0:00:00 > 0:00:04border that needed to be resolved.
0:00:04 > 0:00:08Now on BBC News, it is time for Click.
0:00:09 > 0:00:22This week, caveman, moon rabbit, space turtle!
0:00:40 > 0:00:48Welcome to China, to Shenzhen. Believe it or not, this place was
0:00:48 > 0:00:54once a small fishing village. Yeah... Not any more. Now it is a
0:00:54 > 0:00:59mega- city of nearly 20 million people. It is most famous for
0:00:59 > 0:01:05creating consumer electronics, often imitations of premium devices. But
0:01:05 > 0:01:08as China has opened its doors to international trade in the last
0:01:08 > 0:01:12decade, it has undergone a transformation, making strides
0:01:12 > 0:01:16toward becoming a global power and moving away from the image of being
0:01:16 > 0:01:23a simple manufacturer of good, fake or otherwise, to one of innovation,
0:01:23 > 0:01:29especially technology. Made in China is fast becoming designed in China.
0:01:29 > 0:01:36Next week, we will visit some of the companies that call Shenzhen home,
0:01:36 > 0:01:44but this week, we are meeting this guy. This is Little Cloud, and
0:01:44 > 0:01:51recently, he has gone where no total has gone before. He has just
0:01:51 > 0:01:57completed a test flight of a journey that one day might take humans to
0:01:57 > 0:02:05near space. This is the traveller project. We have seen this kind of
0:02:05 > 0:02:12stratospheric helium project before. We visited World View back in
0:02:12 > 0:02:16February in the US to see their enormous inflatable.I think you
0:02:16 > 0:02:23have the world's biggest table.And a Spanish outfit, Zero to Infinity,
0:02:23 > 0:02:28is also trying something similar. So why does the travel project was made
0:02:28 > 0:02:33director feel he can beat them to it.We want to be the first one. We
0:02:33 > 0:02:40need to try hard to become the first one. Because, in Shenzhen, the
0:02:40 > 0:02:46environment is very good, and a lot of people want to do big things. The
0:02:46 > 0:02:55government supports us. So, I think that Shenzhen gives us a very good
0:02:55 > 0:03:01environment to accelerate the progress.The secret, though, is
0:03:01 > 0:03:08also in the science.The balloon material looks quite ordinary, but
0:03:08 > 0:03:11of course, it is not. It is a special kind of polyethylene which
0:03:11 > 0:03:19has to resist the damaging effects of ultraviolet and ozone. It needs
0:03:19 > 0:03:22to be able to stop the really, really tiny molecules of helium from
0:03:22 > 0:03:30escaping.This kind of space tourism is billed as being cheaper and safer
0:03:30 > 0:03:37than rocket -based alternatives being trialled by Virgin Galactic
0:03:37 > 0:03:43and SpaceX.Normal people, even older ones, can do this. You don't
0:03:43 > 0:03:49need a suit. You must be very strong to be an astronaut and trained for
0:03:49 > 0:03:53many days and years. However, this does not need that.Why did you
0:03:53 > 0:04:00choose a total.That is a good question. -- turtle. Because the
0:04:00 > 0:04:05turtle has a long life. Sometimes it can be living for more than 100
0:04:05 > 0:04:13years! The turtle can live in water, it can survive in an environment
0:04:13 > 0:04:28without oxygen.Is a cruel to send a total up there?Hmm... What can I
0:04:28 > 0:04:33say? I just say we need to do this kind of experiment before human
0:04:33 > 0:04:43beings in the near space. We need to pick up a kind of animal.Hmm...
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Well, as usual, not a great life being an animal involved in human
0:04:47 > 0:04:52exploration. While these guys are busy trying to win a race to space,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56others are trying to put a rose on the moon. Unfortunately, this time,
0:04:56 > 0:05:10it is not a real dog. -- you may remember we visited the Indian team
0:05:10 > 0:05:16start-up, Indus. They are one of five teams competing for a
0:05:16 > 0:05:1920,000,000-dollar prize if they are the first company to land and strive
0:05:19 > 0:05:25a robot on the moon. -- drive. And one thing we learned while we were
0:05:25 > 0:05:35there was that to save costs, they are sharing with a Japanese
0:05:35 > 0:05:44competitor, iSpace. Now we are paying them a visit.This is the
0:05:44 > 0:05:48space suit. And this is a hammer to break something.OK. Well, with the
0:05:48 > 0:05:53important stuff out of the way, time to talk space. What inspired you to
0:05:53 > 0:06:01enter this challenge?I have always been interested in space. However,
0:06:01 > 0:06:11someone said there was a lunar race, why not help?It may be a small
0:06:11 > 0:06:15operation, but what they lack in size they certainly make up for in
0:06:15 > 0:06:21style. It is not just the skyhigh rents of Tokyo responsible for the
0:06:21 > 0:06:24diminished dimensions off of the Tokyo office, it is also because of
0:06:24 > 0:06:32the planned to hitch a ride on the Team Indus ship means they only have
0:06:32 > 0:06:41to build the brother. A -- rover. They are trying to create it so that
0:06:41 > 0:06:45it does not collide with anything. It will be steered and moved one
0:06:45 > 0:06:50step at a time to give everyone time to think as it gradually moves
0:06:50 > 0:06:55across the surface. Mind you, you still need the very best pilots and
0:06:55 > 0:06:59technicians in the business to command and strive this thing.
0:06:59 > 0:07:11Seriously? Oh, man! This is just a demo for numpties like me to use,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15but the real prototype is being developed just across the office.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19That will be the one that actually goes to the moon, well, if nothing
0:07:19 > 0:07:28goes wrong, say, buy, letting me touch it. -- by. It is so light.
0:07:28 > 0:07:34Just four kilograms. Remarkable.I am John Walker, the chief engineer.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38The worst thing that can happen as we go to the moon and for whatever
0:07:38 > 0:07:43reason we don't get any function. We are trying to win, but at the end of
0:07:43 > 0:07:47the day, we want to keep going back to the moon again and again. So we
0:07:47 > 0:07:53need that starting point, we need data. We need simulations.That is
0:07:53 > 0:07:58why a huge part of the mission's cost goes towards testing, and that
0:07:58 > 0:08:02means rigourous testing on the wheels, control systems,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05electronics, and perhaps most crucially of all, the communication
0:08:05 > 0:08:25system. Of course, it is not just Team Indus and Hakuto in the
0:08:25 > 0:08:28competition, there is Moon Express, and Synergy Moon, made up of six
0:08:28 > 0:08:31continents. They all have contracts, but when they take off is anyone's
0:08:31 > 0:08:37gas.It is very secretive. -- guess. What happens if you find out they
0:08:37 > 0:08:45launch in November.It is possible. However, it is very difficult to
0:08:45 > 0:08:55launch without any notification beforehand. So I am still very... I
0:08:55 > 0:09:02am sometimes nervous when they will make an announcement.Just like the
0:09:02 > 0:09:09other teams, iSpace is about more than just one mission to the moon.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13They are hoping that the data they gather and the skills they learn
0:09:13 > 0:09:15could have much more profound complications after the mission
0:09:15 > 0:09:20whether they win or not.We recognise this race is just the
0:09:20 > 0:09:24start of everything in the future. And we think that the moon is the
0:09:24 > 0:09:35best place to mine resources and that includes dual in space. This is
0:09:35 > 0:09:41the first step for this establishment.There is certainly a
0:09:41 > 0:09:46loss that could go wrong. Besides the perils of space, they still need
0:09:46 > 0:09:52to spend a huge deal of cashier on Earth before anything can take off.
0:09:52 > 0:09:59-- cash here. One thing is for sure, though, we are so excited about this
0:09:59 > 0:10:04race to the moon. But what has become apparent if it is not just
0:10:04 > 0:10:08about getting their first, it is not just about the prizemoney, it is
0:10:08 > 0:10:12just as important to get data back and build up this knowledge to be
0:10:12 > 0:10:18able to go there again and again and again in the future. And when these
0:10:18 > 0:10:26guys launch, we are going to bring back to you. -- that. This week in
0:10:26 > 0:10:31the tech world, a British inventor set the first world speed record for
0:10:31 > 0:10:35flying a body controlled jet engine power suit. Richard flew across a
0:10:35 > 0:10:42lake in waiting reaching 22 miles per hour. Snapchat finally admitted
0:10:42 > 0:10:51those specs where a mistake. After selling over 150,000 of them. And
0:10:51 > 0:10:56Weimo have admitted they are getting rid of the human safety drivers that
0:10:56 > 0:10:59usually sit in the front in case khazanah function, there will
0:10:59 > 0:11:03however be a human sitting in the back of the car for the time being
0:11:03 > 0:11:12at least. An autonomous vehicle in Las Vegas crashed last week on its
0:11:12 > 0:11:15first day. It recognised the vehicle in front of it and stopped, but the
0:11:15 > 0:11:22human driver did not, hitting the shuttle. Silly humans. A robot has
0:11:22 > 0:11:27been designed that can summon and operate elevators. It has been
0:11:27 > 0:11:33described as a good robot. They want the skills to be used for search and
0:11:33 > 0:11:37rescue missions in the future. It is not 2017 without a robot that can
0:11:37 > 0:11:47call a left. And in 2017 fashion, Uber announced they have joined
0:11:47 > 0:11:51forces to build autonomous flying taxis. They say they will be
0:11:51 > 0:11:55completely electric and will be used at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00We will see.
0:12:09 > 0:12:16That is pretty good. But this week, I have been taking a look at some
0:12:16 > 0:12:23technology that aims to question your perception of taste. Here at
0:12:23 > 0:12:28the University of Sussex, levitating food is being served up. Yes, that
0:12:28 > 0:12:33is right, liquids and solids can float in the near before being
0:12:33 > 0:12:41directly fed into your mouth. -- thin air. It works through high
0:12:41 > 0:12:50frequency sound that traps food in midair. The idea being that the heat
0:12:50 > 0:12:55generated by the sound waves could make flavour more intense. I put it
0:12:55 > 0:13:05to the test trying identical samples of each taste from the device. It
0:13:05 > 0:13:10tastes sweet. Sorry, there is no delicate way of doing this.Did you
0:13:10 > 0:13:18get it?Yes, and I would say that that was more intense. Wow. This
0:13:18 > 0:13:29time, I got it, and it tasted very sweet. I I think it is sweet and
0:13:29 > 0:13:34cereal. Considering how small the pieces work, I did not get much
0:13:34 > 0:13:41flavour. -- were. I was concentrating more. It is an
0:13:41 > 0:13:46interesting case experience in the laboratory. I know you want it in
0:13:46 > 0:13:50the real world to make it possible for a chef to make something and
0:13:50 > 0:13:55then directly transfer it into somebody's mouth.That is the
0:13:55 > 0:13:59inspiration. We are trying to figure out how to do that. I can show you
0:13:59 > 0:14:06it now. This mimics the presentation. When the chef is
0:14:06 > 0:14:12finished cooking, he puts it in one side and he can control it. Like how
0:14:12 > 0:14:20fast you release the item. It makes it a desirable experience.If you
0:14:20 > 0:14:26feel a desperate need to amaze your guest with tacky astronomy, you
0:14:26 > 0:14:32might be interested in this!
0:14:32 > 0:14:37This is a 3-D liquid printer. It is a lots more than most of the 3-D
0:14:37 > 0:14:41printers we have shown you, and it will create a substance that look
0:14:41 > 0:14:44something like this. A small, edible bite in eight caviar like
0:14:44 > 0:14:52consistency. -- a caviar-like. This is passionfruit, but you can use any
0:14:52 > 0:14:57sort of natural ingredient to create intense flavours, and the app will
0:14:57 > 0:15:00guide you through what flavours might go together. Inside the
0:15:00 > 0:15:03machine right now are some concentrated passionfruit. For the
0:15:03 > 0:15:07sake of demonstration I am going to try to create something that looks
0:15:07 > 0:15:10like a berry but tastes like passionfruit. Maybe I will impress
0:15:10 > 0:15:15my guests with it. Let's give it a go. I create the shape that I want
0:15:15 > 0:15:20here on the app. The phone is connected by Bluetooth to the
0:15:20 > 0:15:26device, so to get it going, I just press the blade button.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31That took under five minutes to come together. Quite fascinating to
0:15:31 > 0:15:35watch. As the pieces went in I wasn't convinced they were going to
0:15:35 > 0:15:39stick together. The structure is not perfect,, I will admit, but the big
0:15:39 > 0:15:44question is, how does it taste? It is just made of passionfruit, so it
0:15:44 > 0:15:48should taste like passionfruit. Which it does, but rather than
0:15:48 > 0:15:50tasting of concentrated passionfruit, I would say that
0:15:50 > 0:15:54actually tastes a bit die looted. That is probably because some of the
0:15:54 > 0:15:58water is with it. However flavoursome, or not, the device's
0:15:58 > 0:16:02creations may have been, in their current form they do not muster up a
0:16:02 > 0:16:06great deal of food. So I did finish filming, rather than looking forward
0:16:06 > 0:16:08to lunch.
0:16:15 > 0:16:23Welkin to be SEG electronics mega market in Shenzen. -- welcome to be.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28It is one of many in Asia, and it is here that you come to buy anything
0:16:28 > 0:16:34and everything electronic. This is also where you can bulk buy new
0:16:34 > 0:16:37components Manufacturer and new device. This is we get lithium ion
0:16:37 > 0:16:40batteries for your laptops, smartphones, anything, really. What
0:16:40 > 0:16:48if you didn't need these at all?We created the first battery free
0:16:48 > 0:16:55phone, which harvests in a power from ambient light and ambient RF
0:16:55 > 0:17:00signal so that we can completely power the whole phone by just
0:17:00 > 0:17:05ambient RF energy. And elemental batteries. You can make a phone call
0:17:05 > 0:17:09to another cell phone or another landline.By stripping back
0:17:09 > 0:17:13components to the bare minimum, Vamsi and his team have successfully
0:17:13 > 0:17:17made calls over Skype. They take advantage of something called
0:17:17 > 0:17:21analogue back scatter, which reflects pre-existing waves found
0:17:21 > 0:17:26all around us to communicate a message. Right now this only works
0:17:26 > 0:17:29in the laboratory, but the team are working on improving its range
0:17:29 > 0:17:35beyond ten metres. For the moment, batteries do the job. But we all
0:17:35 > 0:17:41wish we could charge that little bit faster, and last longer. Especially
0:17:41 > 0:17:46when it comes to electric vehicles, which takes several hours to charge.
0:17:46 > 0:17:52And the race is most definitely on. Japanese giant Toshiba has just
0:17:52 > 0:17:55unveiled a prototype of its next-generation supercharged ion
0:17:55 > 0:18:03battery, made of a unique material. The company claims this battery of
0:18:03 > 0:18:07titanium oxide will charge in just six minutes, and deliver a range of
0:18:07 > 0:18:12over 200 miles on a single charge. But it will be a couple of years yet
0:18:12 > 0:18:19until we see real results. And in the event of a natural disaster,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22being cut off from the grid is something that can be
0:18:22 > 0:18:27life-threatening. After the Petter Rico disaster, Kaesler boss Elon
0:18:27 > 0:18:32Musk stepped in, offering a free battery grid for a hospital on the
0:18:32 > 0:18:36weatherbeaten island. -- Puerto Rico disaster. He is also halfway through
0:18:36 > 0:18:41his 100 day challenge to install the world's three grid in Australia.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46Tesla says so far, so good. But it isn't all rosy for Elon Musk. Recent
0:18:46 > 0:18:51production of his Model Three car has stalled due to battery
0:18:51 > 0:18:57installation is use. Only 222 vehicles were built in this year's
0:18:57 > 0:19:01third quarter, way below the 1500 targets, leading to lawsuits and
0:19:01 > 0:19:10drops in share value. But how about this? A battery made their -- made
0:19:10 > 0:19:15of air. Yes, air. Deep in the Swiss Alps, there is a solution which
0:19:15 > 0:19:19could be about to be rolled out to the masses. Nick Kwek took a deeper
0:19:19 > 0:19:26look. I am on my way to this guy's Batcave. No, he is not the Swiss
0:19:26 > 0:19:32Bruce Wayne. He has a cave that acts like a giant battery.This is the
0:19:32 > 0:19:38mountain where our plan to space. While.Yes, quite enormous.I am
0:19:38 > 0:19:42being given a private tour of his prototype powerplant harnesses the
0:19:42 > 0:19:54power of compressed air.Welcome to our tunnel.Oh, my goodness.Yeah.
0:19:54 > 0:20:00We drive now 700 metres. That is where the plant begins.So we are
0:20:00 > 0:20:02not actually going deeper underground? We are just going
0:20:02 > 0:20:07further into the mountainside? Exactly. The further you get into
0:20:07 > 0:20:10the mountain, the more rock and mountain is above you, so we can
0:20:10 > 0:20:19hold the pressure that you are building in the planned. -- plant.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28The system works by pumping air into the side of a mountain and storing
0:20:28 > 0:20:32it tight me until there is a demand for electricity. Like a battery, it
0:20:32 > 0:20:37springs into action when you need power, releasing the air rapidly
0:20:37 > 0:20:41through turbines which generate the electricity.Here we already have
0:20:41 > 0:20:46the hard, compressed air, flowing through the sprites. As you can see,
0:20:46 > 0:20:50that is quite insulated. We have the valves to control the flow, and on
0:20:50 > 0:20:59the other side you can see that pluck, closing the plant.-- plaque.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01Soaring energy harvested from renewable sources to use later means
0:21:01 > 0:21:06we can have electricity when the sun is down or there is no wind. This is
0:21:06 > 0:21:12where the magic happens?Yeah. This is the first plug, 100 metres, 120
0:21:12 > 0:21:17metres down the line, we have the exact same plug, to seal off the two
0:21:17 > 0:21:22ends of the chamber. It is 6.8 tons. Pretty easy to move, then. That put
0:21:22 > 0:21:42your strength to the test. My goodness. That's crazy. Do not want
0:21:42 > 0:21:49to be in here when it is filled up with all that hair out. -- that air.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52There are already two function in power plants which utilise existing
0:21:52 > 0:21:56compression tack. One in Germany, and one in the United States. But
0:21:56 > 0:22:00this system has improved efficiency by over 30%, and the secret behind
0:22:00 > 0:22:05it is this giant concrete block. And what is inside it. So all that hot
0:22:05 > 0:22:11hair that is piped in, it comes here to the thermal chamber. -- what air.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16That is chock-a-block full of 75 tons of gravel. As the air comes in,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20it cools down, because the transfers that each to the gravel inside. The
0:22:20 > 0:22:23cold air comes out of this hole in the ground, which fills up this
0:22:23 > 0:22:29massive, 120 metres long tunnel. It is stored here until there is a need
0:22:29 > 0:22:33for power, at which point a valve is opened and the air rushes back
0:22:33 > 0:22:36through the gravel, reheating and expanding in the process, so it is
0:22:36 > 0:22:41warm enough to safely turn be turbines. That is the kicker.We can
0:22:41 > 0:22:44increase the efficiency of the system from the 40% of existing
0:22:44 > 0:22:50plants, to above 70% in our case. This prototype only generates 1
0:22:50 > 0:22:55megawatt of energy, which is a tiny fraction of the several 100 found in
0:22:55 > 0:23:02regular size powerplants. And you need a mountain with a ready-made
0:23:02 > 0:23:05cave children to decide for it to work. This current prototype could
0:23:05 > 0:23:12potentially power 100 homes for one-hour, with one K of discharge.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16-- to three Mac. It is scalable, which means that if you scale the
0:23:16 > 0:23:20top 100 times, it could power a nearby city for half a day.We are
0:23:20 > 0:23:23hoping to commercialise it. It can absolutely be a component of the
0:23:23 > 0:23:27National Grid or even the European grid. This technology is not limited
0:23:27 > 0:23:30to Switzerland. It will be applied in other places around the world,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33where it is necessary to dispatch the production and consumption of
0:23:33 > 0:23:41renewable energy.That was Nick. We will have more from Shenzen in next
0:23:41 > 0:23:46week's programme. Here is a thing. If you have ever wanted to meet us
0:23:46 > 0:23:50and see us perform live, you are in luck. Make a note of this address.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55This is where you go to get tickets for the forthcoming Click live show,
0:23:55 > 0:24:00which is happening very soon. You will be able to say hello to us, and
0:24:00 > 0:24:04you can also experience some of the things you've seen on the programme
0:24:04 > 0:24:07lives. Tickets are running out, so that's where you go. Do it now. We
0:24:07 > 0:24:11look forward to seeing you there. Thanks for watching. We will see you
0:24:11 > 0:24:29soon.