On January 23rd 2017, Sprint, the fourth largest cell phone carrier in the US, announced that it had bought a 33% share of the music streaming service, Tidal. Tidal is the music service that is owned by Rap music mogul Jay Z, along with several other prominent recording artists. Sprint paid Jay Z and his partners $200 million for their stake in the streaming service, and Sprint's CEO, Marcelo Claure will become a member of Tidal's board of directors.
The deal with Tidal will make exclusive content available to Sprint's 45 million retail customers. As part of the deal, Sprint will use $75 million to set up a marketing fund that will assist artists in producing the exclusive content. Tidal artists will be able to share their work with and for their fans. Jay Z bought Tidal in 2015 from Swedish company, Aspiro AB for $56 million. Tidal is estimated to have one million subscriber.
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
SpaceX Successfully Returns To Space
On January 14th 2017, SpaceX made a successful return to space flight with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 10 next generation telephone satellites for the Iridium wireless communications company. The launch took place at Vandenberg Air Force base in California. It was the first launch since the loss of a Facebook satellite, which was destroyed when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Florida on September 1st, 2016.
The accident in September 2016, caused SpaceX to temporarily ground all mission launches while NASA and several other federal agencies investigated the incident. On January 2nd 2016, the cause of September's explosion was determined to be due to broken carbon fibers in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel or COPV. The COPV in question, led to the upper oxygen tank, which contained super cooled liquid oxygen propellant.
The COPV carried liquid helium, which is used to pressurize the fuel tank. The investigators determined that the COPV had an aluminum liner that buckled. This allowed liquid oxygen to get between the the carbon fibers and the aluminum where it pooled. They believe that the helium from the COPV was so cold that it caused the liquid oxygen to turn into a solid. Then, friction from the ruptured carbon fibers may have provided the spark that caused the explosion.
When the FAA reviewed SpaceX's finding they issued them a license which allowed them to continue with rocket launches. The successful launch on January 14th was followed by a successful landing of the Falcon 9 on the company's drone ship in the Pacific Ocean, which were also two firsts for SpaceX. With those successes and a backlog of customers, SpaceX is looking forward to a busy year in 2017.
The accident in September 2016, caused SpaceX to temporarily ground all mission launches while NASA and several other federal agencies investigated the incident. On January 2nd 2016, the cause of September's explosion was determined to be due to broken carbon fibers in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel or COPV. The COPV in question, led to the upper oxygen tank, which contained super cooled liquid oxygen propellant.
The COPV carried liquid helium, which is used to pressurize the fuel tank. The investigators determined that the COPV had an aluminum liner that buckled. This allowed liquid oxygen to get between the the carbon fibers and the aluminum where it pooled. They believe that the helium from the COPV was so cold that it caused the liquid oxygen to turn into a solid. Then, friction from the ruptured carbon fibers may have provided the spark that caused the explosion.
When the FAA reviewed SpaceX's finding they issued them a license which allowed them to continue with rocket launches. The successful launch on January 14th was followed by a successful landing of the Falcon 9 on the company's drone ship in the Pacific Ocean, which were also two firsts for SpaceX. With those successes and a backlog of customers, SpaceX is looking forward to a busy year in 2017.
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
A Factoy In India Turns CO2 Into Baking Soda
On January 4th 2017, Carbonclean, a company in India, announced that it had invented a new technology that can successfully turned Co2 into baking soda. The new technology is being used at the Tuticorin thermal power station on the Bay of Bengal. The new process was created by two young chemists at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. After finding a lack of financing in India, the two took their idea to the UK.
Aniruddha Sharma, who is the CEO of Carbonclean, now headquartered in London, says that their process is similar to other carbon capture technologies that use a solvent to clean emissions. However, most carbon capture processes use a solvent, usually amine, which is expensive and corrosive. Carbonclean's solvent is made from a new chemical that is cheaper, less corrosive and their machinery is smaller and less expensive to build.
At the Tuticorin facility, the carbon from burning coal is turned into soda ash (Na2Co3) or baking soda. Until now, the debate over carbon capture has essentially centered around capturing emissions and forcing them into underground rocks, which can be costly. Sharma says that with Carbonclean's new technology, Co2 can be captured at less than $30 a ton. That's a price low enough to make converting Co2 into a product, and a wise business decision.
Aniruddha Sharma, who is the CEO of Carbonclean, now headquartered in London, says that their process is similar to other carbon capture technologies that use a solvent to clean emissions. However, most carbon capture processes use a solvent, usually amine, which is expensive and corrosive. Carbonclean's solvent is made from a new chemical that is cheaper, less corrosive and their machinery is smaller and less expensive to build.
At the Tuticorin facility, the carbon from burning coal is turned into soda ash (Na2Co3) or baking soda. Until now, the debate over carbon capture has essentially centered around capturing emissions and forcing them into underground rocks, which can be costly. Sharma says that with Carbonclean's new technology, Co2 can be captured at less than $30 a ton. That's a price low enough to make converting Co2 into a product, and a wise business decision.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Scientist Have Discovered A Second State Of Liquid Water
On December 10th 2016, an international team of researchers at the University of Oxford announced that they had discovered what they are calling a second state of liquid water. According to the team's leader, Dr. Laura Maestro, the researchers were able to demonstrate that at a temperature between 40 and 60 degrees Celsius (104 and 140 degree Fahrenheit), liquid water changes to a different state, with a whole new set of properties.
According to Dr. Maestro, when water hits its crossover temperature, it switches between two states of liquid. This second liquid state takes two hydrogen atoms in the shape of an oxygen tip arrow, which is an unusual molecular structure. The new structure contains electrons that are distributed in a asymmetrical way. This keeps the oxygen side of each molecule negatively charged relative to the hydrogen.
Dr. Maestro and her team believes that this new second state of water is reminiscent of liquid crystals. If the researchers findings are confirmed, the molecules can be configured depending on the total energy of the matter. This could be useful in the development of new nano and biological technologies.
According to Dr. Maestro, when water hits its crossover temperature, it switches between two states of liquid. This second liquid state takes two hydrogen atoms in the shape of an oxygen tip arrow, which is an unusual molecular structure. The new structure contains electrons that are distributed in a asymmetrical way. This keeps the oxygen side of each molecule negatively charged relative to the hydrogen.
Dr. Maestro and her team believes that this new second state of water is reminiscent of liquid crystals. If the researchers findings are confirmed, the molecules can be configured depending on the total energy of the matter. This could be useful in the development of new nano and biological technologies.
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