We Are Awake

A Sydney family claims its power bill has plummeted in the 12 months since installing a Tesla Powerwall battery. The Pfitzner family, the first to install a Powerwall in Australia, has finally been able to calculate its first 12 months of Tesla Powerwall battery use. Nick Pfitzner, a programmer in Kellyville Ridge, in Sydney’s northwest, says the family’s power bill dropped 92 per cent over a year since installing a Powerwall in January last year. Instead of paying $2289.17 in 12 months, Mr Pfitzner says he paid $178.71 in the 12 months. He says his figures include any connection and other administration charges. However Mr Pfitzner has around 5 years to go before the savings break even with the equipment outlay. The savings don’t take into account the capital cost of the solar energy panels, inverter, battery and installation costs. Natural Solar, which installed the system, says the units can take around 6 years before the savings exceed the original capital outlay cost...

Ambitious plans for Mars are nothing new, but when the United Arab Emirates announced its intention to build a Mars city they weren’t joking and a 2020 probe to the red planet will prove it. Mars Hope, the Arab World’s first mission to the red planet, is set to launch from Japan in 2020 on a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rocket and arrive in 2021 to coincide with the anniversary of the UAE’s founding. The robotic   mission to Mars   is the first step in a 100-year UAE plan to colonize the red planet with an off-world colony, according to the Prime Minister of the UAE and Emir of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum. “The landing of people on other planets has been a longtime dream for humans. Our aim is that the UAE will spearhead international efforts to make this dream a reality.” About the size of a small car, the Hope spacecraft will weigh 1.5 tons and require a dedicated rocket boost for the first hour of its journey to the red planet, which is whe...

I n a new study, researchers have revealed that India’s only active volcano located in the Andaman and Nicobar islands has started erupting again after being in the dormant state for over 150 years. According to researchers, the volcano is spewing small amount of ashes in intervals and might explode massively at any time. The Barren Island volcano is located 140 km northeast of Port Blair and was inactive until 1991, and since then the volcano has erupted in irregular intervals. Scientists say that the volcano is spewing out ash again and might create havoc once it starts exploding. The activity was first observed by the CSIR-NIO scientists on January 23, 2017. Researchers explained that they were aboard RV Sindhu Sankalp ship for collecting samples of the sea floor in the Andaman Basin near the Barran Island volcano when they first spotted it spewing ashes into the sky. Scientists were at a distance of nearly a mile from the volcano and started observing th...