Tag: photonics

NASA will test a new spacecraft solar sail using a NanoAvionics satellite

NASA is going to test a new solar sail system to determine if it’s a viable alternative to propellant-based thrusters for maneuvering small satellites, and potentially for low-cost transportation of spacecraft set on deep-space missions. The agency has selected Illinois-based NanoAvionics to provide the spacecraft that will be used to…

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Light-emitting silicon overcomes a major obstacle to denser, faster chips

The push for ever-smaller chips has been running into more and more obstacles, including the very limits of silicon — while optical connections would allow for denser, speedier processors by eliminating heat and energy issues, silicon is lousy at emi… Source

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