Tag Archives: SLIM

Repurposing a Mosquito’s Proboscis as a Slim Nozzle for 3D Printing

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Mosquito proboscis repurposed as a nozzle for 3D printing

Changhong Cao et al. 2025

Separated mosquito proboscises can be transformed into ultra-thin nozzles for 3D printing, offering potential for generating replacement tissues and organs suitable for transplantation.

Cao Changhong and his team at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, pioneered this method, termed 3D necroprinting, because they couldn’t find a nozzle adequately thin for creating extremely fine structures. The narrowest commercial nozzle available was 35 micrometers in inner diameter, with a price tag of 60 pounds (approximately $80).

They explored methods like glass drawing, but those nozzles were also costly and very brittle.

“This led us to consider alternatives,” says Cao. “If nature can give us what we need affordably, why should we create it ourselves?”

The research team tasked graduate students, including Justin Puma, to inspect everything from scorpion stingers to snake fangs to identify natural organs fit for the purpose. Ultimately, they discovered the mosquito proboscis, particularly the tougher variant found in female Egyptian mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti). They can now print structures as thin as 20 micrometers.

Cao remarked that a skilled operator could produce six nozzles per hour from the mosquito mouthparts, each costing under $1, making scalability straightforward. These natural nozzles can be fitted onto current 3D printers and are surprisingly durable given their organic origin. Approximately 30% may fail after two weeks, but they can be preserved in the freezer for up to a year.

The research team tested their technology using a bioink called Pluronic F-127, enabling the crafting of biological tissue scaffolds, including blood vessels, and providing a possible route for developing substitute organs.

There are numerous other instances where small biological components have been utilized in machines, such as moth antennas employed in scent-detecting drones. Deceased spiders have been harnessed as mechanical grippers.

Christian Griffith, along with collaborators from Swansea University in the UK, noted that this study exemplifies how human engineers often struggle to keep pace with the tools developed by nature.

“Mosquitoes boast millions of years of evolution, and we’re striving to catch up,” he explains. “They possess a distinct advantage in this respect.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Japan’s lunar lander “Slim” miraculously persevered through three lunar nights

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The SLIM lander continues to take photos of the moon's surface.

JAXA

Somehow, Japan's Smart Lunar Survey Lander (SLIM) survived three lunar nights. This is an amazing feat. The moon's nights are so cold that the spacecraft's batteries and electronics fail, so a lunar lander can typically survive one day on the moon, or about two weeks on Earth.

The lunar lander is built to withstand the moon's nighttime temperatures, which can drop to -133°C (-208°F). SLIM is no exception. There are no heaters or special insulation designed to keep the spacecraft's electronics warm.

The original plan was for the lunar night to mark the end of the lander's mission, so no one expected to wake up again when night fell less than two weeks after SLIM's January 19 landing. I wasn't expecting it. But on February 25, the sun rose over SLIM's resting place near the moon's south pole, lighting it up again.

Alarmed, the SLIM operations crew on Earth began instructing the lander to image and measure its surroundings until the next lunar night, when the mission would truly end. In late March, the sun rose again and the lander powered on and began transmitting data to Earth.

By all standards, the mission was a shocking success, even after a difficult landing left the spacecraft tilted. But yet another surprise awaited – three nights later on April 23, SLIM was revived again.

X's SLIM official account Posted“SLIM maintained its primary functionality even after a three-night stay, which was not envisioned at the time of its design.” New photos of the lunar surface accompanying that post show that the lander once again understands the moon. It also shows that they are working hard to collect data that will not only help them do this, but also help them create a spacecraft that can withstand moonlit nights.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

SLIM, Japan’s Lunar Lander, Astonishingly Survives Second Night on the Moon

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View of the lunar surface taken from the tilted position of the SLIM lander

JAXA

Most landers we send to the Moon will operate for one lunar day, or about two weeks on Earth, until they die from the extreme cold of the lunar night. But Japan’s Smart Lunar Lander (SLIM) has now survived two nights on the moon and continues to send images back to Earth, an amazing feat.

SLIM is Japan’s first lunar lander and becomes the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface. When the plane landed on January 19, it was tilted and the solar panels could not provide enough power to continue operating for more than a few hours. After nine days, the sun began to move again, moving across the sky.

But just three Earth days later, the lunar night began. Nighttime temperatures on the moon can drop as low as -133°C (-208°F), potentially damaging the spacecraft’s batteries and electronics. Normally, the lunar lander shuts down on a lunar night and never wakes up again, but it started up again on February 25 as the sun rose above Slim.

This in itself was a surprise. The lander was not specifically designed to withstand lunar nights, and its original mission was scheduled to end at night. So, as night approached again, this seemed to be the end of SLIM.

However, on March 27th, the SLIM official account I posted an image above X has the following caption: “Last night, we received a response from SLIM confirming that SLIM achieved its second success during the night. Last night, the sun was still high and the equipment was hot, so I quickly turned on my navigation camera. It looks like the lander will be able to resume analyzing its surroundings within the next few days.

Its survival is especially surprising because while some spacecraft use radioactive elements to stay warm, SLIM does not. “This is a significant achievement considering we are not using radioisotope heaters,” he says. Haim Benaroya at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “This result is important and impressive, given that this is a major design consideration for electronics (and people) to survive moonlit nights.” SLIM has failed while many other spacecraft have failed. Analyzing how they survived may help us understand how they stay warm on the moon.

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  • moon/
  • space exploration

Source: www.newscientist.com

Japanese lander Slim prepares to touch down on the moon

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Artist's thoughts on SLIM after landing on the moon

JAXA

Japan is preparing for its first moon landing. The Smart Lunar Survey Lander (SLIM) is scheduled to land on the lunar surface on January 19th. If all goes well, Japan will become the fifth country to land a probe on the moon, following the United States, Soviet Union, China and India.

SLIM launched in September 2023 and took a long, narrow path to the moon, making a steep descent to conserve fuel. It entered lunar orbit in December and has since taken images of the lunar surface and slowly lowered its altitude in preparation for landing.

This spacecraft's landing technique is so precise that it has been nicknamed the “Moon Sniper.” It is designed to match images from its onboard camera with data from other lunar rovers to determine its location and autonomously navigate to a precise landing site. “[It] “We can expect 20 minutes of breathless, numbing fear,” said Kenji Kushiki, one of the mission managers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). in a statement.

If successful, future missions will be equipped to land exactly where they want to land, rather than within a few dozen square kilometers of their desired spot, as is the case today. “Lunar orbiting satellites… have provided a large amount of high-resolution observation data of the lunar surface,” Kushiki said. “Thus, interest in lunar science and resource exploration has shifted from 'somewhere on the moon's surface' to 'that rock next to this particular crater.'”

When the spacecraft lands, it releases a pair of probes with new and strange ways to travel across the moon's surface. Lunar Expedition Vehicle-1 (LEV-1) is designed to fly around rather than roam on wheels like traditional rovers. LEV-2 is a sphere slightly smaller than a tennis ball that was designed by toy manufacturers to roll on the ground. take a picture. The lander itself also carries scientific instruments to survey the area around the crater that will be the target of the landing.

The landing is part of a large-scale international effort to explore the moon. India's Chandrayaan-3 lander reached the moon's surface in August 2023, but there were a series of failures. A lander sent by Japan's iSpace company crashed last April, Russia's Luna 25 had a similar accident in August, and more recently the US crashed. Astrobotic's Peregrine lander suffered a fuel leak and failed to reach the moon. If this mission is successful, it could be the moment when lunar exploration gets back on track.

topic:

  • moon/
  • space exploration

Source: www.newscientist.com

SLIM lunar lander from Japan successfully enters lunar orbit

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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
December 26, 2023

Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) aims to demonstrate pinpoint landing technology and obstacle detection technology to “land where you want to land.” Credit: JAXA

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) announced that its Smart Lander for Lunar Exploration (SLIM) has successfully entered lunar orbit at 16:51 on December 25, 2023 (Japan Standard Time, JST).

SLIM’s lunar orbit will be inserted into an elliptical lunar orbit connecting the moon’s north and south poles every 6.4 hours, and the altitude at the point closest to the moon (near orbit) will be approximately 600 km (approximately 370 miles). . , 4,000 km (about 2,500 miles) at its furthest point from the moon (Apolune). The orbit change proceeded as planned, and the spacecraft is currently in a normal state.

Lunar orbit insertion (LOI) on December 25, 2023 at 16:51 (Japan time).
Light blue line: current orbit of the moon.
Future Plans:
Green line: Circular orbit at an altitude of approximately 600km.
Yellow line: Altitude approximately 600km x 150km on an elliptical orbit.
Red line: Altitude approximately 600km x 15km on an elliptical orbit. Credit: JAXA

From now on, the Apollone point will descend until mid-January 2024, and the orbit will be adjusted to a circular orbit at an altitude of about 600 km. After that, the perigee will drop and preparations for landing will begin. On January 19th, the near-orbit point will be lowered to an altitude of 15 km (approximately 9 miles), and the descent toward the moon will begin at around midnight (Japan time) on January 20th, with a scheduled landing on the lunar surface. There is. Around 0:20 a.m. on January 20th (Japan time)

Source: scitechdaily.com