Pandemic Update: Engineering Advances During COVID-19

While the current pandemic has changed almost every facet of our daily lives, it is important to take a step back from the mundane day to day and appreciate the innovations made in engineering despite all the barriers we have faced this year.

Most recently, Elon Musk has been in the news for a myriad of reasons. However, one of the most important occurred on May 5th, 2021 with the successful landing of the Starship SN15 prototype. Starship is SpaceX’s most recent endeavor in achieving their goal of efficient and reusable space crafts to carry a crew and cargo into orbit, the Moon, Mars, and even further. Starship is a coupling of SpaceX’s Heavy Rocket with the Starship Spacecraft. With the thrust provided by the Heavy Rocket and the design of the spacecraft, Starship is designed to carry more than 100 metric tons (220,000 lbs) into low earth orbit. To put this in perspective, previous spaceships launched under NASA could carry up to 27 metric tons (60,000 lbs). While this payload may seem impressive, it sits in the shadow of SpaceX’s most recent accomplishment. The SN15 rocket is the first prototype to be successfully launched to a high altitude and land in one piece. This test is designed to review the spacecrafts’ ability to survive conditions of maneuvering and returning to earth in a way it can be used soon after. Previous versions of Starship such as SN8 and SN9 exploded on impact due to a hard landing. SN10 also landed a little too hard and resulted in an explosion. SN11 exploded before landing due to a methane leak which created an environment with too much methane and higher than desired pressure in the engine. This resulted in an uncontrolled explosion which destroyed SN11. SN15 was built from the ashes of these previous iterations, building on their strengths and addressing their weaknesses to ensure that the same mistakes would not be repeated. However, according to an article published on Space.com, this current model of Starship is only running on three Raptor engines. Future iterations will run on six engines to allow for greater thrust and larger payload capabilities (Wall, 2021). Overall, this innovation shows that our dreams to explore space have not been slowed by the pandemic. 

However, our thirst for extraterrestrial exploration is not the only place where innovations are pouring in. Electric vehicles are an up-and-coming method of transportation. As greenhouse gases threaten global climate change, research scientists and corporate business are still trying to make electric vehicles comparable to their gasoline-powered brothers. However, the battery is the greatest point of resistance in this comparison. Because batteries are inefficient, and there is no well established charging station network across the country, range anxiety can become an issue when going on longer drives. Along with this, charging an electric vehicle can take much longer than fueling a car. To combat these issues, Tesla is releasing a new batch of electric batteries that will change the game. Tesla announced their 4680-battery cell at Battery Day on September 22, 2020. There Tesla claimed that their future cars would have a greater range due to these new batteries. The question is how. There are two key benefits to the new battery cell, and these benefits stem from the fact that these batteries are tabless. Tabs are located on the ends of the battery and help connect the positive end of a battery on the negative end. However, these tabs reduce the distance that an electron can travel in a battery. By removing this tab, the electron travels a shorter distance in the battery, and this decreases the resistance inside the cell. This then decreases heat generally inside the cell, making it more efficient and allowing for up to five times more energy storage inside a single cell (Arar,2020). The second benefit of the 4680 cells is the improvements they bring to the structure and design of the battery cell. According to Elon Musk’s statement at Battery Day, the improved batteries and their integration into the vehicle eliminates more of the body parts in the center while increasing the rigidity (Morris, 2021). This means the cars can be produced at a cheaper price while still maintaining the same safe, strong, and reliable design. Of course, while these batteries are promising, there are still several issues surrounding these batteries such as recyclability, limited resources, and energy density limits. While this is a step in the right direction, there are still several future improvements to look for in electrical vehicles as they become more popular. 

While there has been significant growth in the aerospace and automotive sector, there has been a potential breakthrough in nanoparticles in food. Current agricultural practices involve using nanoparticles for everything from antimicrobials, to protect against pathogens, to a programmable method of binding and controlling the release of fertilizers and insecticides (Texas A&M University, 2021). However, there are also natural nanoparticles that can accumulate in our crops and be absorbed into the food we eat. In small quantities this is not a problem, but with the introduction of both natural and synthetic nanoparticles, some consumers are becoming increasingly worried about the quantity of nanoparticles they are ingesting in their everyday meals. Researchers at Texas A&M University aim to use machine learning to predict the likelihood of a given metallic nanoparticle to accumulate in a plant species. The algorithm will give insight into factors such as soil quality, nutrient ratios, and other determining factors that could be used to determine the propensity for the nanoparticles to accumulate. The researchers pointed out that they hope to take this idea and expand it past agriculture into all other terrestrial plants, but they do not have a method of testing this algorithm on aquatic plants. As this research progresses, hopefully our food can be harvested cleaner and be safer to consume as well.

Overall, while the pandemic is still on the forefront of our thoughts, it is important to look beyond the headlines of new variants and mutations and see what advancements we are making during these difficult times. Most media outlets currently cover recent outbreaks, vaccination rates, and other things related to COVID. However, it is important to keep up with the innovations happening around us, because the strides we are taking to improve the world around us are impressive given the setbacks we have faced these past two years. 

Works Cited

Wall, M. (2021, May 5). SpaceX launches Starship SN15 rocket and sticks the landing in high-altitude test flight. Space.com. https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-sn15-launch-landing-success. 

Arar, S. (n.d.). Just How Much of a "Breakthrough" is Tesla's Tabless Battery Cell? - News. All About Circuits. https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/just-how-much-breakthrough-teslas-tabless-battery-cell/.

Morris , C. (2021, February 9). A sneak peek at Tesla's new structural battery pack. Charged EVs. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/a-sneak-peek-at-teslas-new-structural-battery-pack/. 

Texas A&M University. (2021, June 16). Machine learning can now reduce worry about nanoparticles in food. ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210616143157.htm.