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NASA's Alice Ultraviolet Spectrometer Brings View of Earth's Ultraviolet Appearance

On Nov. 13, the European Space Agency's comet orbiter spacecraft, Rosetta, swooped by Earth for its third and final gravity assist on the way to humankind's first rendezvous to orbit and study a comet in more detail than has ever been attempted.

18 Jan 2010

Astronomers Discover Second Smallest Extrasolar Planet Using Keck I Telescope in Hawaii

Astronomers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and other institutions, using the highly sensitive 10-meter Keck I telescope atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea, have detected an extrasolar planet with a mass just four times that of Earth. The planet, which orbits its parent star HD156668 about once every four days, is the second-smallest world among the more than 400 exoplanets (planets located outside our solar system) that have been found to date. It is located approximately 80 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Hercules.

18 Jan 2010

ESO's Very Large Telescope Helped to Obtain Spectrum of Exoplanet Directly

"The spectrum of a planet is like a fingerprint. It provides key information about the chemical elements in the planet's atmosphere," says Markus Janson, lead author of a paper reporting the new findings

18 Jan 2010

Radio Telescopes Help Astronomers Find Double-Star System

Astronomers have found a giant magnetic loop stretched outward from one of the stars making up the famous double-star system Algol. The scientists used an international collection of radio telescopes to discover the feature, which may help explain details of previous observations of the stellar system.

18 Jan 2010

Researchers Develop New Computational System Featuring Video Cameras to Predict Human Behaviour

A consortium of European researchers, coordinated by the Computer Vision Centre (CVC) of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has developed HERMES, a cognitive computational system consisting of video cameras and software able to recognise and predict human behaviour, as well as describe it in natural language. The applications of the Hermes project are numerous and can be used in the fields of intelligent surveillance, protection of accidents, marketing, psychology, etc.

18 Jan 2010

Laser Scanners Used in HAMLeT Security System to Track Down Terrorists

Literally hundreds of people are hurrying through the long airport corridor between Terminals A and B. Among them are two terrorists, who've hidden themselves in the crowd. They're carrying small containers of chemicals in their jacket pockets, individual components for an explosive. But there's something the criminals don't know. As well as being observed by security cameras, they're also being "sniffed out" by chemical noses hidden in the corridor wall. The smell sensors sound the alarm when the terrorists walk past, alerting an airport security guard who notes the problem on his monitoring equipment. At this point in time, he can't tell precisely who is carrying hazardous chemicals – but he knows the sensor network will continue to "sniff out" and track down the suspects.

18 Jan 2010

SwissINSO Introduces New Water Purification System Powered by Solar Panels

SwissINSO Holding Inc. (OTCBB: SWHN) is pleased to announce the launch of its unique solar solution to the growing problem of drinking water shortages around the world. Powered by solar energy, the water purification units capitalize on cost-effective and cutting-edge patented technologies.

18 Jan 2010

ONTILITY Announces New and Updated Solar Training Classes

ONTILITY has enhanced its ONTraining Division with both new and updated Solar Training and EcoTraining curricula as well as new, modular solar training classes and NABCEP™ Certified PV Installer and Entry Level Exam Preparatory classes.

18 Jan 2010

Hubble Telescope Images Show Star Formation in NGC 2976 Begins Fizzling Out

Galaxies throughout the universe are ablaze with star birth. But for a nearby, small spiral galaxy, the star-making party is almost over.

18 Jan 2010

Ricoh Americas Announces New Pro C720/C720s Multi-Functional Color System

Ricoh Americas Corporation, a leading provider of digital office equipment, announced today the official launch of the RICOH® Pro C720/C720s, a production class multi-functional color system, the latest addition to Ricoh's Pro series of products, designed specifically for the production environment. This flexible system is targeted at corporate and commercial professional print environments with demanding application needs. The Pro C720/C720s has a robust duty cycle of 320,000 images per month, and runs at 72 pages-per-minute (PPM) regardless of paper weight.

18 Jan 2010

FutureLogic Launches New Eclipse Universal Ticket/Receipt Printer

New state-of-the-art Eclipse roll printer to be highlighted in stand 4250 at IGE 2010 in January

18 Jan 2010

First Solar Purchases Part of Edison Mission's Solar Project Development Pipeline

First Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR), one of the world's largest solar module manufacturers and utility systems providers, has completed the acquisition of a portion of Edison Mission Group's (EMG) solar project development pipeline. The utility-scale solar projects are located in California and the Southwest.

18 Jan 2010

BroadLight to Integrate GPON Technology with Realtek Ethernet Switching Technology

BroadLight, the leading supplier of GPON Semiconductors and software, today announced that the company is collaborating with Realtek Communications to provide complete, turnkey reference platforms that integrate BroadLight’s GPON and Active Ethernet (AE) Processor technology with Realtek’s rich-featured Ethernet switching technology. The companies introduce a single platform that can address both GPON and AE CPE applications addressing a variety of Fiber-to-the-Home deployments.

18 Jan 2010

Annual Research Report on Photovoltaic Technology

For several years, the Photovoltaic (PV) industry was primarily seen as an outstanding financial investment, delivering a high-performance return-on-investment (ROI) with limited risk. The objectives were simply to adapt the production capacities to answer a high market demand. In this context, Polysilicon and wafer producers, cell and module manufacturers were assured to sell their entire production.

18 Jan 2010

DOE Approves Fund Allocation for Spire Semiconductor's Hudson Facility Expansion

Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey production lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its wholly owned subsidiary, Spire Semiconductor, LLC, has received confirmation from the Department of Energy (DOE) that under the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit (MTC) program, its application has been approved for the allocation of over $2 million to expand its III/V Compound Semiconductor Foundry facility in Hudson, New Hampshire.

18 Jan 2010