Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
Power

Astrium Hopes To Test Grabbing Solar Energy From Orbit 144

goldaryn writes "Word from the BBC today is that Europe's biggest space company is seeking partners to help get a satellite-based solar power trial into orbit: 'EADS Astrium says the satellite system would collect the Sun's energy and transmit it to Earth via an infrared laser, to provide electricity. Space solar power has been talked about for more than 30 years as an attractive concept because it would be 'clean, inexhaustible, and available 24 hours a day.' However, there have always been question marks over its cost, efficiency and safety. But Astrium believes the technology is close to proving its maturity.'"

Comment Re:Use Thorium-based reactors instead (Score 2, Informative) 581

There is a company that knows how to include thorium into existing power plants and they have contracts to experiment in Russia and India: Thorium Power.

Their technology couuld quickly be included in existing plants refueling cycles.

Oh bomb making from Thorium is tricky as U233 has less than a 2 year half life. It is very radioactive.

Comment More Politically Correct BS - The SUN is the prblm (Score 1) 435

Extremely simple explanation for global warming is *sunspots*:

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/hoye/hoye040909.pdf

NASA s latest report (March 2009) on sunspots is that there will be a massive ramp up of activity in 2010. It does not look that way to me nor the above author. Still another year or so is required to truly show the statistical trend.

Real science will prevail.

Databases

Submission + - SPAM: IBM Invests in MySQL/Oracle Competitor

stoolpigeon writes: "IBM has made a move to support Open Source RDBMS PostgreSQL by supplying $10 million in funding to EnterpriseDB, a company that supports PostgreSQL as well as selling their own propietary extensions to the database product. In the past EnterpriseDB has primarily advertised itself as an Oracle competitor, though the article says, "Derek Rodner, EnterpriseDB's director of product strategy, explained that Postgres Plus 8.3 also adds in new application quick starts which are supposed to help with installation issues. They will also help in EnterpriseDB's battle against MySQL for open source database supremacy.""
Link to Original Source

Slashdot Top Deals

There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about. -- John von Neumann

Working...