DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF by Maryanne Kane, Journalist

 DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF              

By Journalists Edward Kane & Maryanne Kane

MIT'S HYDROGEN ENERGY BREAKTHROUGH

                                                                    Source:  MIT and Stock

• MIT engineers have a design for a revolutionary system to generate hydrogen cheaply and efficiently using only solar power.  Here's what we know:

1. MIT engineers have designed a train-like system of reactors that generate hydrogen solely by solar power
2. MIT says the system harnesses and uses 40% of the sunlight coming into it
3. The MIT system uses the sun's heat to break and split water into hydrogen
4. This is a major breakthrough because of its green efficiency
5. Conventional systems use fossil fuels to produce hydrogen
6. This procedure produces no greenhouse gas emissions
7. It produces "solar thermochemical hydrogen" which is a clean fuel that can power planes, ships and trucks for long distance travel
8. Other attempts to build such a system have been inefficient and costly with only 7% of the incoming sunlight used to produce hydrogen
9. MIT says their system will generate hydrogen cheaply and at scale, which could help make hydrogen the fuel of the future.

TELEDRIVING - THE FUTURE OF DRIVING?

                                                                        Source:  Vay

• As autonomous driving proves to be harder to achieve than first thought, a German self-driving start-up thinks it has an alternative solution - teledriving.  Here's what we know:

1. Teledriving is where cars are remotely operated by humans
2. Teledriving has been launched by Vay, a self-driving startup company, based in Berlin
3. Vay cars are equipped with GPS, radar, sensors and ultrasound that allows remote drivers to control the cars remotely
4. Vay provides a purpose-built station for the remote driver with a steering wheel, brakes, driver's seat and 3 monitors showing visibility from the front and 2 sides
5. Has the distinction of being the first to drive a car on a European road without a human inside the car
6. According to Vay, the benefits of remote driving include:  avoidance of tricky driving situations, avoiding unexpected obstacles, addresses safety concerns and it's coming to market sooner than autonomous cars
7. Vay is a hot startup currently raising millions of dollars in investment money to expand its operations.

NASA PLANS TO BUILD ROADS ON MARS

                                            Source:  NASA

• NASA plans to build roads on the Moon by using unique lasers to blast and melt lunar soil.  Here's what we know:

1. NASA plans to use concentrated sunlight directed to specific areas of lunar soil using huge lenses to build roads of travel on the Moon
2. Based on their experiments on Earth, they think it will melt the lunar soil, allow it to be converted into tiles, which would be used to pave the roads
3. NASA plans to build homes on the Moon by 2040
4. Roads would certainly make NASA's Moon habitation plans a lot easier. 

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