DTN 070: The Race for Space-Based Solar Power

The Race for Space-Based Solar Power

"Is space-based solar power a costly, risky pipe dream? Or is it a viable way to combat climate change? Although beaming solar power from space to Earth could ultimately involve transmitting gigawatts, the process could be made surprisingly safe and cost-effective, according to experts from Space Solar, the European Space Agency, and the University of Glasgow.

But we’re going to need to move well beyond demonstration hardware and solve a number of engineering challenges if we want to develop that potential." (Wired)

• Nuclear fusion experiment hits new record for magnet strength
• Russia to cancel space tug, re-focus space nuclear power efforts
• Inside the three-way race to create the most widely used laser
• SpaceX asks FAA to allow 25 annual Starship launches in Texas
• SpaceX's workhorse rocket is grounded after failure in orbit
• AI needs copper. It just helped to find millions of tons of it in Zambia.
• The $43M Veterans Affairs simulation hospital where doctors pilot new tech
• A blueprint for quantum-safe utility communications
• NASA built the VIPER moon rover for $450 million. Now it's canceling the mission.
• DIU clearing more drones for military use

CEO Christian LaRosa with one of Rosotics’ induction-based additive manufacturing machines.

Rosotics recently unveiled a new 3D printer called Halo, designed to produce large aerospace structures such as rocket tanks. This technology represents a significant advancement in industrial-scale 3D printing for the aerospace industry, with potential applications in rocket manufacturing and other sectors. The company's first customer, Phantom Space, is planning to implement this technology in their production processes. (via SpaceNews)

• New AI approach accelerates targeted materials discovery and sets the stage for self-driving experiments
• De-risking drug discovery with predictive AI
• Scientists integrate solid-state spin qubits with nanomechanical resonators
• Energy-storing carbon fiber composites pave the way to weightless batteries
• Soft robot can amputate and reattach its own legs
• Scientists propose glacier geoengineering to avoid sea level rise
• Silicon photonics light the way toward large-scale applications in quantum information
• Atomically thin transducers could one day enable quantum computing at room temperature
• Researchers achieve unprecedented nanostructuring inside silicon
• 3D visualization brings nuclear fusion to life
• Nanomedicine researchers develop new technology to control neural circuits using magnetic fields
• A new approach to accelerate the discovery of quantum materials

• Saronic, a defense technology company, raises $175M in Series B funding
• Marathon Fusion, a startup developing fuel processing technology for the fusion industry, closes $5.9M seed funding
• Nearfield Instruments, developer of Metrology & Inspection solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry, raises €135M in funding
• Alpine Space Ventures closes €170M fund 
• Taiwan semiconductor chipmaker GlobalWafers to get $400M from CHIPS Act
• NATO allies pledge $1B to promote sharing of space-based intel
• UK solar tech scaleup Naked Energy raises £17M for global expansion
• Neuspera Medical, a neuromodulation company, raises $23M in Series D
• Laser manufacturing technology platform Halo Industries closes $80M Series B funding round
• Velentium, an engineering firm specializing in medical devices, receives $15M growth financing
• Standard Bots, a robotics automation company, raises $63M in funding
• Fusion startups receive $900M in funding to tame power of stars
• Glasses for the blind: Romania’s .lumen has raised €4M
• DreamBig latest chip startup to go big — Raises $75M 
• Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, a company developing next-gen therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, raises $260M Series B
• Bipartisan Senate bill proposes $12B for DOE’s AI work to spur energy breakthroughs, other advances
• Briefly Bio raises $1.2M to build the GitHub of science experiments
• Model developers Anthropic and Menlo Ventures launch $100M fund to back AI startups
• Deloitte Consulting awarded $2.4B to orchestrate submarine production revival
• U.S. defense contractor KBR to acquire defense and space contractor LinQuest for $737M

In a first, botanists vote to remove offensive plant names from hundreds of species / What Would It Take to Recreate Bell Labs? / Will AI Ever Have Common Sense? / Cleaner steelmaking is actually starting to happen /Dune-Inspired Spacesuit Recycles Urine Into Clean Drinking Water / Nearby exoplanet could be first known ocean world: Webb telescope / National Guard soldiers training with 'pocket-sized' drones / 3D genome extracted from 'freeze-dried' woolly mammoth / Women who make Samsung semiconductors are striking / Immunotherapy Is Changing Cancer Treatment Forever / Solar nears 9% of US total electric generation capacity / China installing the wind, solar equivalent of 5 nuclear power stations a week / NASA transmits hip-hop song to deep space for first time / Defence tech is (sort of) overhyped / Nantucket Beaches Reopen After Shards From Wind Turbine Cleared / Startups Are Building Balloons To Hoist Tourists Into the Stratosphere / Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain / Pinned Tweet Ordered by UK Court – Craig Wright Not Satoshi Nakamoto / Syrian farmers with shotguns target explosive-laden drones / Scientists use karaoke to find cause of blushing / Uncontacted indigenous people sighted in Peru

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