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Solar energy comes in many forms. The majority of us are most familiar with solar cells, but there are actually many different ways to create and store solar energy. Here are a few of those ways:

Solar Cells Most of us have seen solar cells used on calculators with LCDs. But they have also been used in many other ways. Solar cells use semiconductors (oftentimes, silicon) to generate electricity, directly from the sunlight.

Solar Fibers This is also a photovoltaic device (like the solar cells), only it does not use silicon. Rather, it has a solar tape that is made with titanium dioxide. This tape could actually be combined with building materials or even clothing.

Solar Pond A solar pond is made of three layers: the top layer as low salt content. The middle layer is an insulating layer with salt, and it prevents natural convection in the water (which would normally cause heat exchange). The bottom layer as a very high salt content, and this layer can approach high temperatures. Because of all the densities in salt of the different layers, there are no convection currents (which normally transfer heat to the surface and then the air). The heat that gets trapped in the bottom layer can be used to heat buildings, generate electricity, or in industrial processes.

Solar Chemical There are a number of different solar energy processes that absorb sunlight in a chemical reaction to create that solar energy. More research is needed on solar chemical energy before we can apply it practically. Much of this research is on photoelectrolysis of water.

Solar Updraft Tower This is a type of solar energy plant in which air passes under an agricultural glass house, gets heated by the sun, and is then channel up toward a convection tower. It is used to drive turbines which generate electricity.

Energy Tower This tower uses water, unfortunately, but it is also a good design and works in a similar way to the solar updraft tower. Water is sprayed at the top of the water. The water evaporates which causes a downdraft by cooling the air. This coolness increases the density of the air and then drives turbines that are at the bottom of the tower.

These are just a few ways in which solar energy has been and is being created. Perhaps the most common household type of solar energy is that created by solar cells. Nonetheless, these other types are very promising and certainly have their place.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, the enviornment, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on solar power, please visit Solar Home.

2004 started a new era in planetary exploration. Two Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed successfully on the surface of Mars and a short while later started to send lots of images and other data. The rovers were designed to work properly for only 90 days on the Martian surface but, believe it or not, they are still in a good health and do not seem to stop working. During over 3-year period NASA has received a huge amount of data that are hard to present for the wider public. The solution of this problem has been provided by Sciterian Technologies. Its VRPresents technology, especially designed for this purpose, gives astronomy lovers a new interesting way to introduce the planet. Now you can just take a virtual tour of Mars.

High resolution panoramic images of Mars are quite difficult to view in many similar VR technologies, which one can notice even at NASA's web sites, but VRPresents not only displays these panoramas warped correctly, but it provides also a lot of other useful features that make learning scientific results easy and enjoyable.

Virtual reality technology is the answer to the question "how to present complex scientific data and not to bore the common man ?". In VR world you can just move in any available direction and see many places that were visited earlier by the rovers. It is you who decides where to go, what to watch, what to see closer or what information to read. If you want to see what is around you, just start turning round. If you would like to move somewhere in the virtual world - no problem, just click a hot spot which will take you to another panorama, and your direction in 3D space will not change like it does in many other competitive VR technologies. You do not have to read any information to learn where a specific place is and you do not have to imagine all these fantastic places on the surface of Mars since you do not watch just panoramic images, which are introduced in different projections, but you see really something similar to what you would see standing on the surface of Mars, without distortions.

"VRMars--Spirit -- The Red Planet Mars 3D" is the first VRPresents-based product that presents the results of Mars Exploration Rover Spirit Mission with the aid of virtual reality, released by Sciterian Technologies. The software is really interesting. I recommend it not only for scientists and hobbyists but for school teaching purposes as well.

For more information on VRPresents software visit the following web sites:
http://www.vrmars.com/VRMars-Spirit-The-Red-Planet-Mars-3D.htm
http://www.vrpresents.com
http://www.sciterian.com