Scientists create fabric alternative to batteries for wearable devices

WASHINGTON: Scientists have developed a method that can allow fabrics to store charge, paving the way for selfpowered smart garments that can monitor health in real time.

A major factor holding back development of wearable biosensors for health monitoring is the lack of a lightweight, long-lasting power supply.

Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the US have developed a method for making a chargestoring system that is easily integrated into clothing for “embroidering a charge-storing pattern onto any garment.” The method uses a micro-supercapacitor and combines vapour-coated conductive threads with a polymer film, plus a special sewing technique to create a flexible mesh of aligned electrodes on a textile backing. The resulting solidstate device has a high ability to store charge for its size, and other characteristics that allow it to power wearable biosensors. WASHINGTON: Nasa’s Ralph, one of the most well-travelled scientific instrument, is set to explore Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids aboard the Lucy spacecraft in 2021, the US space agency said.

Ralph has made many discoveries since it first launched aboard the New Horizons spacecraft in 2006. Given a name and not an acronym, Ralph enables the study of the composition and atmospheres of celestial objects.

In 2021, the Lucy spacecraft will car ry a near-twin of Ralph, called L’ralph (“Lucy Ralph”), to investigate Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, which are remnants from the early days of the solar system, Nasa said in a statement on Wednesday.

The L’ralph instrument suite will study this diverse group of bodies. Lucy will fly by six Trojans and one Main Belt asteroid, more than any other previous asteroid mission.

L’ralph will detect the Trojan asteroids’ chemical fingerprints, the statement said.

L’ralph allows scientists to interpret data provided by the Sun’s reflected light that are the fingerprints of different elements and compounds.

These data could provide clues about how organic molecules form in primitive bodies, a process that might also have led to the emergence of life on Earth.

L’ralph needs to have many capabilities in a small, light body structure to keep the spacecraft efficient and the mission productive.

Its instrument suite contains the Multi-spectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) and the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA), both of which are fed by the same optics, meaning that Ralph can observe both visible and infrared wavelengths.

These dual capabilities are what makes Ralph and its cousin L’ralph so special, according to Dennis Reuter, the instrument principal investigator for L’ralph.

“Most instruments can image visible or infrared wavelengths, but L’ralph can do both,” said Reuter.

Compared to the Ralph that flies with New Horizons, Lucy’s L’ralph has enhanced technology. It can detect a broader spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, it has a moving mirror that reflects light into L’ralph instead of requiring movements of the entire spacecraft.

R a l p h ’s i n f r a re d d e t e c t o r s a re 2,000 pixels square, compared to New Horizons Ralph’s 256 by 256, allowing for images with more detail.