ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The huge forces generated by the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories are being used to replicate the gravitational pressures on so-called “super-Earths” to determine which might maintain atmospheres that could support life. Astronomers believe that super-Earths — collections of rocks up to eight times larger than Earth — exist in the […]
Search Results for: Z
Record neutron numbers at Sandia Labs’ Z machine fusion experiments
October 27, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— A relatively new method to control nuclear fusion that combines a massive jolt of electricity with strong magnetic fields and a powerful laser beam has achieved its own record output of neutrons — a key standard by which fusion efforts are judged — at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z pulsed power facility, the most […]
New device in Z machine measures power for nuclear fusion
April 10, 2019 – 10:07 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If you’re chasing the elusive goal of nuclear fusion and think you need a bigger reactor to do the job, you first might want to know precisely how much input energy emerging from the wall plug is making it to the heart of your machine. If somewhere during that journey you could […]
Black hole models contradicted by hands-on tests at Sandia’s Z machine
August 28, 2017 – 9:50 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A long-standing but unproven assumption about the X-ray spectra of black holes in space has been contradicted by hands-on experiments performed at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine. Z, the most energetic laboratory X-ray source on Earth, can duplicate the X-rays surrounding black holes that otherwise can be watched only from a great distance and then theorized […]
Sandia’s Z machine receives funding aimed at fusion energy
June 29, 2015 – 10:20 am
Laser beam ‘smoothing’ with University of Rochester to play key role ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A two-year, $3.8 million award has been received by Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) to hasten the day of low-cost, high-yield fusion reactions for energy purposes. High-yield means much more energy emerging from […]
Sandia’s Z machine helps solve Saturn’s 2-billion-year age gap
June 26, 2015 – 8:35 am
Research supports 80-year-old prediction ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Planets tend to cool as they get older, but Saturn is hotter than astrophysicists say it should be without some additional energy source. The unexplained heat has caused a two-billion-year discrepancy for computer models estimating Saturn’s age. “Models that correctly predict Jupiter to be 4.5 billion years old […]
Iron rain fell on early Earth, new Z machine data supports
March 18, 2015 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine have helped untangle a long-standing mystery of astrophysics: why iron is found spattered throughout Earth’s mantle, the roughly 2,000-mile thick region between Earth’s core and its crust. At first blush, it seemed more reasonable that iron arriving from collisions between Earth and planetesimals — ranging […]
Japanese city councilor journeys to end furor over Sandia Z tests
May 23, 2013 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Yasuyuki Kaneko left his wife and two small children at the end of April to fly from the northern Japanese city of Sapporo to Albuquerque. He stayed overnight at a small hotel a few blocks from the airport. The next morning, Kaneko — a Sapporo city councilor — took the final step of […]
Second Z plutonium “shot” safely tests materials for NNSA
May 11, 2011 – 7:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today announced that researchers from Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories have completed their second experiment in the past six months at Sandia’s Z machine to explore the properties of plutonium materials under extreme pressures and temperatures. The information is used to keep the U.S. nuclear […]
Transforming environmental testing one shake at a time
July 25, 2024 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Testing weapons and components in a lab-controlled environment has always been at the center of Sandia National Laboratories’ mission. Since the U.S. stopped underground explosives tests on weapons in the early 1990s, Sandia has developed other methods to conduct experiments that mimic the range of environments a weapons unit might experience. A […]
A FORCEE for good: Growing Sandia’s climate and earth sciences internship
July 23, 2024 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Summer at Sandia National Laboratories typically means high temperatures, blazing sunlight and campuses filled with bright, eager interns. About 75 of these young innovators have come to Sandia this summer as part of the Future of Research for Climate, Earth and Energy Intern Institute. Another 75 interns participate remotely. The FORCEE institute […]
In-house advanced manufacturing techniques help meet mission needs
July 17, 2024 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A group at Sandia National Laboratories is transforming how it develops custom electronic connectors for weapons systems. The Rapid Development Connectors program is a five-year National Nuclear Security Administration-funded project to build a team and lab space capable of fabricating and delivering functional connectors in less than four weeks. The program’s overall […]
Sandia helps Las Positas College manufacture the future
July 3, 2024 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Sandia National Laboratories, with the support of the National Nuclear Security Administration, has donated machinery and attachments to Las Positas College in Livermore, supporting the expansion of a cutting-edge manufacturing program. Those machines will help train the next generation of California students in the art of fabricating new things from raw materials. […]
Sandia employees teaching quantum science to the next generation
July 2, 2024 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — QCaMP is returning to New Mexico for its third year, with the goal of inspiring the next generation of scientists in the rapidly growing field of quantum science. Scientists from Sandia National Laboratories, in collaboration with instructors from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will teach New Mexico high […]
Quantum computers’ unexpected advantage
July 1, 2024 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As the hare learned from the tortoise, speed isn’t everything. Theoretical computer scientists at Sandia National Laboratories and Boston University have discovered that quantum computers are unrivaled at solving an advanced math problem. Unusually, they proved quantum computers are not faster than regular computers; instead, they use far less memory. The revelation […]