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Media Contacts
![A 3D printed thermal protection shield, produced by ORNL researchers for NASA, is part of a cargo spacecraft bound for the International Space Station. The shield was printed at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-07/Sanded5.jpg?h=dce12e0c&itok=_8wzeG94)
A research team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have 3D printed a thermal protection shield, or TPS, for a capsule that will launch with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft as part of the supply mission to the International Space Station.
![Aviation contributes about 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. To greatly reduce its emissions, the U.S. commercial aviation sector needs new methods of making sustainable aviation fuel. Credit: Ross Parmly/Unsplash](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-06/ross-parmly-rf6ywHVkrlY-unsplash_0.jpg?h=fee4874d&itok=BEdQYEQ2)
ORNL’s Zhenglong Li led a team tasked with improving the current technique for converting ethanol to C3+ olefins and demonstrated a unique composite catalyst that upends current practice and drives down costs. The research was published in ACS Catalysis.
![Scientists genetically engineered bacteria for itaconic acid production, creating dynamic controls that separate microbial growth and production phases for increased efficiency and acid yield. Credit: NREL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-05/Putida_forAdam_2clr_2.jpg?h=71f44bf2&itok=8u0ZVufx)
A research team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory bioengineered a microbe to efficiently turn waste into itaconic acid, an industrial chemical used in plastics and paints.
![ORNL, in collaboration with Cincinnati, Inc., used the Big Area Additive Manufacturing machine to 3D print a mold made of recycled thermoplastic composite and syntactic foam, demonstrating the potential for multimaterials in large-scale applications. Credit: ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-05/MM%20Mold_7_0.jpg?h=151f6e80&itok=DGoZAbvk)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers, in collaboration with Cincinnati Inc., demonstrated the potential for using multimaterials and recycled composites in large-scale applications by 3D printing a mold that replicated a single facet of a
![Urban climate modeling](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-03/urbanclimate_sized.jpeg?h=0d9d21a1&itok=-ICe9HqY)
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have identified a statistical relationship between the growth of cities and the spread of paved surfaces like roads and sidewalks. These impervious surfaces impede the flow of water into the ground, affecting the water cycle and, by extension, the climate.
![ORNL researchers combined additive manufacturing with conventional compression molding to produce high-performance thermoplastic composites, demonstrating the potential for the use of large-scale multimaterial preforms to create molded composites. Credit: ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-02/compressionMold01.jpg?h=985dab9b&itok=4DgnSlRM)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers combined additive manufacturing with conventional compression molding to produce high-performance thermoplastic composites reinforced with short carbon fibers.
![The Perseverance rover](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-07/pia23492_0.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=A5U6cgBE)
On Feb. 18, the world will be watching as NASA’s Perseverance rover makes its final descent into Jezero Crater on the surface of Mars. Mars 2020 is the first NASA mission that uses plutonium-238 produced at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
![Distinguished Inventors](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-12/inventors.jpg?h=4631f1c1&itok=xhAGY0kv)
Six scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were named Battelle Distinguished Inventors, in recognition of obtaining 14 or more patents during their careers at the lab.
![A Co-Optima research team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Jim Szybist in collaboration with Argonne, Sandia and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, created a merit function tool that evaluates six fuel properties and their impact on engine performance, giving the scientific community a guide to quickly evaluate biofuels. Credit: ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-12/2017-P08539-2_0.jpg?h=b6236d98&itok=h0OT2BqC)
As ORNL’s fuel properties technical lead for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Co-Optimization of Fuel and Engines, or Co-Optima, initiative, Jim Szybist has been on a quest for the past few years to identify the most significant indicators for predicting how a fuel will perform in engines designed for light-duty vehicles such as passenger cars and pickup trucks.
![Suman Debnath is using simulation algorithms to accelerate understanding of the modern power grid and enhance its reliability and resilience. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-01/Suman%20Debnath%20Square.jpg?h=439d043c&itok=1umME5uH)
Planning for a digitized, sustainable smart power grid is a challenge to which Suman Debnath is using not only his own applied mathematics expertise, but also the wider communal knowledge made possible by his revival of a local chapter of the IEEE professional society.