NASA launches powerful air quality monitor to keep an eagle-eye on pollution

NASA has launched an innovative air quality monitoring instrument into a fixed-rotation orbit around Earth. The tool is called TEMPO, which stands for Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring of Pollution instrument, and it keeps an eye on a handful of harmful airborne pollutants in the atmosphere, such as nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde and ground-level ozone. These chemicals are the building blocks of smog.

TEMPO traveled to space hitched to a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. NASA says the launch was completed successfully, with the atmospheric satellite separating from the rocket without any incidents. NASA acquired the appropriate signal and the agency says the instrument will begin monitoring duties in late May or early June.

TEMPO sits at a fixed geostationary orbit just above the equator and it measures air quality over North America every hour and measures regions spaced apart by just a few miles. This is a significant improvement to existing technologies, as current measurements are conducted within areas of 100 square miles. TEMPO should be able to take accurate measurements from neighborhood to neighborhood, giving a comprehensive view of pollution from both the macro and micro levels.

This also gives us some unique opportunities to pick up new kinds of data, such as changing pollution levels throughout rush hour, the effects of lightning on the ozone layer, the movement of pollution related to forest fires and the long-term effects of fertilizers on the atmosphere, among other data points. More information is never bad. 

NASA

TEMPO is the middle child in a group of high-powered instruments tracking pollution. South Korea's Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer went up in 2020, measuring pollution over Asia, and the ESA (European Space Agency) Sentinel-4 satellite launches in 2024 to handle European and North African measurements. Other tracking satellites will eventually join TEMPO up there in the great black, including the forthcoming NASA instrument to measure the planet's crust.

You may notice that TEMPO flew into space on a SpaceX rocket and not a NASA rocket. This is by design, as the agency is testing a new business model to send crucial instruments into orbit. Paying a private company seems to be the more budget-friendly option when compared to sending up a rocket itself. 

The NASA TEMPO launch seen at night from a distance, with the rocket blazing as it takes off.

Elon Musk lays out his vision for Tesla's future at the company's Investor Day 2023

Tesla's production capacities are in store for a significant growth spurt, CEO Elon Musk told the crowd assembled at the company's Austin, Texas Gigafactory for Investor Day 2023 — and AI will apparently be the magic bullet that gets them there. It's all part of what Musk is calling Master Plan part 3.

This is indeed Musk's third such Master Plan, the first two coming in 2006 and 2016, respectively. These have served as a roadmap for the company's growth and development over the past 17 years as Tesla has grown from neophyte startup to the world's leading EV automaker. "There is a clear path to a sustainable energy Earth by 2050 and it does not require destroying natural habitats," Musk said during the keynote address. 

"You could support a civilization much bigger than Earth [currently does]. Much more than the 8 billion humans could actually be supported sustainably on Earth and I'm just often shocked and surprised by how few people realize this," he continued. He promised that the company would release a "detailed whitepaper with calculations & assumptions," via Twitter during the event.

The Master Plan aims to establish a sustainable energy economy by developing 240 terraWatt hours (TWH) of energy storage and 30 TWH of renewable power generation, which would require an estimated $10 trillion investment, roughly 10 percent of the global GDP. Musk notes, however, that figure is less than half of what we spend currently on internal combustion economy. In all, he anticipates we'd need less than 0.2 percent of the world's land area to create the necessary solar and wind generation capacity. 

"All cars will go to fully electric and autonomous," Musk declared, arguing once again that ICE vehicles will soon be viewed in the same disdain as the horse and buggy. He also teased potential plans to electrify aircraft and ships. "As we improve the energy density of batteries, you’ll see all transportation go fully electric, with the exception of rockets,” he said. No further details as to when or how that might be accomplished were shared.

“A sustainable energy economy is within reach and we should accelerate it,” Drew Baglino, Tesla's SVP of Powertrain and Energy Engineering, added.

Following Musk's opening statement, Tesla executives Lars Moravy and Franz von Holzhausen took the stage to discuss the company's "production hell" and the challenges of building the Cybertruck out of stainless steel. However, the lessons learned from that, Moravy argued will help Tesla build its Gen 3 vehicles more efficiently, and do so within a far smaller factory footprint. von Holzhausen announced to a rousing round of applause that the Cybertruck will arrive later this year, a significantly closer date than Musk's previous public estimate that production wouldn't begin until next year. 

Unfortunately, there will be no new vehicle reveal at this event, von Holzhausen said. That announce will happen "at a later date."  

The company did tease a new video featuring the Tesla Robot walking independently and without the aide of a support frame though there was no live demonstration of the same. Despite difficulties finding suitable off-the-shelf actuators and motors for the humanoid robot platform, "we should bring and actual produce to market at scale that is useful far faster than anyone else," Musk said. 

He further expects the company's robots to become so successful that we may soon see a day where they outnumber humans. "I think we might exceed a one-to-one ratio of robots to humans," he added. "It's not even clear what an economy means at that point."

BEIJING, CHINA - AUGUST 29: A Tesla logo is displayed at Tesla booth ahead of the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) at China National Convention Center on August 29, 2022 in Beijing, China. The 2022 CIFTIS is slated to be held in Beijing from August 31 to September 5 to provide platforms for exchanges in service trade. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

The USPS is buying 9,250 Ford electric vans

The United States Postal Service isn't pinning all its electrification hopes on next-gen mail delivery vehicles. The service has signed a contract to buy 9,250 Ford E-Transit electric vans, with the first units arriving in December. The handover should be complete by the end of 2024, Ford adds. The USPS is also placing its early orders for over 14,000 charging stations for its facilities across the country.

The USPS already plans to buy at least 60,000 of its Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) by 2028, with 75 percent of them being electric. The Ford vans are part of an additional plan to buy 21,000 "off-the-shelf" EVs. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy says this helps the USPS quickly act on a strategy that improves mail service and working conditions while keeping costs down for the self-sufficient agency. The total vehicle investment is expected to cost $9.6 billion, including $3 billion in funding thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act.

The charging network may not grow as quickly. The USPS expects to provide chargers to at least 75 locations within the next year, but doesn't estimate how it will expand in following years.

The overall EV push represents a sharp break from the initial plans. The USPS originally expected that most of its NGDV orders would be for gas-based trucks. The Biden administration fought that approach, claiming that the USPS under DeJoy ignored Environmental Protection Agency advice, rejected public hearings and relied on "biased" estimates. The service challenged the administration before relenting and shifting most of its purchases to electric models.

The transition will play an important part in the government's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions for itself and the country at large. The USPS represents the largest federal vehicle fleet — its EV purchases will have a significant impact relative to other agencies.

2022 Ford E-Transit electric van

EU wind and solar energy production overtook gas last year

Energy generated from solar and wind power reportedly overtook natural gas in the European Union (EU) for the first time last year. The data comes from UK clean-energy think tank Ember (via Bloomberg), which projects the gap to grow.

Solar and wind energy rose to an all-time high of 22 percent of the EU’s 2022 electricity use. Meanwhile, Ember projects fossil-fuel generation to drop by 20 percent this year — with gas falling the fastest.

The shifts stem largely from reducing reliance on gas and coal after Russia invaded Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin ordered the cutoff of natural gas exports to the EU as retaliation for Western sanctions. Ember says the resulting high costs helped lower energy demand by around eight percent in Q4 2022 compared to the same quarter the previous year.

“There is now a focus on rapidly cutting gas demand — at the same time as phasing out coal,’’ the report said. “This means a massive scale-up in clean energy is on its way.” It expects nuclear power to remain flat in 2023, with a planned phase-out of German nuclear reactors canceling out a ramp-up from France. However, it projects hydropower to rise by around 40 terawatt-hours this year following a severe drought in 2022.

A solar energy panel is pictured on the roof of a house with a wind turbine seen in the background, in Burton Latimer, Britain, March 30, 2022.

Researchers created a sticky drone to collect environmental DNA from forest canopies

Swiss scientists have developed a proof-of-concept method to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) from high-arching forest canopies, an under-observed habitat. Rather than hiring skilled climbers to risk their lives to grab a little bug and bird DNA, the team flew a collection drone into the trees to capture genetic material — giving them a clearer picture of the area’s organic breakdown.

The researchers used a quadcopter equipped with a sticky collection cage. But since tree branches can bend at the slightest touch — and the drone needs to touch the branches to collect DNA — it has a haptic-based control scheme using force sensors to measure the pressure between the drone and the branch. Then, it adjusts its landing accordingly, leaning against the branch gently enough to avoid flinging valuable material to the ground.

The drone’s cage then grabs samples with a sticky surface made from “adhesive tape and a cotton gauze humidified with a solution of water and DNA-free sugar.” The cage spends around 10 seconds leaning on each branch and collecting eDNA before zipping back to the base, where the scientists retrieve the samples and ship them to a lab. The experiment’s drone successfully collected enough genetic material to identify 21 animal classes ranging from insects and mammals to birds and amphibians.

Science

However, the scientists make it clear this is a work in progress. For example, on the last research day, the team noticed a drop in eDNA detection because of rainfall the night before — suggesting the method only tells them which creatures visited since the last downpour. Additionally, they noted unexplained differences in the performance of their two collectors, highlighting the need for more research on equipment variations.

The researchers hope their work will make it easier and cheaper for environmental biologists to learn which critters live in some of the hardest-to-reach places. The approach could eventually help the scientific community understand how environmental changes affect biodiversity, perhaps helping identify endangered or vulnerable species before it’s too late.

Photo of a drone designed to collect eDNA from hard-to-reach tree branches. It has an attached sticky cage and is leaning against a pine tree branch.

Biden administration announces conditional $700 million loan for Nevada lithium mine

What could become only the second lithium mine in the US received backing from the Biden administration this week. In an announcement spotted by Bloomberg, the Department of Energy said it would provide mining company Ioneer with a conditional loan valued at up to $700 million to develop the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Nevada’s Esmeralda County. Once operational, the mine is expected to produce enough lithium for about 370,000 electric vehicles annually. Ioneer already has supply agreements with automakers like Ford and Toyota, though the project likely won’t start producing lithium until 2026.

The Biden administration made the funding available through the Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. To secure the money, Ioneer must obtain all the necessary permits from relevant state and federal agencies. The Center for Biological Diversity has come out against the project due to the risks it poses to a species of endangered wildflower in the area known as Tiehm’s buckwheat. The US Interior Department has yet to bless the project for that same reason. The Department of Energy said Ioneer revised its plans for the site to avoid direct impacts on the plant. However, it’s worth noting lithium mining requires a lot of water to carry out.

Still, the mineral is essential to many technologies needed to transition the world to a zero-emissions future. What’s more, lithium supply is expected to fall short of global demand by 2030. That gap will make it difficult for the Biden administration to meet its goal of ensuring half of all cars sold in the US by the end of the decade are electric vehicles.

Lithium evaporation ponds are seen at Albemarle Lithium production facility in Silver Peak, Nevada, U.S. October 6, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria