Today on Engineering Newswire, we’re taking our first taste test on Mars, building an underwater hotel, and powering the EcoBot with nothing more than poo. Today’s episode features:
- Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy recently conducted the first land-based catapult launch of an unmanned system using the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System.
- NASA's Curiosity rover analyzed its first solid sample of Mars using SAM, or the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite. SAM is the portable chemistry lab tucked inside the rover that will determine whether the environment can support, or could have supported life.
- Poseidon Resorts’ underwater hotel was inspired by underwater research habitats such as Jacques Cousteau's Conshelf I from 1962. It will sit 40 feet underwater, consisting of two units that are connected to the land by two piers with elevators, allowing guests to enter and exit.
- The EcoBot III is entirely driven by energy processed by its microbial fuel cells, which turn sewage waste into energy.
- Tractor beams were developed by New York University physicists to move microscopic items like silica spheres suspended in water.
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