One of the world’s leading technology companies, Nvidia, has just unveiled a new data center cooling system that uses a liquid coolant hotter than a hot tub to cut energy consumption.

The Californian company’s latest Rubin platform can operate using liquid coolant at temperatures up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius). The approach greatly reduces the need for energy-intensive chillers and cooling infrastructure.

According to the company, the feat is part of the DSX AI factory reference design, which introduces fully liquid-cooled infrastructure throughout the entire system. Every processor, networking part, and high-performance computing element is cooled by liquid in a closed-loop system.

Ali Heydari, Nvidia data center cooling and infrastructure director, noted that the DSX AI factory design reduces nearly all water use and cuts a substantial amount of the power necessary for cooling. “With dry-cooler-based designs, it’s a closed-loop system with no evaporative water cooling – outside of maybe one percent of the year when we might need chillers in some climates,” he added.

A new cooling method

Cooling has accounted for up to 40 percent of total power demand. Traditional data centers utilize large volumes of cooled air to remove the heat generated by servers. This requires extensive cooling infrastructure, like fans, chillers, cooling towers, and carefully managed hot and cold aisles.

Meanwhile, Nvidia’s Rubin platform captures heat directly at the chip level. It can reportedly reduce cooling water consumption from about 2.6 million gallons per megawatt per year to almost zero in suitable climates.

The system relies on a liquid coolant made up of 75 percent water and 25 percent propylene glycol, which circulates through cold plates attached to processors. The liquid enters at temperatures of up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit and exits at about 131 degrees Fahrenheit (55 degrees Celsius), once it absorbs the heat generated by the chips.

Since the heat is removed directly from the source, the processors can continue operating at full performance even with much warmer coolant temperatures than traditional cooling systems would allow.

Lower energy and water use

As per Nvidia, the higher operating temperatures unlock considerable efficiency gains. Industry estimates suggest that increasing chiller temperatures by just 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (one degree Celsius) can reduce cooling energy costs by four percent. In practice, this means that a 50-megawatt hyperscale facility can save more than USD four million per year in cooling-related energy and water costs by adopting liquid-cooled infrastructure.

“In the right geographic location, with the right system design, you don’t need any refrigeration equipment,” Richard Whitmore, president and CEO of Motivair, Schneider Electric’s advanced cooling division, pointed out. “You can just put big radiator coils outside and use the air temperature for all your cooling.”

The move to complete liquid cooling also required a major server redesign. Earlier liquid-cooled servers used a hybrid approach, cooling CPUs and GPUs with cold plates while relying on air cooling for other components.

Nvidia engineers reworked cooling pathways across the entire server and created a system that uses a single liquid loop to cool multiple high-power components. The redesign has also improved space efficiency. The company revealed that fully liquid-cooled servers can reach higher rack densities.

This allows more computing power to fit into a smaller footprint. “Once the watts per chip crossed a certain level, liquid cooling became mandatory,” Whitmore concluded in a press release.

As the World Cup fever grows around stars like Messi and Ronaldo, Shanghai hosts a unique penalty shootout featuring humanoid robots.

At MWC Shanghai 2026, humanoid robots are stepping up to the spot in the Humanoid Robot Football Penalties Challenge, testing the limits of robotics,
AI, machine vision, and real-time motion control.

According to Chinese media outlets, the event showcases how embodied AI performs under pressure, highlighting next-generation autonomous technology through football-inspired challenges.

Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Hyundai Motor recently launched a football-themed campaign featuring Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot.

Humanoid football test

On its opening day at MWC Shanghai 2026 on June 24, the spotlight quickly shifted from keynote speeches to a live demonstration of embodied AI in action: the Humanoid Robot Football Penalties Challenge.

Held within the Mobile AI Innovation Frontiers Zone at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, the event is designed as a controlled stress test for real-time autonomous decision-making, where humanoid robots must read the goal, judge angles, and execute penalty kicks without pre-programmed sequences, external control, or resets, reported CGTN.

While official details of the participating humanoid robots remain limited, videos circulating online suggest models from Booster Robotics and Unitree Robotics taking part in the challenge.

In the penalties challenge itself, participating humanoids are evaluated on perception accuracy, balance control, motion planning, and adaptive response under game-like pressure. Each robot must independently interpret ball position and goalkeeper movement before committing to a strike, making split-second corrections based on sensor feedback.

The format escalates through semi-finals and a final scheduled for June 25, intensifying constraints to simulate high-pressure competitive conditions. By turning a universally understood sports moment—the penalty kick—into a robotics benchmark, the showcase highlights how far embodied AI has progressed toward coordinated, human-like physical intelligence in unpredictable environments.

Atlas soccer showcase

In a recent football demonstration by Boston Dynamics, an Atlas robot is shown standing before a large display screen, closely tracking player movements, body positioning, and in-game reactions across football footage. After each clip ends, Atlas moves into a practice zone where it immediately attempts to reproduce the actions it has just observed, effectively linking visual perception with physical execution in real time.

The footage highlights a series of football-inspired motions. In one sequence, the robot shifts its weight, swings a leg forward, and smoothly guides a ball across the floor with controlled contact. It then progresses through rapid training drills focused on balance, coordination, and timing. As the session continues, Atlas’s movements appear increasingly fluid, suggesting the system is being evaluated not only for strength but also for agility, reflex response, and adaptive motor control.

Some of the most notable moments show Atlas imitating human emotional reactions. After completing a drill, it raises its arms in celebration, mirroring a footballer’s goal celebration. In another instance, it drops to one knee and pauses, recreating an injury response seen in match footage it had just observed.

Hyundai Motor Company, parent of Boston Dynamics, described the demonstration as Atlas’s first exposure to football under its “School of Football” initiative. The company has also indicated potential plans to showcase Atlas and the quadruped robot Spot at the FIFA World Cup, though their exact roles remain undisclosed.

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Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences has begun installing the wings on the X-65, an experimental drone developed under DARPA’s Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program.

The installation brings DARPA and Aurora a step closer to flying the unconventional uncrewed aircraft, which was designed to test flight control using only bursts of pressurized air instead of conventional moving surfaces.

The X-65’s active flow control

The X-65’s key innovation lies in its active flow control (AFC) system. Fourteen AFC effectors embedded across the aircraft’s lifting surfaces use jets of high-pressure air to manage roll, pitch, and yaw.

This will either replace or supplement traditional flaps and rudders. The X-65 incorporates both systems to establish performance baselines before transitioning to AFC-only operation. Essentially, it will allow researchers to flight test the technology while minimizing risk.

“The X-65 conventional surfaces are like training wheels to help us understand how AFC can be used in place of traditional flaps and rudders,” Dr. Richard Wlezien, former CRANE program manager at DARPA, said in a 2024 press statement. Sensors will compare the two approaches to evaluate potential benefits.

Aurora Flight Sciences announced the wing’s arrival on social media, noting that the components were built at its West Virginia facility. Integration is underway in Virginia, with the first flight now targeted for 2027.

Novel effectors to enhance survivability

The X-65 features a co-planar joined wing configuration with triangular wing sections on each side that merge at the tips, plus small extensions for a total wingspan of 30 feet.

The triangular wings support testing across multiple sweep angles and feature modular, swappable sections for future AFC configurations.

The aircraft also includes a twin vertical tail, a chin air intake, and a single exhaust. The uncrewed aircraft has a gross weight of approximately 7,000 lbs.

DARPA kick-started the CRANE program in 2020. Though Aurora has advanced to the detailed design and fabrication phases, the program has encountered delays and cost overruns, as reported by The War Zone.

Original flight plans for 2025 slipped after higher-than-expected prototype costs and supply chain issues. Pentagon funding for the effort since fiscal year 2024 has reached nearly $63 million.

Eliminating moving control surfaces could yield multiple advantages. Removing moving parts could result in improved aerodynamics and efficiency, particularly at high altitudes. Reduced mechanical complexity also offers potential weight savings, lower maintenance demands, and greater reliability. For military applications, such systems could have enhanced survivability against battle damage.

The technology holds particular promise for stealth aircraft. Traditional control surfaces create gaps and protrusions that increase radar cross-section and require constant adjustments in fly-by-wire systems. AFC effectors embedded flush with the airframe could help maintain smoother external contours and lower observability.

As Aurora vice president Larry Wirsing stated last year: “The X-65 platform will be an enduring flight test asset, and we’re confident that future aircraft designs and research missions will be able to leverage the underlying technologies and flight test data.”

Researchers in Julia R. Greer’s lab at Caltech have developed a new method for creating three-dimensional architected battery cathodes. It has been designed to improve safety, reduce environmental impact, and enhance the performance of future batteries.

The new cathode replaces toxic, expensive, and unethically mined cobalt with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) embedded in a carbon matrix. LFP is much safer and less prone to catching fire or short-circuiting when overcharged.

On its own, LFP isn’t a miracle material; it usually suffers from sluggish performance. But by rethinking the internal architecture of the battery, the team found a loophole.

“We’ve developed a versatile way to make three-dimensional architected battery electrodes from safer materials,” said Yingjin Wang, a graduate student in Greer’s lab. 

“Using lithium iron phosphate, commonly referred to as LFP, combined with a carbon matrix, we eliminated the use of dangerous cobalt while improving the mechanical resilience of the battery,” the first author added. 

3D-architected cathodes

Lithium-ion batteries are the dominant power source for modern mobile devices, electric vehicles, and renewable grids. 

These batteries consist of five core components: an anode (negative electrode), a cathode (positive electrode), a liquid electrolyte to transport ions, a separator to prevent short circuits, and current collectors to harvest electricity. 

While commercially vital, standard designs carry persistent safety risks and performance limitations. To address these flaws, a new development has reimagined battery design, paving the way for less dangerous, more environmentally friendly energy storage that also boosts performance.

Conventional lithium-ion batteries rely on flat, two-dimensional (“planar“) electrodes, but in this new work, the team introduced a three-dimensional, architected cathode produced through 3D printing. 

Moreover, transitioning from a flat design to a 3D-architected battery maximizes the active surface area where chemical energy is converted into electricity.

“We think this is advantageous because you can decouple the solid-state versus liquid-state diffusion distance. The electrolyte is liquid, so as it’s channeling through this architecture, which is like a labyrinth, it has a solid surface available to it anywhere,” Greer explained.

Moreover, the design reduces tortuosity and shortens the physical path that ions must travel between the cathode and separator, thereby increasing the battery’s power density and allowing it to release its stored energy much faster.

Safer alternative

A primary drawback of current lithium-ion batteries is their reliance on cobalt in the cathodes. Cobalt supply chains are plagued by unethical mining practices in remote regions worldwide, and the material itself poses a notable safety hazard due to its tendency to catch fire or short-circuit when overcharged. 

In contrast, lithium iron phosphate is a much safer alternative. Its inherently stable chemical profile makes it far less likely to experience dangerous thermal issues or short circuits.

“LFP by itself is not a new material, but using this additive manufacturing, or 3D-printing, approach to create an architected electrode that doesn’t contain cobalt is a new thing,” Greer said. 

The next major milestone for the researchers is to design a complementary 3D-architected LFP anode, which will create a fully 3D-architected battery that is both energy- and power-dense. 

Achieving this will be a highly complex manufacturing challenge given the early state of the research and the intricate fabrication parameters involved. Ultimately, the team aims to integrate a polymer-based electrolyte to achieve a true solid-state battery.

The study was published in the journal ACS Energy Letters.

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DEEP Robotics has demonstrated its new wheeled-legged robot in action, designed to handle challenging industrial operations across complex terrain.

M20S introduces significant improvements over M20 in payload capacity, mobility, durability, and endurance, positioning it as a new benchmark for industry-grade wheeled-legged robots.

Built for all-terrain performance, the Lynx M20S is designed to support a wide range of inspection, logistics, and field operations where reliability and adaptability are critical.

Recently, Deep Robotics unveiled new footage of its DR02 humanoid traversing rough terrain, climbing stairs, and carrying equipment, which is built for industrial and hazardous-environment operations.

Mastering rough terrain

LYNX M20 is a wheeled-legged robot designed for industrial operations in challenging terrain and hazardous environments. The company describes it as the world’s first wheeled-legged robot built specifically for demanding field applications, including power inspection, emergency response, logistics, and scientific exploration.

In this newly released demonstration video, DEEP showcases the capabilities of its Lynx M20S wheeled-legged robot in some of the world’s most demanding environments. The footage follows the robot traversing rugged mountain terrain, crossing icy rivers up to 31.5 inches (80 centimeters) deep, and operating in temperatures as low as -22°F (-30°C).

The Lynx M20S is also shown climbing steep 45-degree slopes and navigating rocky, uneven landscapes that would challenge conventional mobile robots. At elevations reaching nearly 17,000 feet (5,177 meters), the robot maintains stability and mobility while carrying out its mission in harsh outdoor conditions. The video highlights the platform’s combination of wheeled speed and legged agility, enabling it to tackle obstacles, extreme weather, and difficult terrain.

According to DEEP, the Lynx M20S, designed for industrial inspections, emergency response, and field operations, demonstrates how advanced robotic mobility can extend autonomous operations into environments that are often inaccessible or hazardous for human workers.

Next-gen field robot

M20S, weighing 77 pounds (35 kilograms), combines the speed of wheeled mobility with the adaptability of legged locomotion. It can navigate narrow spaces with as little as 50 cm of clearance, climb stairs up to 25 cm high, overcome obstacles up to 80 cm high, and handle slopes up to 45 degrees. The platform is designed to operate across rugged mountain trails, muddy wetlands, tunnels, pipelines, and disaster-stricken areas.

The M20 can carry a payload of 33 pounds (15 kilograms) and support a maximum load of 110 pounds (50 kilograms). It offers up to three hours of operation or 9 miles (15 kilometers) of travel on a single charge when unloaded, while carrying a 33-pound (15-kilogram) payload reduces endurance to 2.5 hours and 7.4 miles (12 kilometers). The robot can reach a laboratory-tested top speed of 5 m/s and an operating speed of 2 m/s.

For perception and navigation, the robot is equipped with dual 96-line LiDAR sensors providing a 360-degree by 90-degree field of view, along with wide-angle cameras and omnidirectional obstacle avoidance capabilities. Built for harsh environments, the platform carries an IP66 protection rating and can operate in temperatures ranging from -4°F (-20°C) to 131°F (55°C). Additional features include hot-swappable batteries, bidirectional lighting, OTA updates, and modular expansion options.

To improve operational endurance, DEEP increased the Lynx M20S’s single-charge runtime by 17 percent to 67 percent and added dual hot-swappable batteries. The upgrades help offset the high power demands of wheeled-legged locomotion and support longer, uninterrupted missions.

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Chinese battery giant CATL has introduced what it says is the world’s first sodium-ion energy storage system proven in real-world conditions. It expects total shipments to reach 1 gigawatt-hour (GWh) by the end of 2026.

The company launched its new TENER Sodium Energy Storage System in Munich, Germany, on June 22, 2026, marking a significant step toward sodium-ion battery use in large-scale energy storage projects.

This launch comes at a time when utilities, renewable energy developers, and industrial customers are looking for new storage solutions to meet rising electricity demand and the fast growth of wind and solar power. CATL plans to start delivering to customers in China in September 2026, with global shipments beginning in June 2027.

Sodium emerges as a new option for grid storage

CATL believes sodium-ion batteries are a strong addition to lithium-based technologies in future energy systems. According to the company, sodium is over 1,000 times more common than lithium and is found all over the world, making it a promising choice for stationary storage.

“We believe that sodium and lithium together will form the twin foundations of the future energy storage system,” commented William Wu, Director of CATL’s Energy Storage Technology Center.

The battery maker has been researching and developing sodium-ion batteries since 2016. During this time, the company says it invested almost €1.2 billion ($1.14 billion) to build a full manufacturing process, including materials, cells, and system production.

To meet future demand, it has increased its production capacity. The company invested around CNY 5 billion ($737 million) in sodium-ion manufacturing lines at its Fuding facility, adding 40 GWh of annual production capacity. Another planned facility in Jining, Shandong, will support up to 160 GWh of sodium-ion battery production.

Designed to fit existing battery projects

A main feature of the system is that it works with existing lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) energy storage systems. The firm said the TENER Sodium system has the same size and shape as LFP systems, so developers can use their current platforms without changing enclosures, redesigning projects, or repeating certifications.

The system’s modular design provides over 30 megawatt-hours (MWh) of rated capacity. Each module weighs about 46 tons, and just 34 units are needed to create a 1-GWh energy storage site.

This compatibility can make it easier for developers to add sodium-ion technology without big changes to existing infrastructure. As battery storage projects grow worldwide, reducing engineering and permitting steps can help speed up project timelines.

Long service life across extreme temperatures

CATL said the TENER Sodium system is built for tough operating conditions. The company reports it can last up to 15,000 cycles at 77°F (25°C) while keeping 70 percent of its health. This means the system could last about 25 to 30 years.

The system is also made to work across a wide range of temperatures. The battery giant claims it can handle over 10,000 cycles at 113°F (45°C) and keep more than 92 percent of its capacity at -4°F (-20°C).

The company further stated that the battery system can reduce fire and explosion risks even in extreme conditions. This addresses a major concern in the industry as grid-scale storage projects expand around the world.

Shipment goals signal commercial readiness

At the Munich event, CATL stressed that the product is now past the demonstration stage. The company says the TENER Sodium system is ready for commercial use, with mature technology, manufacturing, and supply chain support.

The goal of shipping 1 GWh by the end of 2026 shows that sodium-ion batteries are moving into large-scale commercial use. The firm’s latest launch suggests sodium-ion batteries may soon become a meaningful part of that expanding market alongside established lithium-based systems.

Seeking a concrete approach to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s hardest-to-decarbonize logistics sectors, DHL Global Forwarding France has entered into a strategic partnership with French shipping company VELA.

Under the agreement, the global freight giant will offer commercial shipping options aboard custom-built, wind-powered cargo trimarans crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Scheduled to launch operations in early 2027, the initiative introduces a clean, maritime alternative that integrates directly into existing supply chains without disrupting standard logistics processes.

Global maritime shipping currently accounts for roughly 3% of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions, largely because the heavy fuel oil burned by traditional container ships produces intensive pollution.

While wind-propelled commercial transit remains a niche concept within the broader cargo industry, the new partnership aims to demonstrate the viability of large-scale commercial sailing. Under the strategic framework, DHL secures a dedicated allocation of cargo space aboard VELA’s specialized vessels, with volume commitments expected to scale up continuously alongside the expansion of the sailing fleet.

Operational routing and transatlantic port logistics

The new maritime service will establish a direct ocean route connecting the secondary ports of Caen-Ouistreham in France and New Haven, Connecticut. By avoiding heavily congested major shipping hubs, the direct point-to-point path significantly limits the need for complex transshipments.

VELA is targeting a reliable port-to-port transit time of approximately 15 days. This timeline allows the clean shipping framework to remain reasonably close to the pacing of conventional diesel-powered cargo ships.

The specialized service is specifically engineered for companies handling less-than-container-load (LCL) freight. Instead of loading large, heavy metal containers, the interior layout of the VELA sailing vessels is explicitly tailored for palletized cargo.

Each trip will accommodate up to 600 European Union pallets, maximizing space efficiency for industries that ship products in smaller batches. DHL will handle the entire onshore logistics ecosystem for each voyage, including pre-carriage transport, local customs clearance, and secure warehousing.

Specialized protection for temperature-sensitive products

To accommodate highly sensitive commercial goods, the vessels integrate a patent-pending refrigeration system called CoolSafe. This technology allows the zero-emission ships to cater specifically to industries with rigid environmental controls, including pharmaceuticals, luxury items, cosmetics, aerospace components, and premium wines or spirits. The cooling network is fully compliant with Good Distribution Practice (GDP), ensuring strict adherence to global pharmaceutical handling standards.

Crucially, the climate-control systems within the cargo hold do not draw energy from fossil fuels. The onboard refrigeration units are powered primarily by decentralized renewable energy sources integrated directly onto the vessel’s hull.

An independent lifecycle analysis conducted by the specialized consulting firm Carbone 4 verified the exceptional environmental performance of this setup. According to their metrics, the VELA system reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 99% compared to traditional transport options under specific assumptions.

Scaling sailing fleets for regular weekly departures

While the initial launch will deploy a single vessel, VELA and DHL have mapped out a clear path toward industrial scale-up. The long-term blueprint calls for the construction and deployment of five identical wind-powered ships on the Europe-to-United States route.

Once the full fleet enters active service, the companies will expand their scheduling to offer up to one reliable weekly departure in both directions across the Atlantic.

By proving that wind-powered freight can maintain rigid commercial schedules, the project partners intend to establish a repeatable model for sustainable shipping.

The initiative balances environmental accountability with real-world practicality, giving shippers a functional tool to cut emissions without compromising traceability, cargo security, or supply chain reliability. If the rollout scales as planned, it will mark one of the first regular, predictable wind-powered freight services connecting Europe and North America.

For the first time in nine years, a supercomputer from China has come ahead of all other machines in the list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. The list was announced at the ISC 2026 conference in Hamburg, Germany.

The number one spot in the list has been given to LineShine – a supercomputer from China that was previously unlisted. LineShine has displaced the US’ own El Capitan as the world’s most powerful supercomputer as measured by the High Performance Linpack (HPL) benchmark.

Its debut marks the first time since 2017 that a Chinese system has led the TOP500, and it also takes over the No. 1 position on the HPCG ranking with 22.00 HPCG-Petaflop/s, according to a press release from the organization.

LineShine tops the Top 500 world’s most powerful supercomputers list

The supercomputer from China has not just topped the list of the world’s most powerful machines. It has also achieved 2.198 Exaflop/s on the HPL benchmark, making it the “first system in the TOP 500 to exceed two exaflops of sustained double-precision performance using CPUs only.”

LineShen is installed at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen (NSCS) and built by the Shenzhen Cloud Computing Center. It is based on a custom Chinese processor and the “LingKun” platform: 13.79 million cores across 304-core LX2 processors running at 1.55 GHz, linked by the proprietary LingQi interconnect and running Kylin OS.

The supercomputer draws approximately 42.2 megawatts of power and comes with an efficiency of 52.07 Gigaflops/Watt. LineShine reached 7.92 Exaflop/s for fourth place, a comparatively modest 3.6x speedup over its HPL score, indicating a CPU-only design without dedicated low-precision accelerators, the press release added.

It differs from other high-performance supercomputers because it relies on CPUs rather than modern graphics processing units (GPUs) used for AI.

However, LineShine’s debut marks a significant achievement, increasing the number of systems sustaining over one exaflop/s on HPL from four to five. Also, for the first time, the exascale systems are distributed across the Asian, North American, and European continents simultaneously.

El Capitan, Frontier, and Aurora from the US also feature in the top five

While LineShine might have captured the top spot, the next three supercomputers in the list are from the United States.

The most powerful supercomputer from 2025, El Capitan, is at the second position with 1.89 Exaflop/s on HPL. El Capitan is at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the US. It has 11.34 million cores and 60.94 Gigaflops/Watt, built on the HPE Cray EX255a architecture with AMD 4th Gen EPYC CPUs and AMD Instinct MI300A accelerators.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Frontier supercomputer is in third position in the rankings with a performance of 1.35 Exaflop/s on HPL. The fifth most powerful supercomputer, according to the list, is the Jupiter Booster operated by the Jülich Supercomputing Center in Germany.

Supercomputers in the modern world are used for everything from predicting the weather and developing AI to advancing medical innovations and simulating nuclear explosions for defense needs. Therefore, they are in some ways considered a parameter of a country’s technological prowess. China’s win in this year’s list could translate to worries for the West in general, but the more powerful machines might be coming soon from the US and Europe.

In a major structural shift designed to correct an unsustainable economic imbalance on the modern battlefield, the U.S. Army has formally launched its Low-Cost Interceptor (LCI) program. The defense initiative aims to end the practice of burning multimillion-dollar air defense assets to down inexpensive adversary drones that cost only a few thousand dollars.

Senior service officials announced a highly compressed procurement timeline for the program, establishing a firm target to execute the first live-fire capability demonstrations this autumn.

The launch follows months of strategic framework planning intended to quickly field scalable, affordable anti-drone solutions. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll clarified that these new budget-friendly interceptors are not meant to replace existing, high-end defensive networks.

Describing the service’s current premier air defense systems as “the Ferrari of a product,” Driscoll noted that while their capabilities are incredible, the Army urgently requires a mass-producible, low-cost alternative to supplement the fleet during prolonged, high-rate attrition conflicts.

Overhauling procurement

Rather than relying on traditional acquisition models—where a single prime contractor builds a highly proprietary weapon system from the ground up—the Army is breaking the LCI into independent structural subsegments.

Under this strategy, the service will source components from a wide pool of competing suppliers to reduce unit costs. Through its specialized xTech program, the Army plans to officially release a call for industrial white papers on July 6, 2026.

The upcoming solicitation will seek targeted technological solutions across four critical subsystem categories: rocket motors, advanced seekers, fire control and guidance tools, and an overarching weapons system integrator.

The chosen system integrator will be tasked with designing a flexible, open systems architecture that allows the Army to seamlessly hot-swap subcomponents as underlying commercial technologies mature.

Service officials indicated that if the submitted technologies show sufficient technical maturity, the xTech team may bypass lengthy prototyping phases and move selected vendors straight into full-rate production.

Resetting cost targets to combat inexpensive threat vectors

The fiscal parameters of the LCI program are explicitly shaped by the realities of modern asymmetric aerial threats, such as jet-engine-powered Shahed attack drones.

Military leaders have long warned that relying on premium, low-stock missiles to neutralize waves of mass-produced loitering munitions is financially unviable over extended campaigns. While the Army has declined to lock in a rigid price ceiling, leadership has established aggressive baseline cost targets.

Ideally, the service wants the final, all-up rounds to cost less than $1 million each. Furthermore, Driscoll previously indicated that the service’s ultimate target price point sits below $250,000 per individual interceptor.

Army leadership emphasizes that while the military will always expend whatever resources are necessary to defend American lives in an immediate combat theater, achieving a sub-million-dollar price point is absolutely vital to absorbing and repelling sustained drone swarms at a true theater-wide scale.

Securing intellectual property and empowering global allies

A foundational element of the LCI acquisition strategy is a strict emphasis on data and intellectual property (IP) sharing among participating contractors. Because the Army is assembling the final interceptor from separate components built by different firms, the service must secure the underlying IP rights.

Retaining these rights will allow the military to independently perform field repairs, reverse-engineer parts, and utilize 3D printing to accelerate maintenance in forward-deployed zones.

Furthermore, establishing clean IP boundaries will enable the Army to add the finished low-cost interceptors directly into its digital marketplace interface. The Pentagon already utilizes this marketplace framework to sell validated drones and counter-UAS platforms to allied nations.

By distributing these compatible, budget-friendly interceptors globally, the Army intends to build a unified defensive network in which international partners can seamlessly deploy identical, affordable munitions, even in austere theaters where standard American logistics are unavailable.

Cambridge researchers have transitioned a laboratory-scale technology into a scalable, real-world application that uses solar power to convert plastic waste and cellulose into clean hydrogen fuel and valuable industrial chemicals.

The team demonstrated a new solar-powered reactor that converts everyday plastic waste, such as fizzy drink bottles, into hydrogen fuel. 

Interestingly, they did it outside, at scale, using a device that can be manufactured with tools not much more complicated than a standard hardware store paint sprayer.

Scaling up the solution for plastic waste

Photoreforming is the process of using solar energy to break down plastic molecules. It is a concept scientists have understood for quite some time, but scaling it up has always been the missing piece of the puzzle.

While the chemistry worked beautifully inside pristine laboratories, it was limited to tiny catalyst plates about the size of a smartphone wrapper. Scaling those up usually meant depending on highly complex manufacturing processes, scorching temperatures, and toxic chemical baths.

“When we started trying to scale this technology up, we quickly found out that what seems simple on a small scale is not simple at all when you’re trying to make it at scale. We can’t really have giant vats of solution to make these panels – it’s just not practical at scale,” said Ariffin Bin Mohamad Annuar, co-first author from Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. 

To smash through this issue, the researchers went big. And constructed a one-meter-square reactor panel and took it entirely outdoors, testing it under the natural, unpredictable sunlight outside Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry.

The device does not generate electricity like a standard rooftop solar panel. Rather than that, it directly absorbs sunlight to drive a chemical reaction. On one end, it breaks down the polymers in PET plastic bottles and cellulose; on the other, it splits water molecules to harvest pure hydrogen.

The magic coating

The interesting part of the new system lies in how it was built. Compared with earlier versions that required high temperatures and complex liquid-suspension processes, the new solar panels can be assembled at room temperature using basic equipment. 

Professor Dominic Wright’s team developed a specialized molecular precursor material containing cobalt and zirconium. Professor Erwin Reisner’s team then loaded this material into a basic sprayer. 

The light-absorbing catalyst was sprayed directly onto ordinary glass panels at room temperature.

“What surprised me was, after all the optimization, just how simple it is,” said Mohamad Annuar. “We just have this huge panel, we spray our catalyst on it, put it into our solution, put it under the sun, and it produces hydrogen and other valuable chemicals just from plastic waste. It’s just simple and scalable.”

The Cambridge team also provided a comprehensive cost analysis for the system. This economic blueprint is a major first for this type of chemical research, mapping out exactly what it will take to bring the technology the market.

Plus, the manufacturing costs were cut down by using the spray-coating method. It proves that a future of solar-powered, localized recycling hubs is financially viable.

The technology is not quite ready for commercial deployment tomorrow. The team notes that the reactor’s overall durability and conversion efficiency still need refinement before mass production can begin.

However, the researchers have laid down a clear path toward cleaning up the planet by proving that the system can survive the outdoor elements while remaining cheap to produce.

The results are reported in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering on June 24.

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SpaceX has a new spacecraft, and it might already be in orbit. The company launched its secretive Starfall return capsule for the first time on June 23, lifting off aboard a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:52 a.m. EDT.

The mission caught many space watchers by surprise — SpaceX had revealed almost nothing about Starfall before launch, and the company cut its webcast roughly 10 minutes after liftoff, a practice typically associated with national security missions.

What SpaceX did say, via a post on X, was brief: Starfall “will enable affordable, routine access to the microgravity environment for scientific research and in-space manufacturing.”

The company added that the vehicle will “enable point-to-point delivery of critical cargo through space on rapid timelines” and create “a self-sustaining commercial in-space manufacturing market by offering access to microgravity and vacuum, loiter on orbit, and safe return from orbit as a service at scale.”

What Starfall actually is

Most of what is publicly known about Starfall comes from an environmental assessment published by the Federal Aviation Administration last month. According to the FAA document, Starfall is a disk-shaped spacecraft that stands about 2.5 feet (0.75 meters) tall and has a diameter of 10.2 feet (3.1 meters). It weighs roughly 4,600 pounds (2,100 kilograms) and can carry about 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg) of payload.

Starfall consists of two parts: an aluminum “top plate” that weighs about 3,090 pounds (1,400 kg) and a detachable carbon-fiber heat shield. The heat shield contains compressed nitrogen gas that powers the capsule’s attitude control thrusters, mechanically jettisons the shield before splashdown, and deploys the parachutes — all without liquid propellants or hazardous substances aboard.

The capsule carries no propulsion system and cannot deorbit itself. It is entirely uncrewed and not designed to carry passengers. The vehicle can launch on both the workhorse Falcon 9 and Starship, the megarocket SpaceX is developing to help humanity settle the moon and Mars.

SpaceX has not yet specified how long the test vehicle will remain in orbit before reentry. When the Starfall payload returns, SpaceX is targeting an area in the Pacific Ocean for splashdown, about 700 nautical miles (1,300 km) off the United States West Coast.

How many were launched?

It is unclear how many Starfall vehicles the Falcon 9 lofted on this initial flight. The FAA environmental assessment covered two demonstration reentries, and one or both may have been initiated by Tuesday’s launch.

SpaceX is not first — but may come to dominate

SpaceX isn’t alone in pursuing these opportunities. Varda Space has already launched and landed five of its 650-pound (300 kg) “W-series” spacecraft, which are designed to be both orbital mini-factories and return capsules. And another California outfit, Outpost Space, is developing a line of “CarryAll” return vehicles that can deliver very large payloads — up to 22,000 pounds (10,000 kg) — down from space with pinpoint accuracy, within 80 feet (25 m) of a target anywhere on Earth.

So SpaceX is not breaking new ground with Starfall. But the company is poised to play a leading role in the nascent Earth-return field, thanks to its launch dominance and vertical integration.

The Falcon 9 flew a whopping 165 times in 2025, and SpaceX envisions launching Starship thousands of times per year when that massive rocket comes fully online.

That launch economics advantage is decisive. Every orbital manufacturing company currently operating — including Varda Space Industries — uses SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshares to reach orbit. With Starfall, SpaceX is entering a market it has until now served only as a launch provider, potentially competing with its own customers for the same orbital manufacturing return payloads.

Scratched contact lenses often mean an expensive replacement, even if the damage is minor. Researchers in South Korea have now developed a self-healing material that can repair those tiny imperfections using just one hour of ultraviolet light, opening the door to more durable soft contact lenses.

The new hydrogel-based material restores itself at room temperature and could eventually help wearers extend the life of their lenses instead of discarding them after everyday wear. The technology also combines a protective coating that resists scratches and bacteria, adding another layer of durability for future designs.

UV repairs damage

Researchers Jung-Hyun Choi and Byoung-Ki Cho created the material using a hydrogel, a water-rich polymer network already widely used in soft contact lenses. They redesigned the structure so that ultraviolet light, instead of heat, activates the repair process.

Exposure to UV light with a wavelength of 365 nanometers for one hour triggers a chemical reaction known as disulfide exchange. During that process, sulfur bonds temporarily break apart and reconnect with neighboring atoms, allowing the damaged polymer network to gradually rebuild itself.

The team had previously demonstrated a heat-driven self-healing hydrogel, but that approach required several hours of warming. Extended heating dries out contact lenses and makes them unsuitable for everyday use, making room-temperature repair a more practical alternative. Laboratory tests showed the healing process restored scratched samples with high efficiency, leaving behind a nearly seamless surface instead of visible damage.

Protective coating adds strength

The researchers also coated the hydrogel with another polymer designed to reduce bacterial growth and shield the surface from abrasion. That extra layer proved effective during durability testing. Even after repeated contact with fine-grit sandpaper, the coated material maintained its clarity. Transparency declined by only about 2%, suggesting that routine scratches would have little effect on vision quality.

The hydrogel also retained water and displayed mechanical characteristics comparable to those expected from commercial soft contact lenses. Those properties are critical because comfort depends on a lens remaining hydrated throughout the day.

According to the researchers, users could eventually repair minor damage with UV lamps already found in many homes, including devices used for cleaning or curing gel nail polish. The repair process can also be repeated, allowing the material to recover from multiple instances of wear.

More testing ahead

Several steps remain before self-healing contact lenses reach consumers. The material must undergo additional stability evaluations and regulatory review to confirm it can withstand long-term use and repeated repair cycles.

If those hurdles are cleared, the technology could reduce waste and lower replacement costs for millions of contact lens users. Instead of treating every scratch as the end of a lens’s life, future designs may be able to recover from everyday damage and stay in service much longer. The project received funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea.

The study titled “Room-Temperature UV-Induced Self-Healing Hydrogels with Antifouling and Antiscratch Surfaces for Soft Contact Lenses” is published in the journal ACS Applied Polymer Materials.

MIT researchers have developed a low-power chip that enables tiny drones and robots to build detailed 3D maps of their surroundings in real time while consuming only about 6 milliwatts of power. The system-on-a-chip, called Gleanmer, could help battery-powered autonomous machines navigate cluttered environments such as industrial ventilation systems, warehouses, tunnels, and other confined spaces where obstacle avoidance is critical.

The technology may also find applications in lightweight augmented reality headsets, allowing them to map indoor environments without draining batteries. The chip combines specialized hardware with a compact mapping algorithm that dramatically reduces the memory and energy needed to create 3D representations of the world around a robot.

Mapping without burden

Building detailed 3D maps typically requires robots to process large volumes of image data and store complex representations of their surroundings. These tasks often demand significant memory and power, making them difficult to deploy on small battery-powered devices.

Instead of relying on conventional voxel-based maps, which represent environments using millions of tiny cubes, the MIT team uses flexible ellipsoid shapes known as Gaussians. These shapes can more efficiently represent curved objects and open spaces while requiring far less memory.

The researchers paired the chip with a mapping algorithm called GMMap, which creates 3D maps from depth images in a single pass. This allows the system to discard image data almost immediately instead of repeatedly storing and processing it.

“At any point in time, we only need to store a few pixels in memory, which significantly reduces the memory footprint our algorithm requires,” said Peter Zhi Xuan Li, one of the study’s co-lead authors.

The system also avoids another common challenge in mapping. As a robot moves, it often observes the same object from multiple angles, creating overlapping representations that increase map size. The MIT team developed a method to merge overlapping Gaussians directly without returning to the original image data.

Tiny chip, big reach

This approach allowed the researchers to keep much of the active data in fast on-chip memory rather than relying on power-hungry external storage. “By having a dedicated memory that just stores the objects you’ve seen in the previous few frames, you can access the data much more efficiently,” said co-lead author Zih-Sing Fu.

In tests involving a variety of previously recorded environments, Gleanmer generated detailed 3D maps in real time while consuming about 6 milliwatts of power. According to the researchers, this is roughly 2.5% of the energy required by the best existing chip designed for map construction.

The chip can also reconstruct obstacles and free space directly from live data streamed from an iPhone camera. By reusing compact Gaussian representations during path planning, the system enables robots to calculate collision-free routes using about 20% of the energy typically required.

“This paper showcases a key example of how you can leverage co-design of the algorithm and hardware to really push energy efficiency,” said Vivienne Sze, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT and senior author of the study.

The researchers believe future versions could become even more efficient by placing computing resources closer to onboard sensors. Beyond robotics, the team is also exploring whether Gaussian-based representations could help computing systems process technical drawings and complex schematics more efficiently.

The research was presented at the IEEE Very Large-Scale Integrated Circuits Symposium.

A major uranium project in South Dakota has cleared another regulatory hurdle, bringing it closer to supplying domestic nuclear fuel as the United States works to strengthen its critical mineral and energy supply chains. The latest decision marks another step toward advancing one of the country’s key uranium development projects.

enCore Energy said the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission completed an Environmental Assessment and issued a Finding of No Significant Impact for the Dewey Burdock Uranium Project. The decision supports renewal of the project’s Source Materials License for another 20 years, leaving a safety evaluation as the final major review before the license can move forward.

Final review remains

Federal regulators stated they will renew the license if the project continues to satisfy construction and operational safety requirements for its planned in-situ recovery facility. enCore, through its subsidiary Powertech USA, has already submitted the information required for that review.

The agency also approved a Programmatic Agreement covering compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act. The framework establishes a phased process to evaluate and protect cultural and historic resources as development advances, allowing engineering work and environmental oversight to progress under a defined process.

William M. Sheriff, executive chair of enCore Energy, welcomed the decision and called the environmental findings an important step toward renewing the project’s operating license. He said the company supports the agency’s view that the development could deliver economic benefits during construction and long-term operations. Sheriff added that enCore remains focused on safety and environmental stewardship throughout the project’s life cycle.

ISR technology in focus

Dewey Burdock spans 10,580 acres in South Dakota and ranks among the country’s advanced-stage uranium developments. Most of the site sits on private land, with a smaller portion managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The project plans to produce yellowcake using in-situ recovery technology, which circulates an oxygen- and water-based solution through underground ore bodies instead of excavating large open pits. Engineers favor the approach because it minimizes surface disruption and relies on established production methods that have operated for decades across the uranium industry.

The Bureau of Land Management recently authorized construction of access roads, groundwater monitoring wells, and overhead power infrastructure on public land within the project area. Those approvals allow crews to begin building essential site infrastructure before full production activities start.

Dewey Burdock also joined the Fast-41 permitting program last year, giving it access to an accelerated federal review process reserved for priority infrastructure and critical mineral projects. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission serves as the lead agency for that effort, which aims to improve coordination across multiple federal agencies without reducing regulatory standards.

If the final safety review concludes successfully, the project will secure a renewed 20-year license and move closer to commercial uranium production. The yellowcake produced at the site would supply fuel used by commercial nuclear power plants, supporting a broader federal push to expand domestic uranium production and reduce dependence on foreign sources for a material that remains central to the nation’s energy strategy and long-term national security objectives.

The U.S. Department of Energy has conditionally committed up to $17.5 billion in loan facilities to support the construction of as many as 10 AP1000 nuclear reactors in the United States, Brookfield Asset Management announced.

The financing package is aimed at funding long-lead equipment required for reactor construction, a step that could significantly shorten project timelines and strengthen the domestic nuclear supply chain.

The loans would support projects using Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactor technology. Westinghouse is jointly owned by Brookfield and its institutional partners, which hold a 51% stake, and Cameco, which owns the remaining 49%. According to Brookfield, the funding could accelerate construction and commercial operation schedules by as much as three years, with a goal of having 10 reactors under construction by 2030.

Fast-tracking reactor projects

The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing is expected to provide as many as five separate loans, with each loan supporting two reactors.

Rather than financing completed projects, the funding is intended to help utilities and energy companies secure critical equipment early in the development process. Long-lead components are often among the biggest bottlenecks in nuclear construction because manufacturing and delivery can take several years.

Brookfield said the financing would provide project developers with greater certainty while supporting efforts to expand domestic manufacturing capacity for nuclear equipment. The announcement comes as the United States seeks additional sources of reliable electricity to meet growing demand from industry, data centers, and electrification initiatives.

Nuclear power has regained attention in recent years because reactors can provide continuous carbon-free electricity regardless of weather conditions. “Westinghouse continues to be at the forefront of major public and private partnerships that will materially accelerate the build-out of large-scale nuclear power generation, help meet growing energy demand, and support energy security in the U.S.,” said Connor Teskey, Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield Asset Management.

Supply chain gets boost

The proposed funding is tied to Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactor design, one of the few advanced large-scale reactor technologies currently licensed and operating commercially in the United States. Brookfield said the loans are expected to act as a catalyst for new nuclear development by helping project owners secure equipment orders earlier than would otherwise be possible.

Teskey added: “The loan facilities help advance President Trump’s Executive Order and serves as a catalyst for nuclear, providing the certainty needed to enhance the domestic nuclear supply chain and accelerate construction of nuclear projects that will deliver reliable baseload power around the country for decades to come.”

The funding package remains conditional. Before any money is disbursed, Westinghouse, project partners, and potential reactor owners must satisfy technical, legal, environmental, and financial requirements set by the Department of Energy.

If finalized, the loans would represent one of the largest federal financing efforts aimed at accelerating new nuclear reactor deployment in the United States in recent years.

Rocket Lab has set a new benchmark for military responsive space operations after launching the U.S. Space Force’s VICTUS HAZE mission just 16 hours and 42 minutes after receiving a formal launch order. The turnaround beat the previous record by more than 10 hours and showed how quickly a defense spacecraft can move from standby to orbit.

The mission also introduced a different operating model for tactical space missions. Rocket Lab developed the spacecraft, carried out the launch, and now controls operations in orbit, giving the U.S. Space Force a single provider for the entire effort.

Faster launch timeline

Responsive space programs are designed to place satellites into orbit on short notice during a crisis. VICTUS HAZE tested that concept under demanding timelines and cleared several milestones well ahead of schedule.

Rocket Lab’s Guidance, Navigation and Control team needed only about four hours to finalize trajectories, update flight software and coordinate ground stations after receiving the launch notice.

The Space Force called, and we launched. From call up to lift-off in just 16 hours 42 minutes Rocket Lab has made history – the fastest response time ever for a @USSF_SSC Tactically Responsive Space mission. pic.twitter.com/yJyhFxbpT3

— Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) June 22, 2026

Electron lifted off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand and successfully deployed the company’s Pioneer spacecraft. Engineers completed spacecraft commissioning in 37 hours and 36 minutes, beating the program’s 72-hour requirement by more than 34 hours.

Spacecraft begins pursuit

The Pioneer spacecraft has already started Rendezvous and Proximity Operations in low Earth orbit. The mission simulates a scenario in which a maneuverable satellite rapidly approaches and inspects another spacecraft that is not cooperating.

Such missions could strengthen U.S. military space awareness during emergencies. A satellite launched on short notice can quickly pursue an object in orbit and provide military planners with near real-time intelligence about its movements and activities.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck described the integrated approach as a major step forward for responsive space missions. “Our launch-plus-spacecraft integrated mission capability is transformative for responsive space,” Beck said. He added that having spacecraft ready for immediate deployment allows the United States and its allies to reinforce national security space operations far more quickly.

Single provider strategy

VICTUS HAZE is the first Tactical Responsive Space mission to rely on a single prime contractor for the entire effort. Rocket Lab developed the Pioneer spacecraft before carrying it into orbit on Electron. The company now directs the mission from the ground as the satellite performs its assigned operations.

According to U.S. Space Force Lt. Col. Lincoln Miller, the mission completes the program’s “crawl, walk, run” demonstration phase and shows teams can field sophisticated space capabilities within days instead of months. He said Rendezvous and Proximity Operations remain challenging under compressed timelines. Commissioning the spacecraft ahead of schedule and immediately starting orbital maneuvers demonstrates the ability to respond rapidly during a crisis.

Rocket Lab credits that speed to its vertically integrated manufacturing approach. The Pioneer spacecraft relies on key hardware and software produced inside the company instead of a network of outside suppliers. That level of control shortens development schedules and eliminates many procurement delays that slow traditional defense programs. As a result, a mission that would normally require years of planning moved from launch notification to orbit in less than 17 hours, establishing a new benchmark for rapid military space access.

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When people think of strategic bombers, aircraft such as the B-52 Stratofortress, B-2 Spirit, or the new B-21 Raider usually dominate the conversation. They are among the most recognizable military aircraft ever built and form the backbone of America’s long-range strike capability.

Yet if “power” is measured by more traditional metrics such as speed, payload, engine output, and sheer size, another aircraft arguably deserves the crown. That aircraft is the Tupolev Tu-160, known to NATO as the Blackjack and nicknamed the “White Swan” in Russia. 

First developed during the Cold War to counter American strategic bombers, the Tu-160 remains the largest and heaviest combat aircraft ever built, the fastest operational bomber in the world, and one of the most heavily armed aircraft ever placed into service.

Built for a different era of warfare

According to data published by the U.S. Army’s ODIN weapons database and official Russian specifications, the Tu-160 was designed around a philosophy very different from the stealth bombers that would later emerge in the United States.

Instead of avoiding enemy air defenses through low observability, Soviet engineers sought to create a bomber capable of outrunning threats, carrying massive payloads, and launching long-range weapons from stand-off distances.

The result was a giant variable-sweep-wing aircraft powered by four Kuznetsov NK-32 afterburning turbofan engines. Together, these engines generate roughly 220,000 pounds of thrust, making the Tu-160 one of the most powerful military aircraft ever constructed.

The aircraft can exceed Mach 2, or roughly 1,380 miles per hour, a speed no operational strategic bomber can match today. By comparison, the B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress are both subsonic aircraft, while the B-21 Raider is also believed to prioritize stealth over speed.

The Tu-160’s size is equally impressive. It has a maximum takeoff weight of approximately 275 tonnes and can carry up to 45 tonnes (99,000 pounds) of weapons internally. That exceeds the payload capacity of both the B-2 and B-21 and even surpasses the venerable B-52 in several mission configurations.

A flying missile arsenal

While images often show the White Swan carrying conventional bombs, its primary purpose is to serve as a long-range missile carrier. Modernized Tu-160M variants can deploy weapons such as the Kh-101 conventional cruise missile and the nuclear-capable Kh-102. These missiles have ranges measured in thousands of kilometers, allowing the aircraft to strike targets without entering heavily defended airspace.

This capability has become increasingly important in modern warfare. Rather than flying directly over enemy territory, strategic bombers can launch stand-off weapons from safer distances while remaining protected by friendly air defenses and fighter escorts.

In effect, the Tu-160 functions as a high-speed airborne missile truck capable of delivering large numbers of long-range precision weapons across intercontinental distances.

Why the B-2 and B-21 are still feared

If the Tu-160 dominates on paper, why are the US B-2 Spirit and B-21 Raider bombers more capable combat aircraft?

The answer lies in stealth. B-2 was designed to penetrate dense air-defense networks by minimizing its radar signature. Rather than outrunning enemy defenses, it attempts to avoid detection altogether. The B-21 takes that concept even further. 

Although many details remain classified, the aircraft is widely believed to incorporate next-generation stealth materials, advanced networking capabilities, digital mission systems, and the ability to integrate with unmanned platforms.

In a modern conflict against advanced integrated air-defense systems, stealth can be more valuable than raw speed. A bomber that remains undetected may be able to strike targets that a larger, non-stealth aircraft would struggle to approach.

This is why comparing the Tu-160 directly to the B-21 can be misleading. The two aircraft were designed to solve different military problems.

So which bomber is actually the most powerful?

The answer depends entirely on how power is defined. If the discussion is about speed, payload, engine thrust, and physical size, the Tu-160 stands alone. No bomber currently in service flies faster, carries more weapons internally, or produces more thrust.

If survivability and the ability to penetrate advanced air defenses are the primary criteria, the advantage shifts toward stealth bombers such as the B-2 and B-21. More than three decades after entering service, the White Swan remains one of the most extraordinary aircraft ever built. 

It may not be the most advanced bomber in the world, nor the most survivable, but it represents the peak of a design philosophy centered on speed and overwhelming firepower. For that reason, Russia’s Tu-160 still has a strong claim to being the most powerful bomber ever built.

Australia-based technology company BrainChip has launched a new hardware platform designed to classify radio frequency (RF) signals in real time while operating on less than a watt of power, targeting defense and intelligence applications that require processing at the edge.

Called the Akida Communication Reference Platform, the system is built around the company’s Akida AKD1500 neuromorphic processor and is intended for defense contractors, government agencies, software-defined radio vendors and edge AI developers.

The platform performs RF signal classification directly on-device, eliminating the need for cloud connectivity or large computing hardware. BrainChip said the system is designed for environments where power availability, thermal constraints and size limitations make conventional GPU- or FPGA-based solutions difficult to deploy.

Potential applications include handheld signal intelligence systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, satellite communications terminals and other portable defense technologies.

AI tackles RF threats

According to BrainChip, the platform can identify more than 20 signal modulation types in real time while maintaining greater than 85% accuracy at a signal-to-noise ratio of 30 decibels.

Traditional digital signal processing systems typically rely on rule-based approaches that can struggle to identify new or intentionally modified signals. BrainChip says its neuromorphic AI approach allows the system to capture unknown waveforms and use them for future model retraining, enabling adaptation to emerging wireless threats.

The company argues that this flexibility addresses a key limitation of existing RF classification systems, which often require significant computational resources and can be difficult to update for changing operational conditions.

The platform is also designed to support battery-powered deployments where continuous operation is required without access to external infrastructure.

“BrainChip’s Akida Communication Reference Platform proves that real-time signal intelligence can be condensed into a portable battery powered solution to extend the range of deployment options,” said Sean Hehir, BrainChip’s CEO.

Built for edge deployment

The platform is available for evaluation and partner integration as a reference design kit. It supports integration with software-defined radio front ends such as the USRP B205mini and EPIQ Sidekiq.

A host system, including devices like the Raspberry Pi 5, can be used to manage data flow and application development. BrainChip said engineering teams can use the platform to prototype intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, as well as broader signal intelligence applications.

The launch expands the company’s portfolio of edge AI reference platforms beyond radar and sensor-fusion systems. BrainChip says the new offering demonstrates how neuromorphic computing can be applied to RF processing workloads that traditionally require larger and more power-hungry hardware.

The release comes as defense agencies and communications providers increasingly explore AI-powered spectrum monitoring tools capable of operating in remote and contested environments. By reducing power consumption and hardware requirements, such systems could enable RF awareness capabilities in smaller platforms that previously lacked sufficient computing resources.

As military and commercial users continue pushing AI capabilities closer to sensors and data sources, low-power processors capable of running advanced inference at the edge are becoming increasingly important for real-time decision-making in disconnected environments.

Natural cotton fibers remain an apparel staple due to their exceptional softness, loft, and insulation. However, cotton presents a severe performance limitation when deployed in active sports or cold-weather gear: its hydrophilic structure acts like a sponge, absorbing perspiration and ambient humidity.

Once saturated, cotton fibers lose their structural loft and aggressively conduct heat away from the body, increasing the risk of severe hypothermia in extreme sub-zero environments.

To overcome this fundamental thermodynamic flaw, an engineering team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has synthesized a lightweight, flexible, and entirely hydrophobic material that replicates the tactile fluffiness of cotton.

The research relies on an advanced material, a phase-change fiber aerogel (PCFA). Unlike static insulations, this active synthetic textile dynamically stores and releases thermal energy while remaining completely immune to water absorption.

Microencapsulated polymeric aerogel matrix

The structural architecture of the PCFA prototype consists of a highly porous, flexible network of specialized hydrophobic polymer fibers. Rather than applying a superficial water-resistant coating—which historically washes away or stiffens garments—the engineers embedded a dense matrix of microscopic capsules directly into the core of the polymeric strands during the fabrication phase.

These microcapsules house a specialized phase-change hydrocarbon compound engineered to function as an autonomous thermal gatekeeper. At standard or relatively cool sub-ambient temperatures, the hydrocarbon molecules arrange into a highly organized, tight crystalline pattern.

This binding behavior physically locks the surrounding polymer fibers together, creating a dense, static boundary layer that traps the wearer’s body heat inside localized micro-pockets.

Regulating thermal flux via molecular phase shifts

The primary innovation of the PCFA textile lies in its ability to undergo an autonomous molecular transition at a specific thermal threshold. When environmental temperatures or physical exertion push the fabric to a precise transitional temperature of 26.2°C (79.16°F), the internal hydrocarbon undergoes a controlled phase change, melting from a crystalline solid to an amorphous fluid.

This thermodynamic phase shift forces the microencapsulated matrix to relax, opening the fiber structure to release stored heat and enabling slightly higher thermal conductivity. During extensive laboratory stress testing using 6-by-20-inch swatches, the material automatically toggled between heat-retention and heat-dissipation cycles in response to shifting ambient air currents.

When subjected to extreme sub-zero simulations at -25°C (-13°F), a hand wrapped in the PCFA prototype remained significantly warmer than an identical hand wrapped in natural cotton insulation of equal thickness, proving its superior thermal barrier efficiency.

Hydrophobic Resilience and Industrial Wash Durability

Heavily prioritizing real-world resilience, the synthetic aerogel demonstrates total moisture immunity. When exposed to highly humid environments and direct water droplet impacts, the PCFA swatches actively repelled the liquid, remaining completely dry while adjacent natural cotton samples quickly absorbed the moisture.

The material also demonstrated superb mechanical elasticity and durability during repeated flex testing, retaining its structural integrity when wrapped tightly around a continuously bending mechanical finger.

To verify the fabric’s commercial viability for outdoor gear, the team subjected the PCFA swatches to twenty consecutive, high-turnover industrial laundering cycles. Post-wash auditing revealed that the material completely resisted fiber shedding, returned to its original fluffy volume immediately, and retained 97% of its baseline heat-trapping capability. The researchers note that because the phase-change material is securely microencapsulated, it cannot leak onto the wearer or degrade over time, paving the way for highly durable, low-maintenance extreme-weather clothing lines.

This breakthrough was first published in the journal ACS Energy Letters,

The United States Army (the Army) has awarded Rune Technologies a $99 million Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for its proprietary TyrOS platform.

The IDIQ framework will run for five years, during which authorized Department of War (DoW) organizations can place orders for the software and associated services through the contract, up to a maximum cumulative value of $99 million.

“Established by the Army and available for broader DoW use, the vehicle enables Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen, Guardians, Commanders, Sustainers, acquisition professionals, and contracting teams to rapidly access and field-proven software solutions at the speed of operations,” Rune explains in an official press release.

This differs from “normal” military procurement in that it offers a potential rapid-adoption pathway for interested parties. For anyone even remotely familiar with military purchases (which can take many months to years), this could reduce procurement timelines from many months to just days.

But what is the big deal with the new software? Well, Rune’s TyrOS is akin to a mix of Amazon, Google Maps, inventory management, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, and predictive analytics in one place. In this sense, it acts a bit like an AI-assisted logistics operating system.

Windows for war

Windows for war, if you like. “Logistics is the distribution layer of military power, and it has to move at the speed of the fight,” said David Tuttle, Co-Founder and CEO of Rune Technologies.

“This contract gives sustainment teams across the Army and joint force a single, repeatable way to deploy TyrOS and other Rune capabilities into their units, while reducing acquisition friction and accelerating capability delivery to the tactical edge,” he added.

The system not only tells users that an asset needs resupply but can also identify potential bottlenecks and recommend alternative courses of action.

So, the AI will go far beyond something simple like “fuel will run out here in X days.” It will help users find alternative sources, reroute convoys to assist, etc., before a crisis occurs.

Beyond predictive modeling, one of TyrOS’ strengths, Rune explains, is that it uses a native large language model (LLM) as part of its interface. So, instead of clicking through menus, a user can simply ask a question using natural language to get the answer they want.

Say they ask something like “show every artillery battalion that will be below 30% ammunition within the next 72 hours.” The AI converts that into database queries and produces an answer.

Proactive, not reactive

But it gets better than that. As Rune explains, its software features a specially designed AI agent called Saga. This sophisticated piece of software effectively acts as an automated AI logistician in the system.

To this end, it is able to autonomously detect issues and then generate recommendations for action. A human still approves the decision, but the planning work is largely automated.

Yet another innovation is something called “edge-first architecture.” Normally, AI systems rely heavily on cloud servers, which, in turn, rely on stable and reliable telecommunications.

But satellite link failures, network jamming, and physical severing of telecoms are something of an occupational hazard in war. Edge-first means the AI runs locally on military computers or servers.

So even if disconnected from headquarters, a brigade can still use the system. Not too shabby.

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