New Atlas

Electronics Audio available

"Friendly" EMP generator to help protect electronics against electromagnetic attack

David Szondy December 9, 2018

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons might be a staple of movies and video games, but they pose a very real threat. Sandia National Laboratories has developed a "friendly" EMP generator to make sure military and civilian equipment can withstand such potentially devastating bursts of energy.

Sandia National Laboratories researcher Leonard Martinez connects a high-voltage-insulating line that circulates oil between a coaxial ...

Military

Sandia brings back sounding rockets for missile tests

David Szondy October 22, 2018

After a 15-year hiatus, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is returning to flying sounding rockets. The centerpiece of the HOT SHOT program, the suborbital rocket launches are designed to cut the development time for new weapon systems by a third while lowering R&D costs.

Sounding rockets will be used for experiments and to test missile components

Automotive

Sandia Labs looks to the liquid hydrogen filling stations of the future

David Szondy October 15, 2018

In anticipation of the hydrogen economy of the future, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is working on software models that will help hydrogen refueling stations switch from hydrogen gas to liquid hydrogen while implementing new, easier to follow safety standards.

Rendering of First Element Fuel’s liquid hydrogen retail fuel pump, showing the pump and storage tank

Materials Audio available

Platinum-gold mix becomes world's most durable metal alloy

Michael Irving August 16, 2018

Sandia engineers have developed the most durable metal alloy ever created. Made up of a combination of platinum and gold, the new material is 100 times more wear-resistant than high-strength steel, and the first metal alloy to join the same class as diamond. It also produces its own lubricant.

Sandia researchers Michael Chandross (left) and Nic Argibay, overseeing the testing of the platinum-gold alloy that's ...

Energy

Sandia Labs completes nuclear triathlon to test spent fuel safety

David Szondy March 13, 2018

To ensure that moving spent radioactive fuel is being carried out with the minimum of risks, Sandia National Laboratories recently completed a nuclear "triathlon" of a simulated cargo of spent fuel rods over 14,500 mi to record the stress and jolts that fuel undergoes in transit.

Loading the nuclear waste transportation and storage cask onto a barge for the second leg of ...

Energy

Fractal design boosts efficiency of concentrating solar power receivers

Michael Irving October 25, 2017

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants can be a key part of a renewable energy strategy, but progress is often focused on larger facilities. Now, engineers from Sandia National Laboratories are improving the efficiency of smaller plants, designing a new receiver that can absorb much more sunlight.

Engineers from Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new type of receiver for concentrating solar power ...

Physics

Giant gas gun replaces explosives in rocket part testing

Michael Franco August 31, 2017

Sandia National Laboratories is up to big things. After having recently replicated the energy found around black holes, the facility has just delivered proof of concept for a method of testing rocket parts using a 60-foot-long (18 m) compressed nitrogen gun that makes the process greener and safer.

Sandia engineers attach a resonant cone to a modified Hopkinson bar known as a resonant beam, ...

Physics

Monster x-ray machine blasts apart black hole theory

Michael Franco August 30, 2017

Using the most powerful X-ray-generating machine on the planet, researchers have reproduced what happens to matter just before it is devoured by a black hole. Their findings show that a long-standing theory regarding the giant gravitational sinkholes may be completely wrong.

The Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories creates tremendous bursts of energy using less power than ...

Medical

Low-cost smartphone device seeks out Zika

Michael Irving March 20, 2017

Despite not getting the headlines it did last year, Zika remains an ongoing issue that needs addressing. A team from Sandia National Laboratories has developed a low-cost, portable device for quickly detecting Zika and similar viruses in a sample, driven by a smartphone app.

A new low-cost, portable device can quickly detect Zika and other mosquito-borne viruses using an everyday ...

Energy

Sandia Labs turns to tritium in quest for fusion power

David Szondy November 10, 2016

Sandia National Laboratories is raising the stakes in its quest to develop fusion power by introducing tritium into its experiments with its Z machine. Tritium, the heaviest of the three hydrogen isotopes promises to boost energy output by a factor of 500.

Two fast neutron radiation-effects cassettes aim toward the center of the containment system for tritium within ...