{"id":7093,"date":"2015-12-24T08:34:09","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T08:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revoscience.com\/en\/?p=7093"},"modified":"2015-12-24T08:34:09","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T08:34:09","slug":"probing-mars-charging-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/probing-mars-charging-cars\/","title":{"rendered":"Probing Mars, charging cars"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Charging<\/a>
Charging car with portable charter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Engineers developing a drill for probing Mars, the Moon and asteroids have created the world\u2019s first portable charger to power up electric cars anywhere, anytime.<\/span><\/p>\n

Drawing on the same voltage as a vacuum cleaner, the charger can be plugged into any household socket without blowing a fuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

The key lies in the tiny transformer, similar to the box on your laptop cable, which converts power from the grid to maintain a stable supply and cut charging times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

Norwegian company Zaptec are also developing a space drill under ESA funding, with the transformer powering a plasma drill for slicing through rock.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRotary drills are inefficient in space,\u201d points out Zaptec\u2019s CEO, Brage Johansen. \u201cThey suffer friction in the borehole and require heavy equipment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Space<\/a>
Space drill developed by Zaptec for ESA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ESA is funding Zaptec\u2019s feasibility study to assess if their plasma Zapdrill is more effective or will drill deeper in our search for life on other planets.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cRight now we\u2019re scratching the surface,\u201d explains ESA\u2019s Sanjay Vijendran. \u201cWith today\u2019s technology we can go down about 2 m for missions such as our ExoMars rover. But we want to get to at least 10 m with the same size drill.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe Mars might have underground water which could potentially harbour life, but so far we\u2019ve not had the technology to explore deep enough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Space scientists have been looking for a better way and the answer might lie in a flash of lightning.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Drilling with a lightsabre<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\"Plasma<\/a>
Plasma drill on Mars with Zaptec plasma drill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Plasma is the hot, electrically charged gas that powers the Sun and constitutes most of our Universe. On Earth it manifests as lightning, electrical sparks and the auroras over our poles. In its human-made form, plasma provides the light in fluorescent tubes and now the cutting edge of a space drill.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe plasma drill is the closest thing to cutting rock with a lightsabre,\u201d smiles Brage. \u201cOur drill head produces small bolts of lightning 1\u20135 cm long that pulverise the rock from within.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This lightweight drill requires no weighted bits or heavy generators. \u201cOn Mars we have only 100 W available and we can run the whole system below that using solar power and small batteries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Engineers have been crushing stone in laboratories with \u2018lightning\u2019 for half a century but only recently has progress in microelectronics enabled them to develop a drill.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zaptec\u2019s innovation lies in the compact transformers that provide the voltage for the plasma spark, thanks to advanced cooling techniques and miniaturisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"Space<\/a>
Space spin-off wins prize<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe realised that the same transformers we were developing for the space drill could also make the best chargers for electric cars,\u201d says Brage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cZaptecs reuse of their special space technology to power a plasma drill on Mars to charge electric car batteries is a good example of how developments in our European space programmes can help other industrial sectors,\u201d said Fredrik Fjells\u00e5 from Prekubator TTO, the Norwegian partner of ESA\u2019s Technology Transfer Programme network of technology brokers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis Zaptec space technology will be a great help for the growing use of environmental friendly electric cars.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Zaptec has an agreement with Renault, who will be rolling out the portable charger for their Zoe customers in Norway from early 2016. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Juice up anywhere<\/span><\/h3>\n

\n

\"Space<\/a>
Space spin-off wins prize<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cNorway is Europe\u2019s biggest market for electric vehicles but the grid is different from the rest of Europe,\u201d explains Renault\u2019s Philippe Dupuy. \u201cThe car doesn\u2019t always recognise the quality of the electricity and could refuse to charge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The space chargerensures electricity from the grid is always acceptable to the vehicle and is safe. \u201cDrivers can plug into any socket along their journey, never having to worry about getting stranded without power.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At home, new Zoe owners can use the cable without installing a wall box, giving them 10 A in a regular socket and 16 A on a dedicated home socket.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u201cIt\u2019s like the smartphone of today compared with the mobile phone of the 1980s,\u201d contemplates Brage. \u201cToday\u2019s car chargers are clumpy and impractical, weighing over 100 kg. We\u2019ve got ours down to 2 kg and we\u2019re very proud of that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to their experience in space, Zaptec have created power electronics that will almost certainly transform the electric car and might just help us find life on Mars.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engineers developing a drill for probing Mars, the Moon and asteroids have created the world\u2019s first portable charger to power up electric cars anywhere, anytime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-space-news","category-techbiz"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",65,65,false],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",170,170,false],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",96,96,false],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Space_spin-off_wins_prize_small.png",150,150,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Amrita Tuladhar"]},"category_info":"Space\/ AstroPhysics<\/a> Tech<\/a>","tag_info":"Tech","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}