NASA prevented space shuttle Discovery & ready for launch

Nasa ready for launch after repair..After two days of repairs to a faulty hydrogen vent line, mission managers give the go for shuttle Discovery to launch Sunday night.


NASA still doesn't know what caused a hydrogen gas leak that prevented space shuttle Discovery from flying earlier this week.

But officials are hopeful that repairs have solved the problem, and that Discovery will blast off Sunday evening. Good weather is forecast.

Discovery is more than a month late for its scheduled trip to the international space station. First, hydrogen gas valves inside the shuttle had to be double- and triple-checked. Then on Wednesday, hydrogen gas began leaking during fueling where a vent line hooks up to the external fuel tank.

Workers have replaced that hookup and a pair of seals. Nothing obvious was wrong with the removed parts.

Discovery and seven astronauts are set to carry up one last set of solar wings for the space station.

Scientists have developed a way to battery charging time from hours to seconds

9-second lithium-ion recharge discover Scientists.
Scientists have developed a way to reduce battery charging time from hours to seconds, opening up doors for its use in electronics and electric vehicles.

Scientists Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found a tunnel shaped lithium compound that speeds up electron transfer within the battery.

The scientists’ lithium-ion battery could mean quick charging for electronics such as laptops and iPods, as well as more efficient hybrid electric vehicles (EV). The faster an EV can recharge its batteries, the more ground it can cover in a given amount of time.

This breakthrough may extend to recharge capabilities of other battery materials. Just as nickel hydroxide achieved fast recharge rates before lithium, other materials may have the potential to follow suit.

Battery recharge speed depends on electron and ion movement. Lithium ions tend to slow down when moving from the battery’s cathode to its electrolyte.

Kang and Ceder found a compound called lithium-iron phosphate, which has a crystal structure that creates a tunnel for lithium to quickly travel through. In order to get the ions to the tunnels, the scientists coated the cathode with lithium-phosphate glass, which allows electron flow. The result: Recharge in nine seconds.