Research@Mines Archive:
August, 2019

SD Mines’ Energy Resources Initiative Publishes New Book “The Fossil Fuel Revolution”

Dr. Scyller J. Borglum and Daniel J. Soeder, authors of The Fossil Fuel Revolution: Shale Gas and Tight Oil.

The boom in tight oil and shale gas in the last two decades, fueled by a combination of directional drilling and staged hydraulic fracturing, has revolutionized the energy industry, revitalized reserves once thought depleted, changed the global energy market and raised environmental concerns.

In the new book, “The Fossil Fuel Revolution: Shale Gas and Tight Oil,” authors Daniel Soeder and Scyller Borglum, Ph.D., delve into these issues and describe the remarkable energy resources now being recovered from shales and other tight formations that have opened up substantial new energy reserves for the 21st Century.

The book includes the history of shale gas development, the technology used to economically recover hydrocarbons and descriptions of the 10 primary shale gas resources of the United States. The book also addresses international shale resources, environmental concerns and policy issues. Soeder is the director of the Energy Resources Initiative at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. Borglum co-authored the book while completing her doctorate degree in geology and geological engineering at SD Mines.

This book is intended as a reference on shale gas and tight oil for industry members, engineers, geoscientists and college students. It provides a ...

Last Edited 10/3/2023 04:39:02 PM [Comments (0)]

SD Mines Team Pushes to Put CubeSat Swarm in Space

This image shows what a swarm of CubeSats orbiting Earth might look like. Credit NASA.

Satellites are often thought of as huge complicated devices that are deployed on the tops of rockets or in space shuttle payloads. They hold massive telescopes, sophisticated weather monitoring devices or global positioning system components.  The price tag for large satellites is often measured in billions, not millions. 

CubeSats are different. They’re smaller - think volleyball, not Volkswagen - and they’re cheaper.  NASA describes a CubeSat as a “low-cost pathway to conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations in space, thus enabling students, teachers, and faculty to obtain hands-on flight hardware development experience.”  The cost of these nanosatellites is small enough to fit into many school budgets. CubeSats are built to investigate areas of scientific interest such as the earth’s atmosphere, space weather, in-space propulsion, radiation testing, and communication, to name a few. Satellites are selected based on their investigations and how they align with NASA’s strategic plan.

One area of CubeSat research at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is to expand from one small satellite to a swarm of small satellites working together. This has the potential to multiply the impact and effectiveness of a single CubeSat.

“Sometimes you want t...

Last Edited 10/3/2023 03:43:03 PM [Comments (0)]

Research Inquiries

For inquiries related to South Dakota Mines Research, contact:

Research Affairs

South Dakota Mines
501 E. St. Joseph Street
Vanderboom Laboratory for Entrepreneurial Research (V-LAB)
Rapid City, SD  57701

(605) 394-2493