The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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The U.S. Geological Survey has unveiled a proposed list of 50 minerals and metals critical to the United States. While this seems to be a major jump over the 35 critical minerals on the original list published in 2018, most of the increase is from a much-needed breakdown of the rare earth elements and platinum group metals. Listed as a single commodity on the 2018 critical minerals list, rare earths are a group of 15 individual elements, each with their own properties, uses,...
Aiming to kick off the Artemis era later this year, NASA is preparing for the first launch of its Space Launch System (SLS) mega-rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft, which will fly without any crew around the Moon and back on a trip lasting between 26 and 42 days. NASA hopes this Artemis 1 mission will be a steppingstone to its next giant goal, landing astronauts at the lunar south pole by the end of 2025. On the morning of March 17, the world's largest set of doors rolled...
Rising demand, tight supply, war, and a short squeeze on a China-based stainless steel titan came into perfect alignment to rocket the price of nickel to historic heights. The price for a pound of nickel soared nearly 250% over two days to a brief altitude above US$100,000 per metric ton, or US$45 per pound, on March 7. This prompted the London Metal Exchange to halt trading of the battery metal to deal with the aftermath of the largest move in the price of a metal in LME's...
Although delayed by a few extra days, a historic event occurred this Christmas with the launch of what is set to become mankind's most powerful "eye" into the unknown, the James Webb Space Telescope. Composed of 18 4.3 feet diameter hexagonal-shaped mirror segments, with a central primary mirror of 21.4 feet, years of innovation, ingenious problem-solving, and sheer determination have set the stage for a view into the cosmos we may never have even conceived of before....
Scientists from the National University of Science and Technology Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (NUST MISiS) Catalysis Lab have discovered how to print 3D products from metals of different groups on a single printer, reducing overall costs by an average of 30%. As modern metallurgical production actively moves into the additive manufacturing format, some of the most stringent industries are finding that 3D printing can add a new realm of functionality never before...
Whether on the frontlines of a battle or on a humanitarian mission in some remote corner of Earth, military vehicles are usually far from a parts depot when they are needed most. This is why the Australian Army is rigorously testing metal 3d printing technologies developed by SPEE3D to replace armored vehicle parts in the field. During its annual bilateral military exercise between the Australian Army and the Marine Rotational Force – Exercise Koolendong – various parts for...
In what can be considered the single largest purchase of electric vehicles in the world, Hertz Corp. has put in an initial order for 100,000 Tesla EVs by the end of 2022, along with investing in new charging infrastructure across the car rental company's global operations. In addition, Hertz has teamed up with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to showcase how it is making EV rentals fast, seamless, and more accessible as the company accelerates its commitment to leading...
The United States' withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan opened the door for China to swoop in and lay claim to the more than $1 trillion worth of lithium, rare earths, and other metals and gems estimated to lie below a landscape marked by more than 40 years of continuous war. Digging up the rich natural resources in Afghanistan will not be easy and it is not likely that China will consider the now Taliban-run country as a dependable source of critical minerals and metals in t...
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Aug. 18 announced the winners of its Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, which is incentivizing new approaches for excavating resources on the Moon and beyond. As NASA prepares to go to the Moon with the Artemis program, in-situ resource utilization is of paramount importance, as current methods of rocketing Earth resources into space are too costly. As one of the barest of commodities for human survival, water is the goal for 13...
A year after embarking on its 292.5-million-mile journey to Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover is readying to collect its first Martian rock sample. Since its February arrival, the robotic geologist and its helicopter sidekick Ingenuity have been exploring the deepest and most ancient layers of exposed bedrock across a 1.5-square-mile patch of the 28-mile-wide Jezero Crater, which was a large lake when Mars was still a water planet. After carrying out this reconnaissance, Perseve...
Colorado-based aviation and aerospace company, Lunar Outpost, famed for its $1 sale of moon rocks to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is now participating in NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge by harvesting space ice on the surface of the Moon. As part of a joint entry with Masten Space Systems and Honeybee Robotics, Lunar Outpost has designed "a system architecture to excavate icy regolith and deliver acquired resources in extreme lunar conditions." The...
The long-term exploration and colonization of Mars will not be able to rely on the expense of rocketing goods beyond the gravitational pull of Earth and then another 171 million miles to the Red Planet. Instead, the mining of ice and other minerals for fuel, water and building materials from local resources will need to be carried out by Martian robots and humans. So, it is no wonder that NASA's first three Mars rovers are basically robotic geologists exploring the Martian...
As two of the 35 minerals and metals considered to be critical to the economic and national security of the United States, beryllium and aluminum are fundamental to many sectors for their natural properties and even more so when they join together to create beryllium-aluminum alloys. Most, if not everyone, has heard of aluminum. As the second most abundant metallic element in the Earth's crust after silicon, its unique lightweight properties, malleability and durability have...
President-elect Joe Biden's plans to spend $2 trillion on infrastructure and move the world's biggest economy toward greener policies is brightening the outlook for base metals, including tougher-than-nails tungsten. Many countries, including the United States, have designated tungsten as a critical metal after China, which accounts for 80% of annual global tungsten production of 85,000 metric tons, have placed restrictions on its exports of the metal. Tungsten is often...
From coronavirus killing facemasks, to ultra-fast charging superbatteries and high-performance headphones with "stunning" sound quality, graphene has emerged as a miracle material with qualities that are likely to change life on Earth. Now, researchers believe this high strength 2D material could unlock mankind's ability to travel to other solar systems. Liquid fuel rockets can get humans to the most popular destinations across our home solar system in a reasonable amount of...
NASA wants to buy Moon rocks from a private space miner able to fly up and grab an up to 1.1-pound lunar sample and deliver it to the space agency by 2024. The space administration is not particular about where the moon rocks are collected, or the content of the samples, as long as the mission is well documented, and the dirt is delivered to NASA on the Moon for payment. This lunar sampling is meant to set the stage for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to "land the first...
First Cobalt Corp. has taken a critical step toward its goal of supplying North American and European electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery manufacturers with 25,000 metric tons of battery grade cobalt sulfate per year. With an initial investment of only US$56 million, First Cobalt's already established refinery in Ontario could be churning out enough cobalt for the batteries powering more than 500,000 EVs annually by 2022. "This is an important milestone in our efforts to...
SpaceX will be launching a NASA payload to 16 Psyche, a roughly 173-mile-long asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter that is made up of nickel, iron and other metals. Currently slated for launch in July 2022, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will carry three payloads – equipment to support studies of the metallic asteroid, Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), which will study the Martian atmosphere, and Janus, which will study binary a...
Dubbed GRX-810, a new metal alloy developed by NASA using a 3D printing process that dramatically improves the strength and durability of components and parts for aviation and space exploration – resulting in better and longer-lasting performance. Although it is currently unknown exactly what mix of metals goes into GRX-810, it is described as an oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloy – a metal that contains nanoscale oxide particles – that can endure temperatures over...
Global governments and industries are setting increasingly ambitious targets for the phasing out of fossil fuel-burning automobiles in favor of electric vehicles charged with green energy. Achieving these grand climate objectives, however, is going to require an equally bold strategy to ensure there are plentiful supplies of the new generation of energy minerals and metals critical to building this revolution in the way the world generates and uses energy. The World Bank...
"Please mine more nickel," these four words from Tesla CEO Elon Musk reverberated across the global mining sector and raised awareness of how fundamental nickel is to the lithium-ion batteries powering hundreds of millions of electric vehicles to come off Tesla and traditional automaker assembly lines over the next two decades. "Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way," Musk implored...
Lightweight, strong, and resistant to corrosion, titanium is best known for the properties it lends to rockets, aircraft, and high-performance sports equipment. Only about 3% of the more than 8 million metric tons of titanium minerals mined each year globally, however, go into high strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion-resistant alloys. What does drive the mass majority of the demand for this critical mineral is "enwhitening." According to the United States Geological...
Extremely hard and with the highest melting point of all the metals, tungsten's toughness is legendary. Like many of the other metals that have found their way onto critical mineral lists in Canada, Europe, and the United States, this durable metal is vulnerable to Chinese control. "World tungsten supply was dominated by production in China and exports from China," the U.S. Geological Survey inked in its 2021 mineral commodities report. It is estimated that mines in China...
Scientists are urging world governments to get out in front of the skyrocketing demand for the minerals and metals that are going to be needed for solar, wind and other green energy initiatives in the coming years – whether they come from terrestrial or extraterrestrial sources. According to a research report from the University of Sussex, the amount of cobalt, copper, lithium, cadmium and rare earth elements needed for solar panels, wind turbines, rechargeable batteries, e...
