Glass In Spaaaaace 292
AnKsT wrote to mention an article on NASA's site about creating and manipulating glass in space. From the article: "In microgravity...you don't need a container. In Day's initial experiments, the melt--a molten droplet about 1/4 inch in diameter--was held in place inside a hot furnace simply by the pressure of sound waves emitted by an acoustic levitator. With that acoustic levitator, explains Day, 'we could melt and cool and melt and cool a molten droplet without letting it touch anything.' As Day had hoped, containerless processing produced a better glass. To his surprise, though, the glass was of even higher quality than theory had predicted."
purity (Score:5, Interesting)
Take THAT, space science nay-sayers! (Score:5, Interesting)
This article is a perfect example of the sort of technological advances that will be possible when we establish a space habitat capable of sustaining industrial production. Microgravity is a condition that is almost impossible to replicate here at the bottom of the gravity well, and we are just beginning to realize the applications.
I see potential (Score:1, Interesting)
If you're smart, you'll start a company to capitalize on this future market
Purer carbon nanotubes too? (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:Take THAT, space science nay-sayers! (Score:4, Interesting)
This is one result that may or may not scale to industrial production.
I'm not closed minded, but I am skeptical.
Re:Manufacturing in Space (Score:3, Interesting)
Like, no way! (Score:2, Interesting)
"He did some glass-melting experiments, trying to pull thin fibers out of melts," recounts Day. "During the low-gravity portion of the plane's flight, when g was almost zero, the fibers came out with no trouble. But during the double-gravity portion of the plane's flight, the fiber that he was pulling totally crystallized."
Like, totally, dude.
I guess "that" generation finally made it to the real world.
-Adam
Cost of Space Products (Score:3, Interesting)
Because the microgravity should allow for high chip yield and high quality, the remaining issue is cost of production.
Allowing for $10,000 per Kg (source [cato.org]) for a mature launch/return system like the Saturn 5, Delta, or Titan series, a 100 Kg furnace containing 10 Kg of product would cost $1,000,000 to orbit. If the output is 0.01 gram chips at 95% yield, that gives you 950,000 chips. If you can sell them for a bit over $1.05 per chip, you're in the money. At only $5000/Kg [astrodigital.org], you are way ahead!
The medical market alone for $5-10 one-shot broad spectrum biochemical testers would easily absorb the 10 million-plus that could be produced with monthly launches.
1. Insert sample into tester
2. Plug tester into USB/Firewire port
3. Read results from software support package
4. (Profit!)
Re:That might not be possible. (Score:5, Interesting)
More geeks should learn about glass blowery. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why this matters (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:what a cliche (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd draw a difference between two films: The Terminator and Terminator 2. The Terminator counts more as sci-fi to me. It's about "what happens if?" and explores what unfolds from there. Terminator 2 is basically an action movie with some tech thrown in (albeit a very entertaining one).
Sci-fi at it's best imagines a world after some science arrives, and how it would impact. Take teleportation. If someone worked out how to do it, what happens to the transport industry? What happens to expensive city real estate?
Lenses for Microchips (Score:1, Interesting)
One important limiting factor in the creation of smaller and smaller microchips is the lenses used to etch the designs in the silicon. Even with the most advanced lenses, the designs can still be blurry, making the error rate in very small process chips rather high.
No doubt this industry could benifit extremely from very clear and pure glass such as this.