Engineering news
NASA launches asteroid deflection mission
Space.com
NASA has launched a spacecraft destined to smash into an asteroid, testing a ‘planetary defence’ method that could one day be used to protect Earth from an incoming collision. The Dart (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) is designed to crash into a ‘moonlet’ called Dimorphos, transferring its kinetic energy to alter its orbit around Didymos, a larger asteroid.
Tidal energy gets government backing
Financial Times
The government has ‘ringfenced’ £20m of annual support for the tidal energy sector. The investment will help companies working in the developing field to mature their technology, and the government hopes it will secure the UK’s place as a leader in the industry.
Visit the Professional Engineering website next week for a special report from Orkney, the centre of the UK’s developing marine energy sector, and interviews with sector leaders such as Orbital Marine Power chief executive Andrew Scott.
‘UK’s largest electrolyser’ could fuel hundreds of buses with wind power
Professional Engineering
A ‘green’ hydrogen project will use £9.4m of government funding to develop the UK’s largest electrolyser. The system, at the Whitelee wind farm near Glasgow, will provide enough zero-carbon fuel for hundreds of bus trips between the city and Edinburgh each day.
Manufacturing Insights survey shows way forward for UK manufacturers
Professional Engineering
Hiring, innovation and skilled engineers are some of the main areas of focus as UK manufacturers aim for recovery, according to the latest Professional Engineering report on the state of the industry, in association with Protolabs.
Oil and gas decommissioning to cost £16.6bn
E&T
Decommissioning the UK’s old oil and gas platforms will cost fossil fuel companies about £16.6bn over the next decade, according to an industry report. Efficiencies and cost reduction have cut the total bill by 23% since 2017, according to Oil and Gas UK, but the sector is aiming for further reductions by next year.
New university facility supports diversity and inclusion
The Engineer
The University of the West of England in Bristol has opened its new School of Engineering. The large new facility is designed to support students from under-represented backgrounds, including features such as individual study spaces for people with sensory issues.
2D material sensor ‘detects cancer with 70% fewer cells than other electronic sensors’
Professional Engineering
Researchers have claimed a potential breakthrough in cancer diagnostics after reportedly detecting cancer with a record low number of cells, using a sensor based on two-dimensional (2D) materials. The new sensor detected electrical signals indicating the presence of cancer with about 70% fewer cancer cells than conventional electronic sensors require, according to the principal investigator on the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) project.
Researchers create hardest known glass
E&T
A team from the Carnegie Institute for Science in Washington DC have created an ‘ultrahard diamond glass’. The material, which was developed with collaborators around the world, is the hardest known glass and has the highest thermal conductivity.
British public supports future drone use
E&T
Seven in 10 people in the UK are positive about wider use of drones in the future, according to new research by BT and Project XCelerate. Nearly half (49%) support using them for risky jobs instead of people, with 76% backing their use in firefighting and 70% in inspecting infrastructure.
Hydrogen projects to decarbonise distilleries
The Engineer
The government has announced £11m of funding for four projects aimed at decarbonising distilling processes. Schemes include on-site electrolysis of green hydrogen for distillation at Beam Suntory’s Ardmore distillery in Scotland.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.