A 'tsunami' of gravitational waves

DARPA successfully recovered a Gremlins drone mid-air for the first time, new research has brought us to the brink of fusion ignition Nov 09, 2021 # Good morning. Before the drudgery of your daily transit to work, you might check for a highway accident on the radio. Turns out, there’s a cosmic equivalent (although posing no danger to us). Gravitational wave detectors have detected the motherload of black hole merger events, smashing into each other and shaking the fabric of deep space. These are the most powerful and bewildering collisions ever monitored. Speaking of the skies, DARPA has successfully recovered a Gremlins drone mid-air for the first time, significantly expanding the range and potential applications of unmanned aerial vehicles. And on the subject of breaking thresholds, new research has brought us to the brink of fusion ignition, bringing us viscerally close to a clean and startlingly powerful source of energy. This is The Blueprint. Keep reading. We'd like to get to know you better and improve our newsletter. [Take this survey and tell us what you think]( it’ll take you only 1 minute! INNOVATION [DARPA Successfully Recovered a Gremlins Drone Mid-Air For the First Time]( [Gremlins drone being recovered mid-air.]( After multiple attempts, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, [confirmed that it has successfully completed]( a mid-air recovery of the X-61 drone, Gremlins. - What’s that? The Gremlins drone is a semi-autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to carry a wide range of payloads, including electronic warfare, while under remote control. These drones, which are launched from a mothership like a modified Hercules C-130 cargo plane, are designed to operate in swarms, providing the military with a low-cost way of engaging adversaries without getting too close to enemy lines. And the mid-air recovery of these drones is vital for their future operation. On track. Earlier this year, DARPA tested the drones, but they [fell short during the recovery phase and landed on Earth]( using parachutes. But, this time, the recovery process worked perfectly: Two Gremlin drones were sent out autonomously and used to validate different flying formations and safety features. - During the flight, DARPA collected data on air vehicle performance, aerodynamic interactions, and contact dynamics for airborne retrieval, and one of the drones was successfully recovered, demonstrating the feasibility of safe, dependable airborne recovery. The other drone, on the other hand, was destroyed during the test for reasons that haven’t been made public. What’s next? This significantly expands the range and [potential applications of UAVs](. After recovering the drone, the DARPA team refurbished it for a different mission in less than 24 hours. Later, DARPA aims to refurbish them mid-flight, further increasing the utility of these low-cost options. [Read More]( SCIENCE [Astronomers Found a 'Tsunami' of Gravitational Waves. Now We Know Their Origin]( [An abstract depiction of two colliding bodies.]( Hold on tight to your seat, because cosmic winds are about to blow us all away (figuratively speaking, of course). Astronomers have pulled in the biggest haul of black hole events: The last series of [gravitational waves observed were the largest collection yet]( with a colossal 35 gravitational wave events monitored in five months, between November 2019 to March 2020, using the LIGO-Virgo interferometers. - The biggest haul. Taking the average, this means nearly 1.7 gravitational wave events were identified, per week. And it's a sharp jump in frequency from the 1.5-event weekly average identified during the previous run, ballooning the total number of events detected since the first one in September, 2015, to 90. A fatal cosmic dance. Thirty-two of the 35 additional detections were likely created from mergers of black hole pairs, which happens when two black holes move into a close enough orbit for their mutual forces of gravity to pull them into one another. The collision is violent, sending blinding light far beyond the visible spectrum outward, and twisting the very fabric of spacetime into colossal waves that can span unimaginable distances. Afterward, only a singular, gigantic black hole remains: the sum of the earlier two. And the gravitational waves continue outward like ripples in a pond, all the way to Earth, where astronomers can monitor the event, and analyze the properties of the now-merged black holes. On a collision course. The recent series of black holes monitored spanned a wide range of black hole masses, the most massive of which was roughly 87 times the sun's. This one merged with another that was 61 times the sun's mass, and the new one that formed from the collision was 141 times the sun's mass. In another case, a different merger event created a black hole 104 times the sun's mass. - Both of these cases fall into the class of intermediate black holes, which includes those with a mass from 100 to one million times the sun's mass. Few black holes have been detected of this size. This series of observations is endlessly fascinating, and there's much more to explore in the preprint study. But [as gravitational wave detectors continue to study]( the death and mergers of black holes, we learn more about how the most violent and mysterious forces in the universe come into being. [Read More]( INNOVATION [New Research Has Brought Us to the Brink of Fusion Ignition]( [An abstract glowing background juxtaposed to white smoke.]( For the first time, [scientists achieved a record yield of more than 1.3 megajoules]( (MJ) with lab-based fusion reactions, and advances in several technologies have enabled the development of new "benchmarking" techniques to better gauge our increasing proximity to "greater than unity" levels of energy generation. It’s a mouthful, but it could change your life. - First stop. The experiment took place on Aug. 8 of this year at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) National Ignition Facility (NIF), and the results revealed an 8-fold improvement compared to earlier experiments from spring of this year, in addition to a 25-fold increase since NIF's previous record yield in 2018. In simple terms. The NIF experiments work by gently guiding, amplifying, reflecting, and focusing 192 powerful laser beams into a tiny target no bigger than a pencil eraser. And it all happens in a matter of billionths of a second. The process generates temperatures in excess of 180 million degrees Fahrenheit (100 million degrees Celsius) and pressures beyond 100 billion Earth atmospheres. And the incredibly hot and heavy conditions force hydrogen atoms within the target to fuse, releasing enormous amounts of energy in a controlled reaction known as thermonuclear fusion. - Obtaining such large power yields has long been [a goal of inertial confinement fusion research]( and the most recent lab results show that we've reached the fusion ignition threshold. Since a 1997 review of NIF, the National Academy of Science decided that the best definition for ignition should be "gain greater than unity". This means we won't declare fusion operational until it can yield more output energy than is put into a device. And the latest experiment resulted in a fusion yield roughly two-thirds of the input laser energy, coming closer to the "greater than unity" threshold than ever before. Looking ahead. Such new advances open the door to a new plateau of experimental possibilities that enable new benchmark modeling potential. And with more benchmarks, we can more accurately gauge our proximity to the ultimate ignition of the world's first "greater than unity" fusion reactor, which could fundamentally transform the entire world's energy infrastructure. This would enable a completely clean, fully renewable, and powerful source of energy, with near-limitless potential to improve accessibility to modern living conditions. [Read More]( MAIL & MUSINGS It’ll be some time before we can use fusion reactors to harness the power of a million suns. But today, the potential capacity for renewable energy is simply enormous. In fact, the Earth receives 23,000 TW of solar energy, while the global energy consumption is 16 TW, according to MIT energy expert Professor XiaoYu Wu. Do you think we can actually build a 100% renewable and sustainable energy system? Be sure you check back tomorrow for the results! [Yes, sun, hydro, and wind power all the way.]( [Not with solar or wind. We need nuclear power.]( [Nuclear can help us transition. But not after that.]( [I’ll never quit fossil fuels!]( Yesterday’s Results And now let’s check out your answers to yesterday’s question! We asked readers whether they are investing in environmentally friendly technologies. And more than half of you responded positively, and stated consumer choice matters. On the other hand, 11% of you don't believe they are ever truly sustainable, and you may have a point since many companies tend to greenwash their products to appeal to conscious customers. However, as countries inch closer toward a circular economy, which is hailed as an ideal economic model to reduce wasting resources, and curb climate change, each decision matters! And for the 9% of you who believe it's too late, well. You're not entirely wrong, but doctors say having a positive attitude helps you live longer. Yes, consumer choice matters. 52% Yes, but as long as they’re not more expensive. 28% No, I don't think they are ever truly sustainable. 11% ..it’s too late. 9% QUOTE OF THE DAY “ When you want to know how things really work, study them when they're coming apart. ” William Gibson in 'Zero History' TODAY IN HISTORY During a sleepless Saturday night in 1957, Gordon Gould began writing down the principles of what he called a laser in his notebook. He had a notary witness and dated his notebook by Wednesday morning. Therein, he had described what he called "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation," or, from those initials, "laser." [Video]VIDEO OF THE DAY [Two Mechanics Cut an Engine In Half. And Turned the Ignition]( Behold the wonders of a Lada engine. [Two Mechanics Cut an Engine In Half. And Turned the Ignition]( AND ANOTHER THING... - An activist group has leaked nearly two terabytes of police helicopter footage. And, incredibly, the videos from two police departments [were hacked from unsecured cloud drives](. - India needs to build a world-class network and still reach net zero. [Its terrible roads are arguably]( one of the reasons why its economy has substantially underperformed China’s over the past 20 years. (The Conversation) - A 64-year-old French pensioner was recently peer pressured into flying in a fighter jet to celebrate his retirement. The man was so nervous that he reached out during the flight [and accidentally ejected himself mid-flight](. - There are more [delegates at COP26 associated with the fossil fuel industry]( than from any single country. (BBC) - The [U.S. wants to remove billions of tons of CO2]( from the air every year, cutting the price of CO2 removal to under $100 per ton. - Engineering the sounds of sandwalks, sandworms, and sandstorms is not easy; in fact, it took 15 different [household materials to perfect the sand sounds alone]( for the movie “Dune”. (Popular Mechanics) - Here’s how WW2 technologies developed by the Germans [helped seed the world’s greatest advancements](. Prepared by Derya Ozdemir and Brad Bergan Enjoy reading? Don't forget to forward to a friend! Was this email forwarded to you? [Subscribe]( [About Us]( | [Advertise]( | [Contact Us]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( You are receiving this email because you have subscribed to our newsletter. Manage your email preferences or unsubscribe [here.]( © Copyright 2021 | The Blueprint is by Interesting Engineering, Inc. 201 Spear Street, Suite 1100 San Francisco, CA 94105 | All Rights Reserved [Interesting Engineering]