by David Brooks | Jul 4, 2022 | Blog, Newsletter
Twenty-five years ago, the Pathfinder mission landed on Mars using gigantic versions of auto collision airbags to cushion the landing. The rovers Spirit and Opportunity also used the same system. NASA hasn’t done it since, apparently because rovers have gotten...
by David Brooks | Jul 1, 2022 | Blog, Newsletter
Biochar is one of those things that sounds too good to be true: Turning waste wood into a carbon-locking, soil-helping material through a simple, cheap process (pyrolysis – burning it in a low-oxygen environment). There’s a big biochar plant being...
by David Brooks | Jul 1, 2022 | Blog, Newsletter
Keeping track of underwater robots is hard since GPS doesn’t travel far through water. Dartmouth researchers say drones can spot them using nothing more than laser light. One key issue was the low intensity of the light that came back to the drone. It was too...
by David Brooks | Jun 30, 2022 | Blog, Newsletter
Old and old-ish people remember when civil aviation was fun rather than the nasty, brutish and long experience it is today. Airports and airplanes and pilots and stewardesses were exotic and admired, planes were linking the world together into one big happy family,...
by David Brooks | Jun 29, 2022 | Blog, Newsletter
Cameron Wake at UNH has been warning about climate change for a couple of decades – his reports were the first to make me realize the severity of the situation in the early 2000’s – and he’s still at it. Because climate change is still at it;...
by David Brooks | Jun 29, 2022 | Blog, Newsletter
Imagine being tens or even hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth and needing a specific part vital for a space endeavor. Now imagine instead of having to return to Earth or needing another launch to deliver that part, you could manufacture it right on board or on...
Return to the Concord Monitor