The Babcock Australasia-owned NSM (Australia) has been awarded a five-year contract initially worth $32 million for maintenance at Defence’s new Regional Maintenance Centre West at Henderson, Western Australia, following a competitive tender process. RMCW is scheduled to be fully-operational in the third quarter of next year, initially supporting sustainment of the Arafura class offshore patrol…
Electrolyser startup Hysata has announced former Australian Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel as chair of the company’s Global Advisory Council. Finkel was Chief Scientist for five years until the end of 2020, with current Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley his replacement, and has a background including a PhD in electrical engineering, in entrepreneurship, and as…
A team of researchers from Flinders University and Newcastle University has developed a way to measure plastic particles lost from non-stick cookware. The work by the team used a “molecular spectrum approach” for directly visualising and identifying Teflon microplastics and nanoplastics, which are “generally a family member of PFAS” as well as more difficult to…
What were the five biggest stories last week? Here’s what visitors to this site were reading. FIRST DRIVE IN H2X HYDROGEN POWER WARREGO UTILITY About 100 kilometres from Amsterdam in a workshop dedicated to vehicle electrification sits one of two unique hydrogen fuel cell-electric utility vehicles – Australian company H2X Global’s Warrego utility, writes Peter…
By William Poole Swinburne University of Technology’s Factory of the Future was the site for Markforged’s Australian launch of the FX20, its groundbreaking new composite 3D printer, on October 25. The function marked the start of a nationwide roadshow for the FX20, with Markforged staging additional events in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The Factory of…
The federal government has confirmed $50 million in funding to assist Nyrstar with a major $400 million upgrade at its Tasmanian zinc smelter, to be delivered in Tuesday’s budget. Federal assistance of that value for the smelter was announced by the previous federal government before its election loss, along with $20 million in Tasmanian government…
Defence and Babcock have signed a contract to provide the Australian Defence Force with “an enhanced high-frequency communications system” to support regional and global operations. In a short statement from defence industry minister Pat Conroy on Friday, the news was called “a major boost to Defence’s strategic high-frequency communications capability”. Conroy said the federal government…
Victoria aims for 95 percent green power by 2035 The Victorian government will restart the former state-owned State Electricity Commission as a 51 per cent owned public enterprise if re-elected, reversing privatisation. The plan is for the new SEC to create 4.5 gigawatts of power to replace lost capacity when Loy Yang A coal-fired power…
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced support for two new dispatchable electricity projects on Friday, involving the use of thermal energy and compressed air to store and release energy. On Friday the federal government agency announced $422,582 in support for a feasibility study at AGL Energy’s Torrens Island Power Station B in South Australia.…
By Ryan H. Lee, University of California, Los Angeles The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea A new type of material can learn and improve its ability to deal with unexpected forces thanks to a unique lattice structure with connections of variable stiffness, as described in a new…