TECHNOLOGY NEWS:
NASA looking for ‘a small step and a huge leap’ in quantum wires
NASA will pay Rice University, Texas, and Houston-based Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory (CNL) US$11 million over the next four years to develop an experimental power cable made from carbon nanotubes. The cable, also known as a quantum wire, could theoretically conduct electricity up to ten times better than traditional copper wire and weigh one-sixth as much. Scientists believe quantum wires could make spacecraft much lighter and more powerful, and may lead to faster computers and other commercial applications.
Under the agreement with NASA, CNL is to produce a one-metre-long prototype of quantum wire by 2009. To date, scientists have been able to produce wires no longer than several centimetres. The contract calls for CNL to provide NASA a one-meter prototype of a quantum wire by 2009. This will require major breakthroughs in the production and processing of nanotubes. Notably, a way has yet to be found to produce a specific type of nanotube. Of the hundreds of types available, only about 2%, known as ‘armchair’ nanotubes, are types that conduct electricity well enough for quantum wires.
“We need to find a way to make just the nanotubes we want, and we need them
in large quantities,” said CNL Executive Director Howard Schmidt. “Another major focus of the research will be finding new ways to combine armchair nanotubes, which are single molecules just a billionth of a metre wide, into large-scale fibres
and wires.”
“This is a small step but a very significant one from our perspective, as we try to develop new technology that will help
us as we send humans out from
Earth and into space,” said Jefferson Howell, Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
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