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Space Science

Sound To Power Space Probes 20

An anonymous reader writes "The old adage that 'no one can hear you scream in space' seems to have its own variant when Los Alamos scientists announced today their latest designs for the 'traveling wave engine', a derivative of the classic, pistonless Stirling device. Because it uses helium as an oscillating gas in a long tube, the design works kind of like a high-pitched loudspeaker at maximum efficiency. Another description combines a refrigerator and whistle to make an engine."
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Sound To Power Space Probes

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  • by Stoopid-Guy0 ( 814282 ) <stoopidguy&gmail,com> on Friday September 17, 2004 @01:00PM (#10277846)
    Now we just have to find a stash of thousands of old Barry Manilow CDs to use as the sound! No one will miss them anyway when they all float up and away into space...
  • If sound doesn't travel in a vacuum, why are vacuum cleaners so loud?
  • Not a *Power* Source (Score:5, Informative)

    by CheshireCatCO ( 185193 ) on Friday September 17, 2004 @01:12PM (#10277976) Homepage
    I find the headline a bit misleading; this isn't a power source, it's a way to convert the source's output (heat) into electrical power. You will still need a power supply. (Probably an RTG.) You'll just get more electrical power by using this system.
  • Old adage? (Score:4, Informative)

    by grunthos ( 574421 ) on Friday September 17, 2004 @01:30PM (#10278178) Homepage
    The old adage that 'no one can hear you scream in space'
    You mean "In space, no one can hear you scream"? That's not an old adage, that was the advertising line for the movie "Alien"!

    Mumble, grumble... Dang whippersnappers with their video-game attention spans can't even remember movie posters...


    • ... as it appears pressed on the inner rims of The Clash's Sandinista! LPs:

      IN SPACE...
      ...NO ONE...
      ...CAN...
      ...HEAR...
      ...YOU...
      ...CLASH !

  • by voice of unreason ( 231784 ) on Friday September 17, 2004 @02:07PM (#10278652)
    Be careful! Los Alamos knows the weirding way!
  • This just goes to show that everything that can be invented has been invented already. There have been a bunch of stories along these lines.

    This is simply the re-invention of the Stirling external combustion engine.

    In Discover, there was an article about water distillation through hydrates. Again, not new.

    The recent locomotion research is based on insects. They've been around for billions of years.
    • What's new is that it is now better than an internal combustion engine. That means that very soon manufacturers will stop using ICEs, and start using these modified Stirling engines. The only uncertainty after reading all this is power provided per kilogram of engine. That didn't seem to be a problem, however they did not provide data for that. Cheaper to manufacture, cheaper to operate, environmentally sound - WOW!

    • Thin-film solid-oxide fuel cells. Ballistic-electron photovoltaic converters. The former is a big refinement of the best that had come before, and the latter is brand new AFAIK (not that I'm a guru on the subject but I follow the field a lot more closely than the vast majority of /.'ers).

      You can assume that something old is new and special, or that something new is old hat. Both are mistakes, with consequences.

  • "Sound fridge" (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Uplore ( 706578 )

    "Another description combines a refrigerator and whistle to make an engine."

    Thats interesting, did you also know that is it possible to cool things down by pushing sound waves through low desity matter? In fact they have made a fridge that uses helium gas and a 190 decibel loudspeaker to cool the food. Of course the fridge is completely soundproof so you dont deafen yourself. See it here! [proteinos.com]

  • Help Wanted (Score:3, Funny)

    by TeaQuaffer ( 809857 ) on Saturday September 18, 2004 @07:53PM (#10287689)
    All of a sudden, NASA's new astronaut "help wanted" add makes sense...

    ...In addition to achievements in low energy physics, the ability to fly a jet, and a strong stomach, applicants are expected to have some renowned as operatic singers in case of power failures...

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