“Today, most lithium-ion battery systems provide power for only a few hours at a time, but the technology continues to get cheaper and better, says John-Joseph Marie, an energy storage analyst at the Faraday Institution who recently authored a report on stationary batteries. Production and engineering improvements are allowing some companies to plan lithium-ion storage projects that could, in the coming years, discharge up to 8 h of energy, about 4 times as long as an average battery in 2023. ‘That’s made it really difficult for anything else to really compete,’ Marie says. ‘It’s a constantly moving goalpost.’
Combining lithium-ion batteries with the generation of huge amounts of renewable electricity plus lots of new transmission lines to move that energy could go a long way toward decarbonizing the power grid, but building that infrastructure would be incredibly expensive.”
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- Virgin Galactic to start assembly of first new spaceplane in March
- Astroscale aced the world’s first rendezvous with a piece of space junk
- Metal made in space lands on Earth
- Lonestar and Phison’s data center infrastructure is headed to the moon
- BYD has already produced its first solid-state cells
- Spy-satellite-grade images could soon become available to everyone
- This refinery wants to make sustainable aviation fuel mainstream. Trump’s cuts could kill it
- Private space stations of the future promise luxury. But can they deliver?
- Fusion energy startup unveils breakthrough with plans for commercial power plant
- Startup founded by Anthony Levandowski to launch autonomous trucks globally
- A jumping lunar robot is about to explore a pitch-black moon crater for the first time
Lonestar Data Holdings is launching a test mission to place a mini data center on the Moon, aiming to safeguard sensitive data from earthly hazards like natural disasters and geopolitical conflicts. The data center, weighing just 1 kilogram and carrying 8 terabytes of SSD storage, is part of a broader effort to explore the feasibility of lunar-based data storage. The Moon’s stable environment and lack of climate disturbances make it an attractive location for secure, resilient data storage, though challenges like high latency and difficult repairs remain. Despite these obstacles, Lonestar is optimistic about the potential of lunar data centers, with plans to expand to lunar Lagrange points and lava tubes in the future. (via IEEE Spectrum)
- NASA installs heat shield on first private spacecraft bound for Venus
- Sound waves create permanently water-repellent glass
- Xolography-based method enables 3D printing of living tissues with light
- First petawatt electron beam arrives, ready to rip apart matter and space
- New X-ray technology captures proteins in motion
- Aqueous-based recycling of perovskite photovoltaics
- Tiny tubes wrap around brain cells
- Modifying graphene sheets with plasma to produce better gas sensors
- Nanoparticles deliver microRNAs to muscle stem cells for potential muscular dystrophy treatment
- Scientists reveal key to affordable, room-temperature quantum light
- A swarm of small drones may help artificial reefs attract sea life
- Researchers figure out how to get fresh lithium into batteries
- Nickel superconductor works above -233°C threshold at normal pressure
- Fuse Vectors gets $5.2M for gene therapy tech
- Magdrive propels US expansion with $10.5M seed round
- NanoPhoria Bioscience receives €17.5M award from EIC accelerator program
- Loyal closes $22M Series B-2 funding for canine longevity
- STAX Engineering, a maritime emissions capture and control company, raises $70M in funding
- Advanced robotic grasping company Nexera Robotics raises $4.5M in funding
- YC grad Deepnight nabs $5.5M for AI night vision software that disrupts a multi-billion dollar industry
- Biotech startup Eikon Therapeutics locks up aassive $351M Series D
- Nomagic picks up $44M for its AI-powered robotic arms
- Quantum Machines raises $170M, says it’s working with more than half of all quantum computing companies
- Redalpine, Founders Fund back Magdrive’s electric thruster business
- Mitico raises $4.3M seed round to capture CO2 using ‘prehistoric chemistry’
- Paradox Immunotherapeutics receives $10M investment from SymBiosis
- Perplexity launches $50M seed and pre-seed VC fund
- Karman+ raises $20M for asteroid mining demo
- Achira raises $33M Nvidia-backed seed, blending AI and physics in biotech
- Emtar Technologies raises $18.5M CAD Angel round
- Kapta Space, a Seattle startup working with the Department of Defense, raises $5M
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