Medical facilities in Lebanon are struggling to treat victims of Israel's bombardment, while controversial temporary graveyards have also emerged in major southern cities.
In the Lebanese mountains, just a few kilometers from Bint Jbeil, one of the areas that saw some of the heaviest fighting, the Tebnine Public Hospital still stands. It is the only facility within a 35-kilometer radius equipped with advanced medical capabilities.
However, because of Israeli bombardment, a row of charred vehicles lies crushed along its perimeter fence, and across the street, many buildings have been heavily damaged. This has made access to the hospital extremely difficult and placed heavy strain on the essential supplies needed to treat the severely injured.
At the height of the conflict, Tebnine had just over 10 doctors, including only one specialist in intensive care and another in anesthesia.
"We were under massive siege, but the Lebanese military greatly helped us by supplying essentials. They delivered food with their armored vehicles. They delivered electric generators from the Red Cross when the power was cut. This hospital contains 85 beds to accommodate 85 patients. It has an intensive care unit, a cardiology care unit. It is equipped with the most advanced devices because it is near the frontlines with the enemy. Throughout the war we received more than 800 injured people and tens of martyrs," said Solaiman Zahwi, medical director of the Tebnine Public Hospital.
Thousands of Lebanese citizens were killed during the latest conflict.
Dozens of victims have not received formal funerals and were instead buried in what are locally known as temporary or "deposit" graveyards.
The practice dates back to the 2006 war with Israel, when similar measures were used under emergency conditions.
"The idea to put the dead in boxes was proposed at the time. The boxes would then be relocated, so in a way it's like relocating the tomb rather than the body itself, which is controversial in Islam. In Islamic law, deposit burials do not exist. Muslims must be buried right after their bodies are washed and wrapped in cloth, with prayers. These exceptional circumstances forced us to come up with this alternative. Families usually want to bury their loved ones in their hometowns, which is a way of holding on to their land," said Rabei Qubaisi, Sheikh in Tyre.
Some of these deceased were local first responders.
"In this graveyard we have 29 deposits, and six of them are members of my team. I had spoken to some of them 10 minutes earlier, an hour before. Some even got killed while we were talking. These first responders are directly targeted," said Mohamed Nasrallah, a first responder volunteer in Southern Lebanon.
Israeli strikes leave Lebanese hospital struggling, temporary graveyards emerge
Israeli strikes leave Lebanese hospital struggling, temporary graveyards emerge
Major breakthroughs by Chinese scientists have laid the foundation for a future where space-based solar power stations are capable of wirelessly transmitting energy to Earth and spacecraft, though significant engineering problems remain.
A research team from Xidian University in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has made significant progress on the Sun Chasing project, or "Zhuri" in Chinese. The team has developed a ground-based test system for wireless power transmission that can charge multiple moving targets at the same time.
In recent tests, the system achieved a wireless power transmission efficiency of 20.8 percent from direct current to direct current over a distance of 100 meters. It delivered 1,180 watts of power. The team has also built a wireless charging system for drones. In a test, a drone flying at 30 kilometers per hour was able to receive 143 watts of stable power from 30 meters away.
A space solar power station works exactly as its name suggests: a huge array of solar panels placed in orbit. It would collect sunlight in space, where the sun always shines, and then convert that energy into microwaves or lasers to beam down to Earth or directly to satellites and spacecraft. This could address two significant issues: supplying uninterrupted power for space missions and alleviating energy shortages on the ground.
"The construction of space solar power stations could become a major undertaking in the future. One potential benefit is access to a virtually unlimited power supply. Because energy can be collected continuously in space 24 hours a day, electricity could be supplied on an uninterrupted basis," said Fan Guanheng, an associate professor at the School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering at Xidian University.
"Secondly, it could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, thereby lowering carbon emissions and helping protect the environment. Thirdly, it could support the development of charging infrastructure in space and enable wireless microwave charging for spacecraft, changing the way power is supplied to space vehicles," the professor added.
In 2018, the research team launched the first phase of the Sun Chasing project to build a ground test system. By June 2022, they had completed the world's first full-link, full-system ground validation system for a space solar power station. Now, the team has moved to phase two. The goal now is to solve the challenges of generating high power in space and transmitting it efficiently over long distances.
According to Duan Baoyan, an expert at Xidian University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, recent breakthroughs include improving the efficiency of solar energy collection and conversion, increasing the precision of microwave beam control to reduce energy loss, and making the transmitting and receiving antennas smaller and lighter, which is critical for space application.
The team has also solved the problem of how to power multiple moving targets at once using a single transmitter. This means that in the future, one space power station could potentially supply electricity to several satellites or ground vehicles at the same time, Duan said.
Despite the advances in ground-based validation, a series of technical challenges must still be overcome before the technology can be deployed in space.
"The first issue that needs to be addressed is the adaptability of components to the space environment, as conditions in space are completely different from those on Earth, including radiation exposure and extreme temperatures. Another challenge involves the deployment and retraction design of transmitting and receiving antennas. We also need to develop thermal management systems to cope with extreme temperatures and temperature fluctuations in space. These are all areas where further breakthroughs are needed," said Qian Sihao, an associate professor at the School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering at Xidian University.
"We have now completed the development and validation of a ground-based test system, and our next step is to carry out in-orbit wireless microwave power transmission," Fan said.
With ground validation complete, the team now turns its attention to overcoming the harsh realities of space, aiming to demonstrate in-orbit wireless power transmission and bring the vision of orbital solar energy closer to reality.
Space-to-earth solar power moves closer to reality although hurdles remain: scientists
