A Wisconsin battery materials company has secured a $1.25 million US Department of Energy contract to scale production of an anode material designed to reduce reliance on mined graphite and improve how lithium-ion battery systems track their charge.

COnovate will use the 24-month development contract to advance commercial-scale production of its eCOphite anode material. The award comes through the DOE’s Critical Minerals and Materials Accelerator Program.

Unlike conventional graphite anodes, eCOphite is positioned as a graphite alternative that can be used as an additive with existing anode materials. The company says the material can be produced domestically from renewable feedstocks and does not require mining.

The technology is aimed at a specific problem in lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. These batteries have a relatively flat voltage curve across much of their usable range, making it harder for battery management systems to determine how much charge remains.

New graphite alternative

COnovate says eCOphite can introduce a durable voltage reference point into the battery. That additional signal could allow existing battery management systems to estimate state of charge more accurately as a battery operates.

More accurate state-of-charge information can help battery operators monitor systems and manage battery packs over longer operating periods. The company says this could improve system visibility while reducing downtime, warranty exposure, and costs associated with maintenance and battery augmentation.

The $1.25 million award is focused on scaling and qualification rather than simply developing the material in the laboratory. COnovate says the work will help qualify eCOphite at commercial scale and demonstrate its compatibility with existing battery manufacturing infrastructure.

“This award is an important step toward qualifying eCOphite material at commercial scale and strengthening a domestic supply battery materials supply chain,” said Craig Rigby, President and CEO of COnovate.

The company says its approach is intended to make adoption easier because manufacturers would not necessarily need to redesign their existing production infrastructure to use the material.

Battery controls get sharper

The technology is based on graphene monoxide, which COnovate describes as the basis of its eCOphite anode material. The company says it holds patents covering the development and commercialization of products for the lithium-ion battery industry.

The domestic production angle is also central to the DOE-backed project. Graphite is a key battery material, and securing alternative sources and production methods is part of efforts to strengthen US battery supply chains.

Under the contract, COnovate will continue scaling US production while working toward commercial qualification of the material. The project is supported by the DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation under Award Number DE-EE0011730.

For LFP batteries, the company is targeting an issue that is less visible than energy density or charging speed but important for operating battery systems: accurately knowing the remaining charge. By adding a measurable voltage reference, eCOphite is designed to give battery management systems another signal to work with.

RTX Ventures has invested in laser fusion company Xcimer Energy to develop pulsed-laser technology for potential use in US military directed-energy systems.

The collaboration brings together two applications that share a fundamental engineering challenge: building powerful lasers that can fire repeatedly, reliably and affordably.

Xcimer is developing excimer laser technology for its fusion power system. The company says the same approach could provide the performance and scalability needed for directed-energy weapons, potentially offering longer-range capability than existing systems.

RTX’s investment is also intended to support Xcimer’s fusion program. In June, the US Department of Energy approved Xcimer’s fusion pilot power plant design under its Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program.

One laser, two missions

Laser fusion works by using intense laser pulses to compress and heat fuel until it reaches conditions where nuclear fusion can occur. The challenge is developing lasers that can deliver these pulses repeatedly while keeping energy consumption, maintenance, and operating costs under control.

Those same requirements matter for military laser systems. A directed-energy weapon must deliver enough energy to engage a target while remaining efficient and reliable enough for repeated use. Xcimer says its excimer-based system is designed around those requirements.

“As the United States accelerates the development of next-generation air defense, the need for affordable and scalable directed energy systems has never been more urgent,” said Conner Galloway, co-founder, CEO and Chief Science Officer at Xcimer. “Our excimer-based laser technology offers the performance, speed and inherent scalability needed at a fraction of the cost and complexity of today’s systems.”

The partnership will now examine how the laser technology could be integrated and containerized into RTX defense systems.

That could be important because one of the challenges facing directed-energy weapons is making them practical outside laboratory environments. Systems must fit into deployable platforms while generating enough power to engage threats.

Fusion technology enters air defense

RTX brings experience in sensing, command and control, and air-defense systems to the partnership. The company says those capabilities could help integrate Xcimer’s laser technology into future defense platforms.

“We believe Xcimer’s pulsed-laser technology lines up perfectly with our expertise in areas like advanced sensing, command and control and air defense,” said RTX Chief Technology Officer Juan de Bedout. “Together we will explore how we can best integrate these technologies into advanced, scalable defense systems able to defeat a range of new and evolving threats.”

Xcimer is pursuing commercial fusion power alongside the defense work. The company expects its fusion technology to begin delivering electricity to the grid by the mid-2030s.

The dual-use development could give the laser technology two potential markets: commercial fusion energy and military directed-energy systems.

For now, the RTX-Xcimer agreement is focused on exploring integration and development rather than announcing an operational weapon. The companies will need to demonstrate that the laser can meet the demanding requirements of a deployable defense system while maintaining the efficiency, reliability, and scalability needed for repeated operation.

Louisiana could add 5 GW of new power through a three-project plan combining natural gas, battery storage and advanced nuclear reactors.

The portfolio is designed to serve growing electricity demand from data centers, advanced manufacturing and other industrial users. Rather than relying on one generation source, the plan spreads the capacity across three projects with different roles and development timelines.

Project Cayman would provide the largest share, with 2.88 GW of natural-gas generation and battery storage. The project could also include a data-center technology campus, giving large customers access to dispatchable power close to their operations.

Project Barracuda would add another 1.2 GW of natural-gas generation, along with 300 MW/1.2 GWh of battery storage. The planned energy park could support up to 1 GW of critical data-center IT capacity, creating a dedicated power and computing hub.

Project Amberjack takes a different route. It is being developed as a standalone small modular reactor campus targeting up to 1 GW of advanced nuclear generation.

Three technologies, three roles

The projects are intended to address different parts of the power challenge. Gas generation would provide dispatchable electricity, batteries would help manage demand and storage, and nuclear power would provide a longer-term source of steady generation.

Cayman has already secured site control through a binding letter of intent. Its development would proceed in phases based on customer demand, fuel availability, utility requirements, environmental reviews, permitting, and financing.

Barracuda is also being planned in stages. Its generation, storage, and data-center components could be expanded as customer demand develops.

Amberjack is at an earlier stage. The project has site control, but the company still needs to conduct technical and environmental studies before determining the reactor technology and final plant configuration.

“The Louisiana trilogy offers three distinct, complementary solutions to answer America’s soaring power demand,” said Richard Taylor, CEO of ONE Nuclear. “Cayman delivers scale, Barracuda connects dedicated power with digital infrastructure, and Amberjack creates a disciplined path toward advanced nuclear power.”

The combined planning targets amount to approximately 4.08 GW of natural-gas generation from Cayman and Barracuda, plus up to 1 GW of nuclear capacity from Amberjack.

Those numbers are not yet guaranteed generation capacity. The projects still depend on final engineering, grid interconnection, permits, customer agreements, financing, and other development decisions.

Nuclear remains the longer bet

Amberjack is the most technically ambitious part of the portfolio. The proposed campus would use multiple small modular reactors, but the company has not yet selected a specific reactor technology.

Planned work includes geotechnical and environmental studies, cooling-water and logistics assessments, transmission analysis and discussions with potential technology vendors. The company also plans continued engagement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and local communities.

“The Louisiana Portfolio is ambitious because Louisiana’s opportunity is extraordinary,” said Chris Hansmeyer, Chief Development Officer of ONE Nuclear. “These projects are complementary, but they are not dependent on one another. We can advance proven dispatchable generation and storage for near-term demand, purpose-built infrastructure for digital and industrial customers, and a rigorous, site-specific pathway for advanced nuclear power.”

The approach reflects a broader push to build power infrastructure around rapidly expanding data-center demand while keeping nuclear power in the mix as a longer-term option.

ONE Nuclear plans to hold a public information meeting in October 2026 to explain the projects, discuss environmental and infrastructure work, and gather community feedback. The three projects remain at different stages of development, and no commercial power generation has begun.

Deep Fission has successfully lowered a 20-foot reactor canister 100 feet underground and retrieved it using commercial drilling equipment, testing a key part of its plan to bury small nuclear reactors a mile below the surface.

The demonstration took place on September 3, when a commercial drilling and rigging crew lowered the full-size canister into a 34-inch-wide borehole. The crew aligned the canister at depth before bringing it back to the surface.

The test focused on whether the large reactor canister can be handled underground using equipment already available to drilling contractors. Deep Fission said the demonstration did not require equipment invented, custom-built, or adapted for nuclear service.

The canister was a full-size, non-nuclear replica of the vessel designed to house the company’s Gravity reactor core. It contained no nuclear fuel, so the test was aimed at validating the physical deployment and retrieval process rather than reactor operation.

Commercial drilling goes nuclear

“The most important thing about this demonstration is what we did not have to do,” said Liz Muller, CEO and Co-Founder of Deep Fission. “We did not have to develop new technology. We used a rig and rigging that is commercially available in the field today, and our reactor uses pressurized water technology that has been operating in the nuclear industry for decades.”

Deep Fission’s reactor concept combines established pressurized water reactor technology with an underground deployment system. The Gravity reactor would use standard low-enriched uranium fuel, while the company’s main change is to place the reactor deep underground.

The proposed reactor would sit in a water-filled borehole approximately one mile below the surface. Deep Fission says the water column and surrounding rock could provide containment, operating pressure, heat transfer, and emergency cooling.

That configuration could reduce the surface infrastructure normally associated with nuclear plants. Instead of constructing a large reactor facility above ground, the company’s model would shift much of the system underground.

The company believes this could simplify construction, reduce costs, and shorten deployment schedules while providing additional safety margins.

Mile-deep reactors face hurdles

The latest test does not demonstrate that a commercial reactor can operate underground. Deep Fission still has to validate the broader system, including drilling, reactor integration, regulatory requirements, and eventual commercial operation.

The company recently received approval from the US Department of Energy for its Nuclear Safety Design Agreement for the Gravity reactor. It is advancing the project under the DOE Reactor Pilot Program and is developing its first reactor project in Parsons, Kansas.

The underground approach is also intended to support deployment closer to customers that need reliable electricity. Deep Fission is targeting utilities, industrial customers, and data centers seeking low-carbon baseload power.

“Our innovation is in how we put proven pieces together, not in inventing something that has never been built. That is the difference between a science project and something you can deploy,” Muller said.

The company now needs to move from a mechanical demonstration to the much harder task of proving that its underground reactor design can meet engineering, safety, licensing, and commercial requirements.

Cities trying to add large power plants or battery storage facilities face a problem beyond grid capacity: finding a site that fits the surrounding community.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed an algorithm that helps utilities and planners identify locations for power generation and storage in urban areas.

Unlike conventional site-selection methods that mainly assess technical factors, the new approach also considers zoning rules, historical sites, architectural value, local economic priorities, and community preferences.

The tool combines these factors with a power-grid simulator to determine where an energy project could be placed and how large it should be. It can also account for changing energy policies and local priorities.

Cities face tighter power constraints

Urban regulations can significantly reduce the number of locations available for large energy projects. Zoning and noise restrictions alone can eliminate 20 to 30 percent of potential sites, according to researcher Rodney Itiki.

The algorithm is designed to prevent planners from choosing a technically suitable location that may be unacceptable to the people living or working nearby.

“The tool is revolutionary because previous study approaches were not considering the real world,” Itiki said. “They just started with a diagram of the energy system and picked a location based on that infrastructure, without incorporating the needs of the community.”

The system uses a weighting method to account for factors such as energy policy, local regulations, and input from grid planners, urban planners, and other stakeholders.

A city seeking to attract manufacturers, for example, could give greater weight to affordable electricity and new industrial jobs. Another area with data centers or military facilities could instead prioritize reliability and energy security.

The algorithm can then use those priorities to help determine the appropriate type, size, and location of an energy project.

Grid demand gets mapped hourly

The tool also accounts for how electricity demand changes throughout the day. It simulates grid demand and power flows over a 24-hour period, allowing planners to see how a proposed project could affect the network as electricity use changes.

That could be important in neighborhoods where demand rises sharply when residents return home and switch on appliances, heating or cooling systems.

The researchers said the approach can be used for different types of energy projects and updated as local policies change. That gives utilities a way to reassess potential sites rather than relying on a fixed set of assumptions.

The system is also intended to address situations where infrastructure competes with places that have historical, architectural or tourism value. A large battery installation, for example, may provide a strong technical solution but still be unsuitable beside a landmark or historic site.

Planning tool targets wider uses

The researchers believe the approach could eventually be used beyond energy infrastructure. Potential applications include selecting sites for critical-materials mining, data centers, disaster-response infrastructure and facilities needed for major international events such as the FIFA World Cup or Olympics.

The work was led by Itiki with researchers Suman Debnath and Qianxue Xia. It was funded by the DOE’s Integrated Energy Systems Office.

The study was published in Energies.

Wisconsin has committed up to $55 million in incentives to help Realta Fusion build its new headquarters and fusion research facility in Madison, a move aimed at strengthening the state’s position in the emerging fusion energy industry.

The funding package will support development of “The Realta Forge” at OM Station, the site of the former Oscar Mayer plant. Realta plans to build its prototype magnetic mirror fusion machine, called Hammir, at the facility and expects to create more than 600 technical and non-technical jobs.

According to the company, the incentive package includes about $37.5 million in state sales and use tax exemptions, up to $15 million in performance-based enterprise zone tax credits from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, and $2.8 million in tax increment financing from the City of Madison.

Realta said it evaluated sites in Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, Tennessee, and other states before deciding to keep the project in Wisconsin, where it was founded.

State backs fusion

The company expects to break ground on the facility before the end of the year. Once completed, The Realta Forge will serve as Realta’s headquarters and dedicated research and development center for advancing its compact magnetic mirror fusion technology.

“We spent the better part of the past two years searching across the country to find the most favorable business environment and the most attractive site to build our R&D facility, and we found it in our own backyard,” said Realta CEO Kieran Furlong.

The company says its CoSMo fusion systems are based on the magnetic mirror concept, which uses magnetic fields to confine high-temperature plasma. Unlike conventional power plants, fusion aims to generate electricity by fusing light atomic nuclei, producing large amounts of energy without carbon emissions during operation.

Realta added that the Hammir prototype will help demonstrate the company’s fusion approach before commercial deployment.

“In terms of cash today, avoided costs tomorrow, and accelerating progress, this is the most impactful state-supported fusion deal ever done in the United States,” said Realta VP of Technical Development Dominick Bindl.

Building regional hub

The announcement follows Wisconsin’s passage of Act 165 earlier this year, becoming the first standalone state law in the United States to exempt capital expenditures on fusion energy projects from state sales tax. State officials say the legislation is intended to attract companies developing next-generation energy technologies.

“Fusion energy is not only good for our planet and our power grid, but it plays to all of our strengths as a state with our world-class research universities, research laboratories, and an incredible manufacturing and supply chain network supported by our dedicated and highly skilled workforce,” said Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers.

Madison also approved $2.8 million in tax increment financing tied to job creation at the OM Station redevelopment. According to the company, it is the city’s first tax increment financing package for private-sector job creation in a decade.

With construction expected to begin later this year, Realta said the facility will become the center for development of its magnetic mirror fusion technology while helping establish Wisconsin as a growing hub for fusion research, advanced manufacturing and high-skilled engineering jobs.

Intel Foundry has become the first chipmaker to manufacture and ship a high-volume logic product using ASML’s High NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, marking a major step toward commercial adoption of the next generation of chipmaking technology.

The milestone applies to a subset of Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, code-named Panther Lake, built on the company’s Intel 18A process node. Intel said specific Intel 18A layers are now dual-qualified on ASML’s High NA EUV platform at its Oregon facility, with products shipping to customers at yields matched to the existing NXE platform.

The announcement signals a shift for High NA EUV from research and early testing into production manufacturing. Intel and ASML said the technology is being used on selected chip layers to collect manufacturing data and further optimize system setup, uptime, and production implementation before wider deployment in future process nodes.

High NA EUV is the next evolution of EUV lithography, offering higher resolution and improved process control for patterning increasingly smaller chip features. The technology is expected to help semiconductor manufacturers build denser and more complex chips while supporting future advances in computing and artificial intelligence.

Production milestone reached

ASML said the deployment builds on decades of collaboration with Intel to advance semiconductor manufacturing. The latest production milestone follows Intel’s installation of the industry’s first commercial High NA EUV system at its Hillsboro, Oregon, research and development site in 2024. The company later became the first to install and qualify ASML’s second-generation TWINSCAN EXE:5200B system, which delivers higher throughput, improved overlay accuracy, and an upgraded light source.

The Panther Lake processors are manufactured on Intel 18A, with High NA EUV used to pattern selected layers of the chips. Intel said the approach provides manufacturing experience while maintaining production performance on existing platforms.

“With increased resolution and better process control, the introduction of High NA EUV marks a substantial development in semiconductor lithography,” said Christophe Fouquet, ASML President and CEO. “We are proud to play a role in enabling the smaller, denser patterning that will accelerate advancements in AI and other emerging technologies.”

The companies said insights gained from production will help refine system setup, uptime and manufacturing processes, paving the way for broader adoption of the technology in future generations of semiconductor manufacturing.

Scaling future nodes

Intel described the milestone as an important step in integrating High NA EUV into commercial chip production at scale while maintaining manufacturing flexibility for future process technologies.

“This milestone reflects the close technical collaboration between Intel and ASML and shows how High NA EUV can be integrated into advanced semiconductor manufacturing at scale,” said Naga Chandrasekaran, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intel Foundry.

According to Intel, qualifying High NA EUV on selected Intel 18A product layers allows the company to continue delivering production output while evaluating how the technology can support future process nodes with higher performance, greater transistor density, and improved manufacturing flexibility.

With Panther Lake now entering high-volume manufacturing using High NA EUV, Intel becomes the first company to ship commercial high-volume logic products built with the technology, providing an early demonstration of how next-generation lithography can move from development into large-scale chip production.

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.

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.

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.

Scientists have discovered a new way to control quantum light sources by twisting atomically thin layers of a material known as hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), a breakthrough that could help bring quantum technologies closer to practical use.

Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney found that rotating and restacking layers of hBN can significantly alter the color and wavelength of light emitted by quantum emitters embedded within the material.

Quantum emitters are tiny light sources that can produce single photons, making them important building blocks for future quantum computers, secure communication networks, and highly sensitive sensors. While scientists have been able to detect and study these emitters, controlling them has remained a major challenge.

The team says its approach offers a new way to tune these light sources by exploiting the unique layered structure of hBN, a material that can be repeatedly separated, twisted, and reassembled.

Twisting light into control

Lead author Dr. Angus Gale said the findings provide researchers with a new tool for manipulating quantum emitters.

“You can measure these quantum emitters and see that they exist, but it’s hard to make them work in practice. This gives us a lever to get closer to that – a step towards the realisation of quantum technologies,” said Dr Gale.

In experiments, the researchers were able to produce a significant shift in the emitted light by changing the twist angle between layers. Unlike many studies where materials are assembled once and left unchanged, the team repeatedly picked up, twisted, and restacked the layers while continuing to modify the optical properties.

“We’re leveraging the fact that this material, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), is layered. We can pick it up, stack it, twist it, and use that twist to modify the emitters. You can’t really do that with traditional materials like diamond or silicon carbide.”

According to the researchers, the amount of tuning achieved was larger than expected and exceeded what is typically possible in many other quantum emitter platforms.

“The benefit is that we used this twistable platform to shift the emission by a very significant amount,” said Gale. “Often when you control these systems, the amount of manipulation is very limited, but in this case the shift was much larger than expected.”

New path for quantum

Rather than forcing hBN to behave like more conventional quantum materials, the team focused on taking advantage of its natural properties.

“Rather than trying to make hBN defects behave like a traditional solid-state hosts, we took advantage of hBN’s own strength: its thin, layered, twistable structure.”

Gale compared the material to slices of cheese rather than a solid block.

“With a block of cheese, you can’t really get to the flavour in the middle. But with slices, you can peel away layers, put them back together and change how they interact,” he said.

Professor Igor Aharonovich said twisting layered materials can produce entirely new physical behaviors.

“You can take two layers that don’t do much on their own, put them together at a specific angle, and suddenly you have a completely different system,” said Professor Aharonovich.

The researchers believe the approach could eventually contribute to the development of quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum sensing technologies used in fields ranging from healthcare to cybersecurity and navigation.

The study was published in Advanced Materials.

Sensory Robotics has received safety certification for a system designed to let industrial robots operate alongside people without the protective cages commonly used on factory floors. The certification clears the way for deployment of the company’s SR-1 technology in regulated manufacturing environments across the United States and Canada.

The SR-1 system combines 3D vision technology, sensors, and real-time safety software that continuously monitors the area around robotic arms. Instead of relying on physical barriers, the system creates virtual safety zones that adjust based on human movement and machine activity.

The company says the technology can be installed on existing industrial robotic production cells, potentially allowing manufacturers to retrofit current equipment rather than replace it. The goal is to enable human workers and high-speed industrial robots to share the same workspace safely.

The certification includes cULus 1740 and ISO 13849 Performance Level d validation, standards widely recognized in industrial automation and machine safety. The approvals mark the transition of the technology from development and testing into commercial deployment.

Invisible safety zones emerge

“Without this safety certification, our technology doesn’t leave the lab, and it doesn’t reach the factory floor,” Sensory Robotics CEO Chris Edwards says. “Now, it can.”

Industrial robots have long been separated from workers by fences and cages because of the speed and force at which they operate. While collaborative robots have been designed to work closer to humans, many traditional robotic systems still require physical barriers to meet safety requirements.

Sensory Robotics says SR-1 addresses that challenge by continuously tracking people near robotic cells and adjusting robot behavior in real time.

“We designed SR-1 to continuously see people and adjust robot movements in real time,” Edwards says. “This UL certification now allows our technology to be purchased and installed on industrial robots, enabling them to safely operate alongside humans without physical barriers.”

According to the company, the certification process evaluated how the system responds to equipment failures, safety-function disruptions, and potential risks to workers. Such certifications are often required before technologies can be introduced into regulated manufacturing facilities.

Factory robots lose fences

The company argues that eliminating physical cages could free up factory floor space, improve workflow flexibility, and reduce production interruptions. Traditional robotic work cells often require complete shutdowns when workers enter restricted areas, creating downtime that can accumulate across large manufacturing operations.

“The goal is simple,” says chief operating officer Mark Gagas. “Keep people safe without stopping production every time someone enters a workspace. In traditional environments, a safety interruption can require a full robot shutdown and restart, sometimes taking up to 10 minutes per incident. Add that up across a production line, and those delays compound into high operational costs.”

The company says its system is already attracting interest from sectors including automotive, aerospace, logistics, manufacturing, and defense. Sensory Robotics also received a $1.25 million Department of Defense SBIR Phase II grant and additional support through the University of Cincinnati’s innovation ecosystem.

“These combined certifications are the key that unlocks real-world industrial adoption and approval for companies to purchase fenceless human-robot collaboration systems like SR-1,” Gagas says. “It means regulated manufacturing environments can now trust and deploy this technology into their robots with confidence.”

Europe’s defense industry is accelerating the development of a new long-range cruise missile capable of striking targets more than 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) away. At Eurosatory 2026 in Paris, the joint venture Rheinmetall Destinus Strike Systems announced plans to fast-track the introduction of the Ruta Block 3 missile while beginning production of two shorter-range systems, Kryla and Ruta Block 2.

The companies say the Ruta Block 3 is designed for strategic deep-strike missions against high-value and hardened targets. The missile will carry a warhead of up to 250 kilograms (551 pounds) and be launched from standard shipping containers, allowing deployment from land vehicles and maritime platforms. According to the joint venture, the system can be made ready to fire in about two minutes.

The program is being developed with NATO qualification in mind, a step that would make the missile available to NATO and European Union member states. The announcement comes as European countries continue to expand domestic defense manufacturing capabilities and reduce reliance on non-European suppliers.

The missile family is being developed through a partnership that combines Destinus’ missile technologies with Rheinmetall’s manufacturing and defense production expertise. The companies have already signed a term sheet and say a final shareholders’ agreement is close to completion.

Container launch, rapid strike

Ruta Block 3 is the most advanced missile in the joint venture’s roadmap, but production will begin with two existing systems. The first is Kryla, a compact cruise missile carrying a 50-kilogram warhead designed for saturation attacks. The missile can be launched from containers, giving existing artillery units access to cruise missile capabilities.

The second system, Ruta Block 2, carries a 551-pound warhead and is intended for attacks on hardened and high-value targets. Like Ruta Block 3, it launches from standard containers rather than dedicated missile launchers.

“Together we are advancing NATO qualification on an accelerated path, embedded in existing programmes for European defense ministries. This allows us to rapidly provide European armed forces with a ready-to-deploy, certified and fully European effector,” says Roman Köhne, Head of Division Weapon and Ammunition, Rheinmetall.

European supply chain focus

The joint venture says all three missiles will be produced through a fully European supply chain. To support that goal, Rheinmetall Destinus Strike Systems plans to establish a facility in Germany for final assembly, integration, and testing. Initial delivery readiness is targeted for 2026.

The companies also emphasize the flexibility offered by containerized launch systems, which can be transported through existing logistics networks and deployed across a wide range of platforms.

“We are firmly committed to launch from standard sea containers. This gives our customers maximum flexibility: our systems can be deployed across virtually any land and sea platform and through existing logistics chains – concealed and brought to firing readiness in the shortest time,” says Mikhail Kokorich, Founder and CEO of Destinus.

Under the partnership, Destinus will provide the missiles’ core technology while Rheinmetall will supply warheads and booster rocket motors, creating what the companies describe as a fully European deep-strike missile portfolio.

Phoenix Semiconductor has won a Phase II SBIR contract from the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency to develop drop-in replacements for obsolete microelectronic components used in defense systems.

Based in Austin, Texas, the company will design and validate four legacy chips facing supply shortages across military platforms. The program aims to maintain critical systems without requiring redesigns of existing hardware or software, addressing long-standing issues tied to discontinued semiconductors.

One of the key projects under the contract is the recreation of the Signetics 82S100 Bipolar Field-Programmable Logic Array, originally introduced in 1975 and discontinued in the late 1980s. The chip supports the Catapult Assisted Take-Off but Arrested Recovery system used to launch aircraft from Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.

Phoenix is working with Naval Air Systems Command on the project. The goal is to deliver a form-fit-function replacement that avoids expensive system-level changes, which can require extensive certification and shipyard time across fleets.

Keeping legacy systems alive

Defense platforms often remain in service for decades, while semiconductor lifecycles last only a fraction of that time. This mismatch has created a persistent obsolescence problem across the defense supply chain. The Department of Defense estimates redesign and replacement efforts can cost around $5 million over five years per instance, while broader diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages mitigation costs exceed $2.4 billion annually.

Phoenix says its Phase I program demonstrated cycle-accurate replacement chips that were successfully tested in a live commercial system without requiring hardware or software changes. The company’s method focuses on producing form, fit, and function compatible components that can be directly inserted into existing systems, reducing downtime and eliminating the need for full requalification in critical defense applications.

Reviving retired defense chips

Ryan Hatcher, CEO and founder of Phoenix Semiconductor, said the award validates its approach. “This DLA SBIR Phase II award and our work with NAVAIR is a direct validation of what Phoenix has built — a faster, more cost-effective path to restoring access to mission-critical microelectronics that power the platforms our warfighters depend on. Working alongside our partners, we are proving that American ingenuity can solve one of the most pressing vulnerabilities in our defense industrial base — without multi-million-dollar redesigns and years of delay.”

Tackling defense obsolescence crisis

The program also aligns with the Defense Logistics Agency’s modernization and supply chain strategy and provisions in the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act covering microelectronics obsolescence mitigation, supply chain risk management, and domestic manufacturing expansion.

Phoenix’s patent-pending approach does not require new silicon fabrication or original wafers. The company says its drop-in components are designed to match original form, fit, and function, allowing military systems to continue operating without redesigns while reducing cost and lead times for legacy part replacement.

By focusing on legacy component replication, the company aims to reduce dependency on fragile global supply chains and shorten repair timelines for aging defense systems. The approach could also support other industries that rely on long-life industrial hardware systems worldwide.

Researchers in Austria have developed a new battery management system (BMS) that can detect hidden damage and track aging inside electric vehicle batteries, potentially improving safety, performance, and lifespan.

The technology was developed through the EU-funded Nemo project by Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and several industry partners. Unlike conventional battery management systems that mainly monitor voltage, current, and temperature, the new approach provides direct insight into conditions inside battery cells.

Current battery systems often rely on external calculations to estimate battery health. As a result, damage or aging inside individual cells can be difficult to identify until performance begins to decline.

The researchers say the new models and algorithms allow the battery management system to independently identify faults, monitor cell degradation, and determine when maintenance may be needed.

Looking inside batteries

A key part of the project involved improving the system’s ability to detect safety risks before they become serious problems.

“The battery management system is an important tool for operating electric vehicles more safely and sustainably,” said Christoph Drießen from the Vehicle Safety Institute at TU Graz.

To train the system, researchers deliberately damaged battery cells in laboratory tests. Some cells were mechanically deformed to simulate incidents such as minor parking impacts. The resulting data was then used to develop algorithms capable of recognizing similar signs of damage in real-world batteries.

The system relies on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), a sensor-based technique that measures electrical resistance inside battery cells. This allows engineers to collect information directly from within the battery rather than inferring its condition through external measurements alone.

Researchers say this additional layer of monitoring could help identify damaged cells at an earlier stage, reducing safety risks and allowing maintenance before larger problems develop.

“If we recognise faults and damage to individual battery cells at an early stage via the BMS, many dangers can be avoided,” Drießen said.

Smarter aging detection

Beyond safety, the researchers also focused on understanding how batteries age over time.

The TU Graz team developed a model that predicts changes in battery cell volume during charging and discharging cycles. Excessive expansion can increase mechanical pressure inside a battery pack, raising the risk of cracks, deformation, internal short circuits, and temperature spikes.

Meanwhile, researchers at Vrije Universiteit Brussel developed models that track aging and service-life changes within individual cells.

According to the team, existing battery checks mainly reveal how much overall capacity has been lost compared to a battery’s original condition. The new approach aims to provide a more detailed picture of what is happening inside the cells as they age.

“Up to now, a test only showed how much the capacity has decreased compared to the original battery condition,” said Drießen.

“But the new models also give us an insight into the changes within the cells as they age. This enables adjustments that are beneficial for performance, service life and safety.”

Despite the added functionality, researchers say the enhanced battery management system would not significantly increase the size or weight of existing systems. A demonstrator has already been built at the battery module level, while a follow-up project will focus on advancing the technology toward industrial deployment.

The study appears in Journal of Power Source.

Scientists have discovered that seismic waves from Japan’s devastating 2011 earthquake traveled to Earth’s core and back, triggering a second tectonic slip event that shifted the country eastward by up to 6 millimeters.

The newly identified event occurred about 16 minutes after the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake struck off Japan’s northeastern coast. Researchers say the waves traveled roughly 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers) through the planet, reflected off Earth’s liquid outer core, and returned to the surface.

The returning waves appear to have triggered movement along major tectonic plate boundaries around Japan, creating a broad seismic event that had gone unnoticed for years.

The findings help explain a mysterious signal recorded by Japan’s extensive GPS network shortly after the earthquake. Stations across the country registered a sudden eastward shift at nearly the same time, even though no known aftershock had occurred.

Mystery signal explained

The 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake ranks among the most powerful ever recorded. Along with the tsunami it generated, the disaster claimed about 20,000 lives and produced one of the most comprehensive sets of earthquake measurements ever collected.

Years later, however, one piece of data continued to puzzle scientists. GPS stations detected a synchronized eastward movement across Japan that did not match any known aftershock activity.

“Most of the time, we would see an offset like this when there’s actual earthquake happening. But here there was no known aftershock at this time, so we were quite curious,” said Sunyoung Park, a geophysicist at the University of Chicago and lead author of the study.

Park and her colleagues ruled out several possible explanations, including an undersea landslide and slow fault movement. Instead, they concluded that seismic energy from the original quake had traveled deep into Earth, struck the outer core, and rebounded back toward the crust.

When the waves returned, they triggered additional slip along plate boundaries surrounding Japan. Researchers believe the intense shaking from the main earthquake may have weakened these faults, making them more susceptible to later movement.

Core bounce effects

The newly recognized event stretched across roughly 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers), making it the broadest seismic event ever recorded, according to the researchers.

The team estimates it released energy comparable to a magnitude 7.5 earthquake. It also involved multiple major plate boundaries, including the Pacific-Okhotsk boundary and the Philippine Sea-Eurasian boundary.

Scientists have long known that seismic waves can travel through Earth and reflect off deep internal structures. However, this is the first documented case in which those reflected waves appear to have triggered tectonic slip near the surface.

“It’s striking because this is both an unprecedented length and area for a seismic event, and it is a previously unrecognized source of seismic hazard,” said Park.

The discovery could influence how researchers think about large earthquakes and their lingering effects.

“This indicates that large earthquakes can influence the fault even after the main shaking is over,” Park said.

The researchers say the finding highlights how much remains unknown about the behavior of large earthquakes and the complex interactions between seismic waves and tectonic plates.

The study was published in the journal Science.

Mach Industries has won a Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) contract to develop a long-range unmanned aircraft designed to launch from austere locations and ships without large flight decks.

The aircraft, called Atlas, is being developed for the DIU’s Runway Independent Maritime Expeditionary Strike (RIMES) program. Mach Industries will serve as the aircraft integrator, working with propulsion company Whisper Aero.

According to the solicitation, the Department of the Navy is seeking an unmanned aerial system capable of conducting long-range strikes while operating from expeditionary sites with minimal infrastructure or from ships that lack conventional runways.

Mach said Atlas is designed to meet those requirements with a hybrid-electric propulsion system, runway-independent operations, a 1,000-pound payload capacity, and a range of 1,400 nautical miles.

Built for austere operations

The aircraft combines Mach Industries’ platform development capabilities with Whisper Aero’s JetFoil propulsion technology.

Unlike conventional fixed-wing aircraft that require runways, Atlas is being designed to operate from unimproved landing zones while retaining the control characteristics of a fixed-wing platform. The companies say the approach could give military units greater flexibility in contested environments where traditional airfields may be unavailable or vulnerable.

Excited to announce Atlas, our VTOL strike and logistics aircraft for the Navy. pic.twitter.com/fvbLWujnVN

— Mach Industries (@Mach_Industries) June 16, 2026

The aircraft is also intended to support distributed operations, a growing focus for the U.S. military as it prepares for conflicts in which logistics networks could come under attack.

In recent testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael identified contested logistics as one of the Pentagon’s critical technology priorities. The challenge centers on sustaining military operations when transportation routes, supply chains, and support infrastructure are disrupted.

Mach says Atlas addresses that challenge by reducing infrastructure requirements for launch and recovery while simplifying maintenance through a highly redundant propulsion architecture and a lower part count.

“Mach’s speed to prototype and production, coupled with Whisper Aero’s novel aerodynamics and propulsion makes Atlas a revolutionary air mobility platform,” said Nathan Diller, President and Chief Strategy Officer at Mach Industries.

Quiet propulsion advantage

A key feature of the aircraft is Whisper Aero’s JetFoil technology, which the company says improves efficiency while reducing acoustic signatures.

The system is designed to generate lift and thrust more efficiently than traditional approaches, helping extend range while allowing operations from confined locations. Lower noise levels could also make the aircraft more difficult to detect during missions.

“We developed JetFoil to propel the next generation of conventional, short, and vertical takeoff and landing aircraft silently and efficiently,” said Mark Moore, CEO of Whisper Aero.

According to Moore, the technology allows Atlas to meet RIMES requirements while operating from smaller naval vessels. “With JetFoil, Atlas can effectively meet the needs of the RIMES mission to operate even from destroyer class vessels.”

The award adds to Mach Industries’ expanding defense portfolio. Founded in 2023, the company says it is currently flying five different platforms and has manufactured more than 250 aircraft. Over the past two months, it has also conducted flight operations in four countries under complex electromagnetic conditions.

If successful, Atlas could provide the Navy and joint force with a long-range strike platform capable of operating from locations where traditional aircraft cannot, while reducing dependence on large runways and established air bases.

The U.S. Army has awarded defense and technology company Palladyne AI two contracts to test its AI-powered swarm software and reusable strike drone with soldiers during field exercises in Colorado and California.

The contracts, awarded under the Army’s Disruptive Applications Broad Agency Announcement, will support operational validation of the company’s SwarmOS autonomy platform and the Gremlin-X unmanned aerial vehicle.

The technologies will be evaluated by soldiers from the Army’s 4th Infantry Division during reconnaissance and target acquisition exercises. Palladyne AI said the demonstrations will use Army-specified platforms and the Android Team Awareness Kit (ATAK), a command-and-control system widely used by U.S. forces.

The effort reflects the Army’s growing interest in autonomous systems that can operate in environments where communications are limited or disrupted.

One operator, many drones

SwarmOS is an autonomy software stack designed to allow a single operator to control multiple autonomous systems from different manufacturers at the same time.

According to the Utah-based company, the software runs on edge hardware and is designed to function in degraded or denied communications environments. Rather than relying on centralized control infrastructure, the platform enables autonomous systems to coordinate with one another while operating in the field.

“The hardest problem in autonomous systems isn’t making one platform smart, it’s making heterogeneous platforms from different manufacturers collaborate intelligently without dependence on centralized infrastructure that adversaries can target and defeat,” said Dr. Denis Garagic, Chief Technology Officer and Principal Investigator, Palladyne AI.

He added: “We solved that.”

The Army exercises will evaluate how the software supports reconnaissance and target acquisition missions while integrating with existing military command-and-control tools.

Reusable strike drone

The second technology being tested is Gremlin-X, a Group 2 multirotor drone being developed as a reusable loitering munition.

Unlike traditional loitering munitions that are typically lost after striking a target, Gremlin-X is designed to return and be recovered after a mission. The company said this approach could reduce costs because only the munition payload would need replacement rather than the entire aircraft.

Gremlin-X is intended to operate in denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited communications environments, often referred to as DDIL conditions. The drone is being developed to support small, dispersed military formations that may need to engage targets without relying on centralized command networks.

Beyond the 4th Infantry Division exercises, Palladyne AI plans to demonstrate SwarmOS, IntelliSwarm, and Gremlin-X during Northern Strike 26-2, a large U.S. military training exercise involving more than 9,000 participants.

“This contract marks a decisive shift in how the U.S. Army is engaging with autonomous systems, moving from evaluation to funded operational use in the field,” said Doug Dynes, President of Palladyne Aerospace and Defense.

The company said the demonstrations will help validate the technologies in operational settings and could support future defense opportunities as the military continues exploring autonomous systems, drone swarms, and human-machine teaming concepts for battlefield operations.

European Space Agency (ESA) engineers are assembling one of Europe’s most advanced robotic arms, a system designed to handle samples and perform complex tasks during future missions to the Moon and Mars.

Known as the Sample Transfer Arm (STA), the robot can extend up to 2.4 meters and move with seven degrees of freedom, giving it a range of motion similar to a human arm. The system is equipped with cameras, sensors, and onboard electronics that allow it to perceive its surroundings and perform tasks with a high level of autonomy.

The robotic arm was originally developed as part of the joint NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return campaign. Its role was to transfer Martian samples collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover for eventual return to Earth.

Although the future of Mars Sample Return remains uncertain, the technology is now being positioned for a wider range of applications, including future lunar exploration missions.

Human-like space helper

The arm features a shoulder, elbow, and wrist configuration similar to a human arm. At its tip is a gripper capable of handling objects with millimeter-level precision.

The system also includes a sophisticated force and torque sensor that acts as a sense of touch. The sensor measures how an object is being pushed, pulled, or twisted in three-dimensional space, allowing the arm to manipulate items with greater accuracy.

Position sensors embedded throughout the joints continuously calculate the location of the arm’s tip, helping maintain precise control during operations.

Engineers say this level of precision could prove useful for a variety of activities in space, including collecting geological samples, transferring equipment, and supporting astronauts during surface missions.

The robotic arm also contains its own electronics unit, which acts as the system’s control center. Cameras mounted on the arm provide visual awareness, enabling the robot to detect and interact with objects in its environment.

Ready for testing

Teams at Italian aerospace company Leonardo are currently completing the integration of the system at the company’s facility in Nerviano, near Milan.

In the coming weeks, engineers will begin testing the arm in simulated space environments to evaluate its performance before any future deployment.

The project brings together companies and suppliers from across Europe. The industrial consortium is led by Leonardo and includes GMV and AVS from Spain, Maxon from Switzerland, 3DPlus from France, and COMOTI from Romania, along with suppliers from Denmark, Greece, and Germany.

The arm incorporates several specialized systems designed for spaceflight. These include a flexible wrist mechanism that allows softer contact with objects, a flat electrical harness that carries hundreds of signals throughout the arm, and structural mechanisms that help withstand the forces experienced during launch and landing.

European space agencies view advanced robotics as a key capability for future exploration missions, particularly as crews prepare for longer stays on the Moon and eventual missions to Mars.

With its ability to see, feel, and autonomously manipulate objects, the Sample Transfer Arm could become an important tool for handling samples and supporting scientific operations beyond Earth.

Researchers at Harvard University have developed a semiconductor chip that can synthesize 64 different DNA sequences in parallel using electric currents and a water-based enzymatic process, potentially offering an alternative to conventional DNA manufacturing methods.

The chip uses localized electrical control to trigger DNA synthesis at selected sites on its surface. The team says the approach avoids the solvent-heavy phosphoramidite chemistry widely used to produce synthetic DNA today.

Synthetic DNA is a key tool in modern biotechnology, supporting applications ranging from diagnostics and genome engineering to cancer research. While enzymatic DNA synthesis has emerged as a more environmentally friendly alternative, it has struggled to match the scale of conventional methods.

According to the researchers, enzymatic approaches have so far been limited to producing about a dozen DNA sequences simultaneously. In the new study, the chip generated 64 distinct DNA sequences in parallel, with each sequence reaching up to 39 nucleotides in length.

Electricity guides DNA

DNA synthesis occurs one nucleotide at a time. After each addition, a temporary blocking group must be removed before the next nucleotide can be attached.

To control this process, the Harvard team designed a chip with 64 synthesis sites. Each site contains two concentric ring electrodes surrounding DNA strands anchored at the center.

When activated, the inner electrode generates protons that lower the pH around a selected DNA strand. This acidic environment enables enzymatic DNA growth. At the same time, the outer electrode consumes diffusing protons, preventing the low-pH region from spreading to neighboring sites.

By repeating this process across selected locations during each synthesis cycle, the chip can build many different DNA sequences simultaneously.

The work builds on a semiconductor platform originally developed for neuroscience applications.

“A defining feature of the chip was precision current injection, which we used to permeabilize neuronal membranes for intracellular access,” said Donhee Ham, John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard.

“At a certain point, we wondered whether that same current control could be redirected from cells to molecules – replacing the neuron-facing electrodes with ring-electrode pairs that could localize pH for DNA synthesis. It worked.”

Data storage potential

Beyond biological applications, the researchers explored whether the technology could support DNA-based data storage.

Using the 64 synthesized DNA sequences, the team encoded a 169-byte text message, demonstrating the platform’s potential for storing digital information in DNA molecules.

The researchers believe a water-based synthesis approach could become increasingly important if DNA production scales dramatically in the future.

“DNA data storage asks DNA synthesis to operate at a scale far beyond today’s needs,” said Woo-Bin Jung, co-first author of the study.

“That is why enzymatic synthesis in water can matter. If far more than 64 sequences can be synthesized in parallel, it could offer an environmentally friendly route toward writing DNA at very large scale.”

The team also attempted to increase the density of synthesis sites on the chip. While those experiments failed, they revealed that the main limitation came from the chemistry used to remove blocking groups rather than from the chip’s electronic architecture.

“The chip did what we asked it to do: it localized low pH at selected sites,” said Han Sae Jung, co-first author of the study. “The limitation came from the deprotection chemistry, not from the silicon.”

The study was published in Nature Electronics.