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By Andrea Thompson Start planning that vacation to outer space: The first space hotel is expected to open as soon as 2012, it was reported today. The hotel, "Galactic Suites," will allow adventurous travelers to enjoy a spectacular starry view from their hotel rooms, see the Sun rise 15 times a day and take part in scientific experiments while they are not using Velcro suits to crawl around their pod-room walls. The trip won't be cheap though--a three-day stay will cost around $4 million, according to Reuters. There were a few design kinks the company that is creating the hotel had to work out too, especially those involving water. "It's the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest challenge," company director Xavier Claramunt told Reuters. "How to accommodate the more intimate activities of the guests is not easy." But they have found a solution to the problem of how to allow guests to shower: a spa room where guests can float around in bubbles of water. And forget "around the world in 80 days"-- guest will travel around the world in 80 minutes. The hotel was no more than a dream of Claramunt's until a generous space enthusiast fronted the $3 billion needed to build the hotel. An American company aimed at colonizing Mars has invested in the hotel, which will be built from pods connected in a molecule-like structure, Reuters reported. Other private investors in Japan, the United States and the United Arab Emirates are also in talks to invest in the company. It is up in the air as to how many people would be eager to make the trip into space for a weightless hotel stay. "We have calculated that there are 40,000 people in the world who could afford to stay at the hotel. Whether they will want to spend money on going into space, we just don't know," Claramunt told Reuters.
An achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.Albert Einstein Theory Replacement?!
read more | digg story
Flexible energy storage devices based on nanocomposite paper
(Engineering, Nano Technology)
Researchers at the Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, have invented a super lightweight, flexible, biodegradable battery in the form of a piece of paper. By harnessing the power of nanotechnology among other things, the researchers figured out how to shrink, reinvent,
and otherwise repackage the components of a regular lithium-ion battery in a sheet of cellulose paper.
An early prototype of the device, just big enough to be held between thumb and forefinger, produces 2.5 volts, enough to power a small fan, or illuminate a light, and its inventors say that the battery can be easily scaled up to provide enough power to run any number of electronic
gadgets.
The scientists substituted nanotubes for the electrodes used in a conventional battery and used an ionic liquid solution as the battery's electrolyte. The nanotubes were embedded in the cellulose while the electrolyte was soaked into the material. The cellulose, which accounts
for 90% of the item's weight, acts as a separator.
Another example of we little earthlings are more and more dependent on IT System.
If they broke down, we are in havoc!
Not sure if Terminator Day will happen in my lifetime....
LOS ANGELES - Weary international passengers were stuck at Los Angeles International Airport for several hours, unable to set foot in the United States after a computer failure prevented customs officials from screening arrivals.
Over 20,000 international passengers, both Americans and foreigners, sat in four airport terminals and in 60 planes starting about 2 p.m. on Saturday, when the computer system broke down, said Los Angeles World Airports spokesman Paul Haney.
A major switch in the system, which contains names of arriving passengers and law enforcement data about them, including arrest warrants, had failed and had to be replaced, said Mike Fleming, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
"That system allows our officers to make decisions on who we can allow to enter the United States," Fleming said. "You just don't know by looking at them."
The computers were fully restored at 11:45 p.m., and the last of backlogged passengers were processed by early Sunday, Fleming said.
"This is probably one of the worst days we've had. I've been with the agency for 30 years and I've never seen the system go down and stay down for as long as it did," Peter Gordon, acting port director for customs, told The Los Angeles Times.
Officials diverted seven incoming flights to an Ontario airport and advised international passengers departing Sunday to check the status of their flights before leaving for the airport.
Terminals that normally accept international passengers were full by 2:30 p.m. Saturday, and passengers arriving afterward had to remain on the runway until their was room inside the terminal buildings.
Three people were transported to local hospitals after they fell ill from waiting in the terminals, according to the Los Angeles City Fire Department.
"This is just unbearable," said Gaynelle Jones, 57, who landed on a 13-hour flight from Hong Kong at about 2:15 p.m. and was still sitting on her plane five hours later. She said she had missed her connecting flight to Houston.
"We've already been on a plane for several hours, and they have no timeframe for when we'll be able to get off," Jones said during a cell phone interview.
Airport officials said the stranded planes were connected to ground power and passengers had access to food, water and bathrooms.
"People are getting a little stir-crazy, feeling claustrophobic," said Chris Cognac, 39, who was returning with family and friends — including 10 children — from a week in Puerto Vallarta. The group had been sitting on the tarmac for five hours when he spoke by phone.
Passengers on his plane were in the aisles, holding their carry-on luggage, and ready to disembark when the flight crew asked them to return to their seats, Cognac said.
"Everybody's pretty angry with customs at the moment because they're not informing any one of anything," Cognac said. "It's becoming a logistical issue with diapers."
