Hello, and welcome to The Edge, the newsletter that brings you groundbreaking stories from the frontiers of technology and science.
We’ve got some great stories for you today including NASA bringing a piece of Mars back to Mars, the building of the world’s largest fusion reactor and Google’s groundbreaking new undersea cable. For today’s Start-up Stories we’ll be talking about General Fusion. As always, we’ve added extra stories under each article should you find yourself in a curious state of mind.
Radioactive
The goal? Clean energy. Image credit: ITER
Scientists Start Construction of World’s Largest Fusion Reactor
On Tuesday, a massive undertaking began - the construction of the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor, in the South of France. The reactor is expected to be operational in late 2025.
The project is more than just a step in the journey towards sustainable, clean energy - it’s a testament to the collaborative spirit of science. 35 countries are involved in the construction of the reactor, named ITER, which means “The Way” in Latin. The reactor is being built to prove the feasibility of fusion energy generated by enormous magnetic devices known as a “tokamaks.” In theory, fusion power works by harnessing the energy released by two atomic nuclei fusing to form a heavier nucleus, which is then turned into electricity. Fusion energy is likely to be cheaper than fission energy, which is how current nuclear reactors generate electricity. It is also far safer as there is no risk of meltdown or nuclear waste.
However, generating electricity from fusion is tricky. The incredibly hot plasma inside fusion reactors is very hard to control and predict. That’s why ITER is going to be a challenging undertaking. The final reactor will weigh 23,000 tonnes, which includes 3,000 tonnes of superconducting magnets, connected by 200 kilometres of superconducting cables. All of this has to be kept cryo-cooled at -269 degrees Celcius. Additionally, temperatures inside the reactor will reach ten times the temperature of the centre of the Sun. Ultimately, the goal for ITER is to generate energy to the tune of 500 megawatts, from an input of just 50 megawatts.
The science of nuclear fission.
Going home
All for the purposes of calibration. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Here’s Why NASA’s Next Rover is Bringing a Mars Rock Back to Mars
Today at 7:50 a.m. EDT (13:50 CET), NASA will be launching their Perseverance rover, which is set to replace the Curiosity rover currently roaming the Red Planet (watch the launch here).
Perseverance is bringing with it a rock that scientists believe originated on Mars, around 600,000 to 700,000 years ago. The rock was discovered in Oman’s deserts in 1999 and is among eight other materials that the rover will take with it to Mars. The materials, stored inside a device on the rover known as Sherloc, are being brought along for the ride to calibrate Perseverance’s spectroscopy and laser instruments. The rock will function as a control measure that ensures that, if Perseverance finds signs of life on Mars, there won’t be any doubt.
The eventual goal is to collect interesting rocks, seal them in tubes and have later Mars missions pick them up in the future for transport to Earth.
How to control a rover on Mars.
Seafloor zombies
101.5 million-year-old microbes (green), brought back to life. Image credit: Jamstec
These Ancient Seafloor Microbes Woke Up After Over 100 Million Years
In an astounding scientific achievement, researchers were able to wake up dormant microbes found in sediment beneath the South Pacific Gyre. The fascinating part is the age of the sediment and microbes within, ranging from 13 million to 102 million years old.
The microbes were given food by the researchers, after which they woke up and multiplied. The fact that ancient microbes like this can still be metabolically active is baffling and shines light on the fact that science is still getting to grips with the extreme limits to life on Earth.
There was a diverse range of microbes in the sediments, consisting mainly of various types of bacteria of large groups like Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria. Almost all the microbes responded to the food quickly. 68 days after the experiment began, the number of microbial cells had increased four-fold. In some instances, as few as 100 cells per cubic centimetre had multiplied to 1 million cells per cubic centimetre. Even the eldest microbes - around 101.5 million years old - were revived, with up to 99.1 per cent springing back into life.
Life at the deepest depths of the ocean.
Google’s new cable to connect the UK, US and Spain
Connecting the world, underwater. Image credit: Google
Google Unveils New Transatlantic Undersea Web Cable
Google is going to build a new undersea web cable that will connect the US, UK and Spain.
The cable, named Grace Hopper after the American computer scientists behind the COBOL programming language, will be joining Google’s four other undersea cables - Curie, Dunant, Equiano and Junior. Grace Hopper is designed to improve network resilience to support Google’s enterprise and consumer products. Of course, undersea cables aren’t anything new - around 380 undersea cables currently carry approximately 99.5% of all transoceanic data, spanning 750,000 miles across the ocean floor. However, Grace Hopper is different in that it has 16 fibre pairs, the most of any undersea cable ever. To put that into context, the fastest cable in existence right now - owned by Microsoft and Facebook - has eight fibre pairs and was able to achieve a record speed of 26.2Tb per second last year.
The Grace Hopper cable is set to be ready 2022, should all go to plan.
The rich history of undersea cables.
Start-up Stories
General Fusion
Image credit: General Fusion
As mentioned above, nuclear fusion is an efficient, safe and clean method of generating vast quantities of energy for global consumption. General Fusion is working towards making fusion energy more accessible.
General Fusion’s goal is to transform how the world is energised by developing the first commercially-viable fusion power plant. Using innovative approaches and materials, General Fusion hopes to deliver fusion energy to the world that is clean, safe and on-demand at an industrial scale.