HotSpot Episode 31: Cleaning Up Space Mess

This week on WDD’s HotSpot, brought to you by National Instruments, a low voltage, miniature TCXO; a satellite with the mission to clean up space; EnerSys Buys Purcell Systems for $115M; and resistive switching devices.

• Rakon has announced the extension of its product offering to include the RIT2016C model Temperature-Controlled Crystal Oscillator, which minimizes power consumption in portable devices to extend the battery life. Operating at a 1.2 V supply voltage, the RIT2016C even has additional benefit of the enable-disable mode to deliver better power management. It is ideally suited for Smart Meters, PND, Smartphones, Tablets, GPS and Fitness Watches when low power consumption and high stability are key features.
• The debris orbiting Earth is accumulating, and the mission to clean it up is crucial for the space industry, so the Swiss company EPFL is developing a new method, known as the CleanSpace One project, to launch satellites weighing up to 250 kg, or 551 pounds, to help with the space mess. CleanSpace One is a three-phase process, which includes launching a satellite that will grab pieces of space junk, and then thrust them into the atmosphere, where they will burn up.
• EnerSys has announced that it has reached a deal to buy Spokane, Washington-based Purcell Systems for $115 million. Purcell designs, manufactures, and markets thermally-managed electronic equipment and battery cabinet enclosures for telecommunication, broadband, utility, rail, and military uses. EnerSys states that Purcell’s products and services are a natural extension of its own offerings for the stored energy market.
• A team of researchers in Singapore have demonstrated how conductive nano-filaments in amorphous titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films could be utilized for resistive switching device applications. The evidence of high density and uniformly distributed nano-filaments implies that high-density memory cells could be made using such oxide thin films, which is promising for future applications.

For more information visit http://www.ni.com/.

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