producing photovoltaic cells (PV) has been dropping for years … at the same time, estimated costs for building new nuclear power plants have ballooned.”

The article also references a new trend in solar power called concentrating solar power (CSP). With CSP-fitted homes energy and electricity can be generated after sunset.

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Plans from Alliant Techsystems (ATK) for a new satellite to fight space debris will be “discussed publicly for the first time August 11” at a conference in Utah.

Space News profiled the proposal of the new satellite, which would target “debris too small to be tracked by ground-based telescopes but large enough to penetrate satellite shielding.”

For more read the full article and find out why orbital debris is an increasingly important issue for NASA and the U.S. Defense Department.

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