Solar System

Select projects in Europe will be the first to have Maxeon Air panels installed, ahead of general availability in early 2022

Energy

Frameless solar panels can be stuck directly to rooftops

Maxeon Solar Technologies reckons that it's come up with a way to install PV panels on the roofs of buildings that may not be able to support conventional setups, creating frameless, thin and lightweight panels that can be adhered directly to a roof.

The multisensory Lumen gives off a glow at night due to photo-luminescent fabric

Architecture

Science meets architecture in robotically woven, solar-active structure

New York’s MoMA PS1 will feature a shelter structure that uses robotically-knitted solar fabrics able to absorb and release light. Created by Jenny Sabin Studio, the canopy is photo-luminescent by night and cooling by day, with a misting system that delivers a cooling spray when someone is near.

The book is expected to sell for between £1,200,000 and £1,800,000, which due to Brexit, is a lot cheaper in US dollars this week at an estimate that translates into just $1.6 to $2.4 million. We expect it will considerably exceed its estimate as the last time a copy came to auction was at a Sotheby's New York auction in November, 1989.

Collectibles

First published book on heliocentric theory heads for auction

A work of considerable scientific gravitas will auction on July 13, 2016, in London when the first printed book to propose that the Earth revolved around the Sun, De Libris Revolutionum Eruditissimi Viridoctoris, goes under the auctioneer's hammer.

Michigan's proposed 3U CubeSat interplanetary spacecraft (Photo: University of Michigan)

Space Systems

Kickstarter project developing micro plasma thrusters to send CubeSats on interplanetary missions

Seeing greater potential for miniaturized modular satellites, the University of Michigan is installing a miniature plasma thruster system into a 3U CubeSat, enabling the vehicle to leave low Earth orbit and cruise much of the Solar System.

Space Systems

PayPal Galactic – don't leave Earth without it

PayPal is teaming with the SETI Institute and the Space Tourism Society to brainstorm how to extend the PayPal brand across the Solar System.

The "Solbot" optimizes the orientation of the solar panel in relation to the sun

Robotics

QBotix system uses mobile robots to optimize solar panel orientation

The QBotix Tracking System gets a robot to do the rounds of a solar installation throughout the day and adjust the panels at 40-minute intervals to ensure they are optimally facing the sun.