genuine space technology has been making cars cart ass path faster for years now , including a solar car that broke speed records using parts have directly from the Hubble Space Telescope . But that ’s nothing compared to what ’s on the direction , including muscularity cars that use heat - insubordinate pistons . Click through for details .
Nuna , a Dutch solar car , finished first in the 2001 World Solar Challenge , hit a phonograph record - recrudesce top hurrying of 100 KPH and crossing from Darwin to Adelaide in a record - break 32 hours and 39 minutes . The car included dual junction and triple junction atomic number 31 - arsenide solar cadre , which the European Space Agency had developed for its SMART-1 deputation to the Moon . The motorcar also had Maximum Power Point Trackers , which balance the power output signal between the battery and the solar electric cell , and which the ESA include on its Rosetta blank space investigation . And the Hubble Space Telescope ’s contribution was two solar strips from its orotund solar regalia , salvaged by an cosmonaut in 1993 . Here ’s a video . allow ’s not mock the balmy Dutch accents :
And Nuna ’s successor , Nuna II , apply better ESA solar cells that harvest 20 per centum more king .
But it ’s not just solar cars that are benefiting from space technology . The Pescarolo - Judd C 60 paradigm step on it caruses composite material developed for space flightto bring down its weight by 38 kilo , hold it salutary heat aegis while boost its speed .
And this is just the beginning of the ways infinite tech is being used in super - degenerate cars , or will soon be .
A especial kind of carbon fiber be intimate as carbon paper - carbon , developed for missile nosecones , is already used to make car brakes that can withstand temperatures of up to 3000 F. But soon , NASA state , it ’ll be used to create higher performance pistons and connecting rods that could grant engines to go way quicker without overheat .
And when you ’re take sharp turns at 150 mph , you ’ll soon be in less peril of rolling over and ending up looking like an accordion . The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’sVariable Dynamics Testing ( VDT ) vehiclewill apply a computer algorithm to change several factors in rollovers , including the “ understeer coefficient , ” loading - carry-over dispersion and oftenness and tone down of the “ fomite peal mode . ”
Meanwhile , the Mars Spirit Rover ’s AutoNav system have it voyage the Martian terrain unaided , andcould facilitate to leadto the driverless cars that GM and other car manufacturer say we ’ll have within a decade .
real slipstream cars pack a pile of technology from the place program . For example , NASCAR drivers used to hurt third - degree burns on their feet , when the metal floorboards of their cockpit get through 330 F from the overheating engines … until 1996,when NASCAR and the Kennedy Space Center experimentedwith instal the warmth shields from the Space Shuttle in its cars . Similarly , the cool down fire - retardant suits NASCAR drivers wear off come from the Advance Crew Escape Suits ( ACES ) hold out by Shuttle work party .
And then there are some uses of NASA technology that improve cars in less turbo - consign way of life . Like thischild car prat , which use NASA ’s “ system integration expertness ” to creating a better environs for the kiddy , include an entertainment system , video monitoring and a biotelemetry tracking scheme . essentially , it ’s like putting your kid inside a Teletubbie . And then there’sthis car wax , which claims to apply NASA technology to ensure you ’ll never have to full your car again . It looks like NASA is fairly desperate to find some worthful uses of its technology before its budget gets sliced down to nothing .
NASA
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