Interesting Engineering✔

🛰️ A new Defense Intelligence Agency report warns that China already fields ground-based lasers capable of disrupting or damaging low-orbit satellites and may deploy space-based directed-energy weapons by the late 2020s, as Beijing develops a growing arsenal of counterspace capabilities. 🔗https://link.ie.social/phkhrJ

At Idaho National Laboratory, the 100-foot containment dome of the retired EBR-II reactor has been rebuilt as DOME, a test bay where private companies bring factory-built microreactors and run them at full power. We break down the engineering behind the conversion, from a 59,000-pound hatch to a 75-ton polar crane, and what Radiant's Kaleidos and Deployable Energy's Unity have to prove inside it. https://youtu.be/bGbl2B3XsS0

🛰️ Google's Project Suncatcher satellite has run its first machine learning prompt in orbit, using an onboard TPU and the Gemma 4 model to compose a haiku from space, an early step toward interconnected orbital computing satellites planned for 2027. 🔗https://link.ie.social/WId1hj

💣 The U.S. Navy has raised the ceiling of Northrop Grumman's FMU-139D/B electronic bomb fuze contract by about $97 million, as automation upgrades at the West Virginia plant lift annual capacity to 85,000 fuzes following the program's 200,000th delivery earlier this year. 🔗https://link.ie.social/UXfV66

🤖 AGIBOT has unveiled GO-3 Preview, an embodied AI model that lets robots keep learning on the job, with a G2 robot in a real convenience store improving its full-task success rate from 28.6% to 85.7% over five days without human demonstrations, and the full model set to be open-sourced by end of 2026. 🔗https://link.ie.social/rU10Ne

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🚨 Binance is investigating roughly $5.57 billion in suspicious outflows from its hot wallets across Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Tron, while Tether and Circle froze over $1.5 billion in stablecoins—though the exchange has not confirmed a hack and says user funds are safe. 🔗https://link.ie.social/XcLMwO

🔬 Linköping University researchers used AI to search decades of scientific archives and uncovered 33 overlooked MXene forms dating back to the 1970s, while also developing a greener room-temperature synthesis method that produces the materials in seconds with less water and fewer hazardous chemicals. 🔗https://link.ie.social/ZMWwWH

🚁 Three people were killed when a Robinson R22 training helicopter and an Airbus H125 collided midair near McMinnville Municipal Airport in Oregon on October 29, with the NTSB leading an investigation into the still-unknown cause. 🔗https://link.ie.social/W1pDll

Colorado start-up Radia is designing WindRunner, a 109-metre freighter meant to fly 105-metre wind turbine blades straight to dirt strips beside wind farms. We break down how it's engineered, from the flip-up nose and rooftop cockpit to the H-tail and 20-tyre landing gear, and why a plane this long is designed to carry less weight than a C-17. https://youtu.be/qd1tbJpWrgM

The U.S. Navy swapped USS Wyoming and USS Pennsylvania between coasts without moving their crews, positioning its ageing nuclear submarine fleet for the transition to Columbia-class boats. https://youtu.be/27Y5tuYof54

🚁 RAF Chinook crews completed two weeks of carrier training aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth during Exercise Hathi Pol, practicing flight deck-to-hangar transfers of the 13-ton helicopter in 60 seconds to prepare for heavy-lift missions, disaster relief, and civilian evacuations at sea. 🔗https://link.ie.social/NpVSBI

🤖 Audi is testing Agile Robots' wheeled humanoids at its Ingolstadt Production Lab to automate parts sequencing, with Dassault Systèmes creating a virtual twin and NVIDIA Omniverse simulating the environment before physical deployment, though no performance results or rollout timeline have been disclosed. 🔗https://link.ie.social/jjXABz

🦾 MIT researchers have tested magnetomicrometry in three amputees, implanting 3mm magnets into muscles to track length and velocity through skin sensors, producing more accurate and stable prosthetic control signals than conventional surface electrodes in virtual limb-control experiments. 🔗https://link.ie.social/jHNiN1

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🛩️ Quantum Systems has upgraded its Reliant long-range drone with a hybrid-electric power unit and 9 kg payload capacity, enabling it to carry electro-optical sensors, synthetic aperture radar, laser designators, and electronic warfare payloads while integrating with the MOSAIC UXS multi-domain software platform. 🔗https://link.ie.social/u6Fga6

💻 Apple has unveiled the first-ever touchscreen MacBook Pro, featuring a 2,000-nit tandem OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, and up to 24 hours of battery life, starting at $2,899 with preorders opening October 28. 🔗https://link.ie.social/JBzdBv

🛰️ Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are using SciLink, a multi-agent AI system, to accelerate radiation damage analysis in satellite microchips from weeks to hours. The system evaluates experimental data from gallium nitride-based semiconductors, helping scientists develop lighter, more radiation-resistant electronics for longer-lasting space missions. 🔗https://link.ie.social/siAF4F

⚡ The U.S. Department of Energy has conditionally pledged up to $5 billion in loans to upgrade eight Constellation nuclear power plants across Illinois, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The modernization could add nearly 1.1 GW of electricity capacity, enough to power approximately 930,000 homes, while helping meet growing demand from AI data centers. 🔗https://link.ie.social/aYNMdg

🚀 BAE Systems has completed the first live-fire test of its Adaptable Deck Launcher, a system designed to help U.S. Navy warships replenish missiles at sea. Compatible with ESSM quad-pack canisters holding four missiles each, the launcher uses existing Mk 41 technology and could support aircraft carriers, surface combatants, and unmanned vessels. 🔗https://link.ie.social/bUvHa9