Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




TECH SPACE
Atoms to Product: Aiming to Make Nanoscale Benefits Life-sized
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 29, 2014


DARPA's Atoms to Product (A2P) program seeks to develop enhanced technologies for assembling atomic-scale items, and integrating these components into materials and systems from nanoscale up to product scale in ways that preserve and exploit distinctive nanoscale properties. For a larger version of this image please go here.

Many common materials exhibit different and potentially useful characteristics when fabricated at extremely small scales-that is, at dimensions near the size of atoms, or a few ten-billionths of a meter.

These "atomic scale" or "nanoscale" properties include quantized electrical characteristics, glueless adhesion, rapid temperature changes, and tunable light absorption and scattering that, if available in human-scale products and systems, could offer potentially revolutionary defense and commercial capabilities.

Two as-yet insurmountable technical challenges, however, stand in the way: Lack of knowledge of how to retain nanoscale properties in materials at larger scales, and lack of assembly capabilities for items between nanoscale and 100 microns-slightly wider than a human hair.

DARPA has created the Atoms to Product (A2P) program to help overcome these challenges. The program seeks to develop enhanced technologies for assembling atomic-scale pieces.

It also seeks to integrate these components into materials and systems from nanoscale up to product scale in ways that preserve and exploit distinctive nanoscale properties.

"We want to explore new ways of putting incredibly tiny things together, with the goal of developing new miniaturization and assembly methods that would work at scales 100,000 times smaller than current state-of-the-art technology," said John Main, DARPA program manager.

"If successful, A2P could help enable creation of entirely new classes of materials that exhibit nanoscale properties at all scales. It could lead to the ability to miniaturize materials, processes and devices that can't be miniaturized with current technology, as well as build three-dimensional products and systems at much smaller sizes."

This degree of scaled assembly is common in nature, Main continued. "Plants and animals, for example, are effectively systems assembled from atomic- and molecular-scale components a million to a billion times smaller than the whole organism. We're trying to lay a similar foundation for developing future materials and devices."

.


Related Links
DARPA
Space Technology News - Applications and Research






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








TECH SPACE
Yale's cool molecules
New Haven CT (SPX) Aug 29, 2014
It's official. Yale physicists have chilled the world's coolest molecules. The tiny titans in question are bits of strontium monofluoride, dropped to 2.5 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero through a laser cooling and isolating process called magneto-optical trapping (MOT). They are the coldest molecules ever achieved through direct cooling, and they represent a physics milestone l ... read more


TECH SPACE
China Aims for the Moon, Plans to Bring Back Lunar Soil

Electric Sparks May Alter Evolution of Lunar Soil

China to test recoverable moon orbiter

China to send orbiter to moon and back

TECH SPACE
Opportunity Flash-Memory Reformat Planned

Memory Reformat Planned for Opportunity Mars Rover

Scientist uncovers red planet's climate history in unique meteorite

A Salty, Martian Meteorite Offers Clues to Habitability

TECH SPACE
Aurora Season Has Started

Russian, US Scientists to Prepare Astronauts for Extreme Situations in Space

Russia's Space Geckos Die Due to Technical Glitch Two Days Before Landing

US to Stop Using Soyuz Spacecraft, Invest in Domestic Private Space Industry

TECH SPACE
Same-beam VLBI Tech monitors Chang'E-3 movement on moon

China Sends Remote-Sensing Satellite into Orbit

More Tasks for China's Moon Mission

China's Circumlunar Spacecraft Unmasked

TECH SPACE
Science and Departure Preps for Station Crew

3-D Printer Could Turn Space Station into 'Machine Shop'

Russia May Continue ISS Work Beyond 2020

NASA Awaits Boeing's Completion of Soyuz Replacement

TECH SPACE
Sea Launch Takes Proactive Steps to Address Manifest Gap

SpaceX rocket explodes during test flight

Russian Cosmonauts Carry Out Science-Oriented Spacewalk Outside ISS

Optus 10 delivered to French Guiana for Ariane 5 Sept launch

TECH SPACE
Orion Rocks! Pebble-Size Particles May Jump-Start Planet Formation

Rotation of Planets Influences Habitability

Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star

Young binary star system may form planets with weird and wild orbits

TECH SPACE
Experiments explain why some liquids are 'fragile' and others are 'strong'

The fluorescent fingerprint of plastics

Atoms to Product: Aiming to Make Nanoscale Benefits Life-sized

Argonne scientists pioneer strategy for creating new materials




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.