Word: ion
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...Venus. NASA vehicles have been this way before, but they've usually been just passing through on their way to the planets in the outer solar system. This time the asteroid belt itself will be the destination, and the ship will get there courtesy of the young technology of ion propulsion...
...Ion propulsion sidesteps that whole mess. Rather than rely on common combustible fuel, it uses xenon gas, a comparatively light 937 lbs. (425 kg) of it loaded into a compact 72-gal. (273 L) tank. A jolt of electricity energizes the gas, causing xenon ions to shoot out the back of the ship at 77,000 m.p.h. (124,000 km/h). A stream of charged atoms has somewhat less oomph than a burst of fire--less force than the weight of a single piece of paper, in fact--but over time it adds up. "It's acceleration with patience," says Rayman...
...think GM has an eco-friendly gene in its body. But at the Detroit auto show on Sunday, GM touted a new plug-in electric concept car called the Chevrolet Volt. A lithium ion battery pack powers the car and a three-cylinder engine can recharge the batteries, extending the vehicle's driving range up to 640 miles. The engine also runs on E85 ethanol, getting fuel economy up to 150 miles per gallon - and conceivably eliminating the need for gasoline almost entirely. All in all, it would be a quantum leap over GM's last electric...
Correction Appended: November 21, 2006 Burning batteries are two words that Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer would never like to hear again. Before reports surfaced in August that Sony-made lithium-ion batteries had an occasional tendency to fry Apple, Dell and other laptops, the boss of the sprawling Japanese media conglomerate was having a great year. For four quarters, Sony had beaten financial expectations (though it wasn't always profitable). The firm was leaner, following more than 10,000 job cuts and the closure of nine factories. The consumer-electronics division was back in the black. And the movie...
Burning batteries are two words that Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer would never like to hear again. Before reports surfaced last summer that Sony-made lithium-ion batteries had an occasional tendency to fry Apple, Dell and other laptops, the boss of the sprawling Japanese media conglomerate was having a great year. For four quarters, Sony had beaten financial expectations (though it wasn't always profitable). The firm was leaner, following more than 10,000 job cuts and the closure of nine factories. The consumer-electronics division was back in the black. And the movie studio was riding high...