Skip to main content

New winery uses solar power and innovative technology to build a more sustainable future

By CNN

Click here for updates on this story

    CANYON COUNTY, Idaho (KIVI) — A new winery taking shape in Idaho’s historic Sunnyslope Wine Region is blending tradition with technology.

Gem 73 Winery, expected to open in August, is incorporating renewable energy and innovative vineyard practices designed to reduce energy use, conserve water and protect its grapes—all while minimizing its impact on the surrounding environment.

Owners Joel and Cindy Poppen invited Idaho News 6 to tour the facility, which is still under construction. While the winery will soon welcome visitors, much of its technology is already hard at work in the vineyard.

The vineyard uses sensors to monitor soil moisture and temperature, allowing a drip irrigation system to deliver only the amount of water each vine needs. Poppen says the approach helps conserve water while improving efficiency.

To naturally manage pests, the vineyard also features owl and kestrel nesting boxes. The birds of prey help control rodent populations without the need for additional intervention.

New Sunnyslope winery uses solar power and innovative technology to build a more sustainable future
As grapes begin to ripen, another piece of technology takes over.

Three solar-powered laser systems sweep across the vineyard, reflecting light off strategically placed strips to deter birds from feeding on the fruit.

“It hits little reflective strips. Those little pings of light scare away the birds,” Poppen said. “It doesn’t harm them at all. It just makes it unpleasant for them to be around, so they go other places.”

Rather than covering the vineyard with costly bird netting, the lasers provide a wildlife-friendly alternative that protects the harvest while allowing birds to remain part of the area’s natural landscape.

Innovation extends beyond the vines.

The winery itself is built into a hillside, providing natural insulation that helps reduce heating and cooling demands. Its roof is covered with 210 solar panels capable of generating about 86 kilowatts of electricity—enough, Poppen says, to power the facility during peak operating season and potentially send excess energy back to Idaho Power.

For the Idaho Wine Commission, projects like Gem 73 represent the future of Idaho’s wine industry.

“I think it’s so great. It’s progressive,” said Moya Delaney with the Idaho Wine Commission. “It’s using the resources that we have to maximize to be better.”

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KIVI verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

A mission to save NASA’s falling observatory spun out of control. What happens next

By CNN
(CNN) — A daring mission to rescue one of NASA’s crucial space observatories from falling to Earth has encountered issues of its own — but there may still be hope for both spacecraft to beat the odds.The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has served as an astrophysics multitool in low-Earth orbit since it launched nearly 22 years ago, acting as NASA’s first responder in space when celestial objects flare with activity, according to mission scientists.But atmospheric drag intensified by solar activity exerted its forces on the observatory. Without any intervention, Swift is likely to reenter our planet’s atmosphere this fall once it sinks below an optimal altitude of about 185 miles (300 kilometers) above Earth, according to NASA’s predictions.The agency selected Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies to design, build, test and launch — all in the span of just nine months — a spacecraft capable of rendezvousing with Swift and boosting its orbit.The robotic satellite, named LINK, launched on July 3. It lifted off on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which was released midair by the company’s modified L-1011 aircraft, Stargazer.Everything appeared to go according to plan until LINK began to spin in space around July 25, causing a temporary loss of communications, Katalyst and NASA said on July 28.While LINK’s spin now appears to be largely under control, the satellite’s rendezvous with Swift is facing a delay. Now, it remains unclear whether LINK will reach the observatory in time.“I think one of the difficult things to convey is how amazing it is that we’ve gotten this far,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, division director of astrophysics at NASA, during a June 17 news conference. “Even if everyone does everything perfectly, there still might be risks that we cannot control ahead of us. I’m just deeply thankful that we’re even giving this a go.”Here’s everything that has happened so far.A tumble in the timelineAfter LINK’s successful launch into orbit, Katalyst’s mission operations team confirmed it was in communication with the satellite.Katalyst’s original plan included a few weeks of health checks for LINK’s navigation and sensors in space.Both Katalyst and NASA reported about a week after launch that commissioning was going according to plan. The satellite had deployed its solar arrays and was firing its thrusters.Katalyst said on July 13 that LINK was halfway through the activation phase. Two days later, NASA posted a similar update but also said the team had run into some issues.“The Katalyst team also quickly addressed early communications and attitude control issues seen during flight operations, including an issue with one of the spacecraft’s three reaction wheels,” according to NASA’s post on July 15. “After identifying the cause, they implemented flight software patches and operational updates that restored reliable communications and stable attitude control.”Katalyst said over a week later that the team was validating LINK’s performance, and the spacecraft was preparing for its upcoming rendezvous with Swift. Part of the process included increasing the duration of the satellite’s thruster burns to get ready for the multi-hour firings needed while grappling the observatory.But on July 28, the company said LINK had been in a multi-axis spin for three days.“Preliminary investigation shows that two of LINK’s three reaction wheels currently are not operable, and there is some loss of functionality in its cold gas thruster system,” NASA shared in a post that day, adding that Katalyst had a plan to reduce the spin and would reassess any plans related to Swift.Two days later, Katalyst provided an update that the team had reduced LINK’s spin rate from about 9 degrees per second to 4 degrees per second using a series of thruster burns.“Teams also further evaluated LINK’s functionality and determined there are still potential paths forward for a boost,” NASA shared in a post on July 31. “NASA is working closely with Katalyst to consider revised, innovative approaches.”Now, Katalyst has confirmed it is making progress with LINK to restore its original mission to save Swift. The mission team has curbed the spacecraft’s spin rate to 1.47 degrees per second. LINK will maintain this rotation speed while the team prepares for its next steps, the company said on Wednesday.“The team used one of LINK’s electric propulsion thrusters to slow the spacecraft down, consuming less than 100 grams of propellant to conserve fuel for the rendezvous and boost phase of the mission,” Katalyst said in its post.The mission team plans to send a flight software update that will restore LINK’s orientation in space and allow for the maneuvers necessary to align the satellite’s orbit with that of the observatory.A risky rescue missionOriginally, LINK was expected to conduct a survey of Swift, presumably at the end of July, to determine the best grappling points on the observatory, but that’s now expected to happen a month later.After securing Swift in its grasp, LINK will carefully fire its three ion thrusters, aiming to boost the observatory back to its original orbit over the course of two to three months.It’s unclear how the delay will impact the original plans for the mission, but prior to the satellite’s launch, members of the Swift and LINK teams both acknowledged that the path to boosting the observatory was full of risks that could cause the mission to fail.“All of this is challenging and risky,” said Kieran Wilson, principal investigator for LINK at Katalyst, during a June 17 news conference. “There’s a lot of spacecraft that have had far longer development cycles with far more funding behind them that have failed for mundane reasons.”Named for fast-flying swift birds due to its ability to pivot rapidly to peer at cosmic events and afterglows, the telescope has enabled the study of comets, gravitational waves and black holes over long periods of time.With no plans on the horizon for a telescope that has Swift’s unique capabilities, NASA decided it was more cost-effective to try to save the observatory. To prevent a drainage of power, Swift isn’t currently making science observations, but that could change this fall if LINK is successful.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Read Next Story

Related Stories

Latest News
Inteligencia estadounidense evalúa que Putin podría lanzar un ataque para poner a prueba la unidad de la OTAN
6 minutes ago

Inteligencia estadounidense evalúa que Putin podría lanzar un ataque para poner a prueba la unidad de la OTAN

Idaho shooting video shows gunman start deadly rampage in In-N-Out drive-thru

Teen kills five teachers in Thailand’s deadliest school shooting in years

Trump mounts new effort to fire Fed's Lisa Cook after Supreme Court ruling

¿Por qué hay combates en Yemen y qué implican para la guerra con Irán?