DTN 146: Quantum Cameras Could Upgrade Space-Based Intelligence
Plus: Moon hotel opens reservations, wireless power for aircraft, NASA's lunar nuclear reactor, light-up engineered skin, lip-syncing robots, and more.
Quantum cameras could remake space-based intelligence
“Can quantum physics enable better, cheaper, faster satellite photos? In a month or two, a startup will test a “quantum camera” for space-based imaging. If it works, it could slash the cost of missile defenses and give smaller NATO allies and partners spy-satellite capabilities that were once exclusive to major powers.
Funded in part by NASA and DARPA, the Boston-based Diffraqtion is testing a radically different way to make images from photons.”
- Crispr pioneer launches startup to make tailored gene-editing treatments
- How next-generation nuclear reactors break out of the 20th-century blueprint
- NASA commits to plan to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030
- Astronauts return to Earth in first ISS medical evacuation
- FDA shares ‘more flexible approach’ to overseeing cell and gene therapy manufacturing
- Pentagon commits $1B to L3Harris missile unit as ‘anchor investor’
- The Pentagon leans into drone swarms with a $100M challenge
- Elon Musk's xAI to build $20B data center in Mississippi
- Wireless power transfer could keep aircraft systems running mid-flight
- China’s autonomous robovans are changing last-mile delivery
- U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to reauthorize the National Quantum Initiative
- ‘Hangzhou Six' tech startup BrainCo is said to file for Hong Kong IPO
- Taiwan to invest $250B in US semiconductor manufacturing
“This important study shows that Deep Isolation has achieved another critical milestone in the development of a safe method of disposing of radioactive nuclear waste —something the world critically needs,” said Rod Baltzer, Deep Isolation’s president and CEO. “Nuclear energy is facing a growing challenge. Global nuclear power capacity is forecast to increase by more than 300 GW by 2050, yet the world has not permanently disposed of any of the spent fuel it has created over the last 70 years. We believe our deep borehole technology will ultimately be the solution for safely and permanently disposal of nuclear waste deep underground, a solution the world needs.” (via POWER Magazine)
- Engineered skin “Living Sensor Display” lights up for biological monitoring
- Ultra-small, high-performance electronics grown directly on 2D semiconductors
- Smart gate paves way for reliable hydrogen from seawater
- A pendulum-based system allows energy to be extracted from ocean currents
- Robot learns to lip sync by watching YouTube
- Fire-safe all-solid-state batteries move closer to commercialization
- Composing nanomaterials—open-source platform unites AI and automated synthesis
- Chemist proposes shared 'model proteins' to improve reproducibility in protein science
- Tougher solid electrolyte advances long-sought lithium metal batteries
- SkyFi secures $12.7M Series A to advance access to satellite imagery
- Valinor raises $54M Series A for overlooked defense tech
- Aule Space raises $2M to build life extension jet packs
- Terra Industries raises $12M to become ‘Africa’s first neo-prime’
- Aktis lands biotech's first IPO of 2026, raising $318M for radiopharmaceuticals
- BioNTech, UPenn establish $50M fund to support nascent biotechs
- Kinaset rakes in $103M to advance inhaled asthma drug
- Arkin Capital raises $100M to back a dozen early-stage biotechs
- ThinkOrbital raises seed funding to advance X-ray space inspection
- Hydrosat closes $60M Series B to grow its constellation
- Ethereal Exploration Guild raises up to $5M Series A to to build fully reusable medium-lift rocket
- BlueNalu raises $11M to bring cultivated tuna to US sushi market
- Diagonal Therapeutics raises $125M Series B to advance its novel "clustering" antibody therapies
- Rain raises $250M Series C to build stablecoin payment infrastructure
- AirNexis Therapeutics raises $200M Series A to enhance the global clinical development of AN01
- Orca Bio raises $250M for commercial launch of its precision cell therapies like Orca-T
- French defense tech co Harmattan AI raises $200M Series B
- Aerospace manufacturing startup Hadrian, raises funding at $1.6B valuation
- bit.bio raises $50M to scale its human cell engineering platform
- Ventaris Surgical raises $30M Series A to fund development and validation of a novel kidney stone treatment device
- Cytotheryx raises $60M Series A to advance its cell therapy programs
- Polar Light Technologies raises €5M+ in funding for MicroLED Expansion
- Avenue Biosciences raises $5.7M to scale its high-throughput protein engineering technology
- Vibrant Therapeutics raises $61M to advance intelligent therapeutics pipeline
- X Square Robot raises $140M Series A++ to scale product development and commercialization
- Accelsius raises $65M Series B to scale liquid cooling for gigawatt-class AI factories
- Inquis Medical raises $75M Series C to scale national adoption of the Thrombectomy System
- Aspen Power, secures $200M to accelerate distributed solar scale
- Mirador raises $250M Series B to fuel precision immunology pipeline
- Juvena Therapeutics raises $33.5M Series B to advance regenerative biologics pipeline
- Converge Bio raises $25M for generative AI drug discovery
- Superorganism raises $25M to back biodiversity startups
- Deepgram raises $130M to power the voice AI economy
- Defense Unicorns raises $136M in Series B to build the software backbone of the Department of War
- Proxima raises $80M in seed funding for next gen proximity-based medicines
- Defense tech unicorn Onebrief raises $200M
- Vivere Oncotherapies raises over $10M to detect and destroy cancer cells in immunologically cold tumors
- Axol Bioscience, a drug discovery startup raises $2.8M
- Fusion power startup Type One Energy raises $87M ahead of $250M Series B
- Skild AI raises ~$1.4B for a ‘brain’ for all robots
- Caldera Therapeutics launches with $112.5M and a dual-targeting immune drug from China
- Ammobia raises $7.5M to scale low-cost ammonia production technology
- Transition Metal Solutions raises $6M to ease the copper shortage
- Project Eleven raises $20M Series A to prepare digital asset infrastructure for the quantum era
- Quadric raises $30M Series C for on-device AI chips
- MARS Bioimaging closes $15M Series A funding to take its portable CT scanner to the market
- OpenAI invests in Sam Altman’s brain computer interface startup Merge Labs
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