Space Industry and Business News  
Solar powered cars race in South Africa

One of the cars taking part in the South African Solar Challenge is prepared for a race around South Africa, in Cape Town on October 01, 2008. The race is for electric cars, which are primarliy solar powered, but there is a hydrogen fuel-cell powered motorcycle in the "Technology Class", racing too. which is to showcase sustainable energy. The race started in Johannesburg, drove the 1400Km to Cape Town, from Cape Town, they drive along the coast to Durban, and from there back up to Johannesburg, a total of 4175KM. There are 4 teams, three from South Africa, and one from Japan. This is the South African Sees/Oelsner entry, from Darling, in the Western Cape Province. Photo courtesy AFP.
by Staff Writers
Cape Town (AFP) Oct 1, 2008
Africa's first-ever solar-powered car race is underway in South Africa to raise awareness about alternative energy and promote science and technology, organisers said Wednesday.

Local teams are competing against racers from India and Japan in the two-week South African Solar Challenge, which aims to encourage students to study engineering, a field in which the country faces huge skills shortage.

"Promoting science and technology, that is the main focus. If we can convince another 10 people in our country to become engineers, it could be a radical improvement to our economy," said organiser Winstone Jordaan.

The group also hopes to promote alternative energy and green technology.

"Not a lot of people understand a six-square-metre (65-square-foot) solar array can make a car go 160 kilometres (100 miles) per hour. That's the crux of it, to get a generation of people growing up understanding the power of solar, how do we apply it."

Other solar car races are held in Europe, the United States and Australia, helping to develop technology for both alternative energy power sources and electric cars.

Related Links
All About Solar Energy at SolarDaily.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Sunny Niger's solar dream dims under cost cloud
Niamey (AFP) Sept 30, 2008
It is poor, dry and has more sunshine than it knows what to do with. But despite years of experience with solar power, Niger continues to use cow dung and wood for fuel.







  • Internet pop-up "scareware purveyors" sued
  • California legislators back Google-Yahoo online ad deal
  • Computer applications float in Internet cloud
  • ASTRA Broadband Services Bundles SES ASTRA's Broadband Activities

  • Russia Launches Thai Satellite On Converted Missile
  • Sea Launch Successfully Delivers Galaxy 19 To Orbit
  • Sea Launch Countdown Underway For The Galaxy 19 Mission
  • Telesat Launches Nimiq 4 Broadcast Satellite

  • Researchers Scientists Perform High Altitude Experiments
  • Airbus expecting 'large' China order by early 2009: CEO
  • Airbus globalises production with China plant
  • Safer Skies For The Flying Public

  • Airman Provides Air Support For Army Battlespace
  • The Modern Airborne Military Communications Market
  • Boeing Ships Software-Defined FAB-T Radio Prototype
  • DataPath Wins Suppport Contract For US CENTCOM SatComm Hubs

  • Actel Adds DSP Capabilities To Industry-Leading RTAX Space FPGAs
  • New Research Shows Why Metal Alloys Degrade
  • Microsoft courts Chinese consumers with slashed software price
  • Oracle, HP unveil computer to cope with digital explosion

  • Orbital Appoints Frank Culbertson And Mark Pieczynski To Management
  • Chris Smith Named Director Of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
  • AsiaSat Appoints New General Manager China
  • NASA names aeronautics administrator

  • Infoterra Enhances Capability With Acquisition Of Imass
  • Students And Astronauts Use Powerful New Tool To Explore Earth From Space
  • Raytheon Completes Ground Segment Acceptance Testing For NPOESS
  • NRL HICO-RAIDS Experiments Ready For Payload Integration

  • Trimble Finds Solutions For Survey, Engineering And Spatial Imaging Apps
  • Zoombak Launches Microsoft Virtual Earth Interactive Mapping
  • AvMap Releases New XM Weather Package
  • PCTEL Unveils New Smart GPS Reference Timing Antenna Solution

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement