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 […]
SCREAM wins Gordon Bell climate prize at SC23 convention
November 20, 2023 – 3:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Running a model of the global atmosphere with unprecedentedly high resolution on the world’s first exascale supercomputer, a team led by Sandia National Laboratories has won the Gordon Bell Prize for Climate Modeling presented by the Association for Computing Machinery. The award, announced Nov. 16 at the SC23 convention in Denver, recognizes […]
Stout supercomputer makes Top500 list
November 15, 2023 – 1:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Stout, a new Sandia National Laboratories supercomputer, secured its place on the Top500 computers list that was released Nov. 13. Boasting a performance of 8.9 petaflops, Stout claimed the No. 87 spot on the renowned benchmark list of the world’s fastest computers. Brewed from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Advanced Simulation and […]
Two researchers elected associate fellows for aerospace contributions
November 15, 2023 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two Sandia National Laboratories employees will soon join the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics class of 2024 as associate fellows. “This distinguished group of professionals has made significant and lasting contributions to the aerospace profession,” said AIAA President and Sandia Deputy Laboratories Director Laura McGill. “They exemplify expertise and dedication to […]
New tool models viability of closed-loop geothermal systems
November 14, 2023 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Geothermal power has a lot of promise as a renewable energy source that is not dependent on the sun shining or the wind blowing, but it has some challenges to wide adoption. One of these challenges is that there are a limited number of locations in the U.S. that naturally have the right […]
Sandia employees help make the holidays more bountiful for local families
November 9, 2023 – 7:56 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Employees of Sandia National Laboratories will once again come together to help local families in need over the Thanksgiving holiday with the annual “Take a Turkey to Work Day.” As part of the event on Nov. 14, employees are encouraged to bring a frozen turkey to drop off at various sites around […]
Detecting nuclear materials using light
November 6, 2023 – 7:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Blueshift Optics, owned by former Sandia employee Joey Carlson, is working to shift the way radioactive materials are detected, using technology that he helped create at Sandia National Laboratories. Radiation detection has long been a critical aspect of national security and efforts to make the world safer. “Agencies are trying to cast […]