DTN 063: World's First Wooden Satellite

Plus: 3D-printed rocket test, China's $47B chip sovereignty fund, red tape strangling wind farms, three ingredient battery, and more.

"While no one uses bamboo as a replacement for steel, with processing it can and should be. The product hasn't been fully value engineered and brought to the marketplace yet. When it happens, that will open us to mid-rise, high-rise, and heavy construction projects where bamboo can replace steel."

The Big Picture

Quantum computers could soon speed the development of novel materials, catalysts, and drugs

“Already, quantum computers are helping researchers zoom in on reaction pathways in fuel cell catalysts, simulate the infinitesimally brief interactions of light and matter, and reveal druggable pockets in proteins. Ashley Montanaro, a co-founder of Phasecraft, a quantum computing company, says today’s quantum computers are almost good enough to make discoveries beyond the reach of classical systems. ‘It’s a lot closer than people previously thought.’" (Science)

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Deep Tech News

• Five cool tech demos from the ARPA-E summit

• Framatome, TerraPower to develop HALEU deconversion pilot line

• Can satellites combat wildfires? Inside the booming 'space race' to fight the flames

• Superconducting computer

• India’s Agnikul launches 3D-printed rocket in sub-orbital test after initial delays

• Tech giants form an industry group to help develop next-gen AI chip components

• The soldiers of the silicon supply chain are worried

• White House launches initiatives to bolster new nuclear deployments

• China’s $47B semiconductor fund puts chip sovereignty front and center

• US offshore wind farms are being strangled with red tape

• Saudi fund launches new group to boost space industry

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JPEG of the Week

The world's first wooden satellite made from wood developed by scientists at Kyoto University and logging company Sumitomo Forestry.

The world's first wooden satellite will be blasted off on a SpaceX rocket in September. Each side of the experimental satellite measures just 10 centimeters (four inches). The creators expect the wooden material will burn up completely when the device re-enters the atmosphere—potentially providing a way to avoid the generation of metal particles when a retired satellite returns to Earth. (via Phys.org)

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Peer Review

• Producing hydrogen fuel from solar power and agricultural waste

• Using entangled particles to create unbreakable encryption

• Scientists develop most sensitive method yet for observing single molecules

• Japan's push to make all research open access is taking shape

• Light-activated antitumor drug could inspire new cancer treatments that have minimal side effects

• Producing gold nano-particles (and hydrogen) in water without the need for toxic chemicals

• More transparent than glass, new material cools rooms and self-cleans

• First 3D-printed defect-free tungsten components withstand extreme temperatures

• Scientists say they can make zero-emission cement

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Funding x M&A

• Quidnet Energy gets $10M to pump more energy into Texas grid

• Valar Labs debuts AI-powered cancer care prediction tool and secures $22M

• AI manufacturing startup funding is on a tear as Switzerland’s EthonAI raises $16.5M

• How Clean Energy Ventures avoided the pandemic bubble and raised a $305M fund

• China sets up third fund with $47.5B to boost semiconductor sector

• Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6B to take on OpenAI

• German AI defense startup Helsing AI is in talks to raise a $400M Series C at a $4B valuation

• ThinkLabs AI, a startup developing technology to enhance grid planning, raised a $5M seed round

• German climate technology startup Cloover raised a $114M seed

• Revolv Space, a space tech startup, raised a $2.8M round

• AI-powered 'auto-aiming' defense tech startup ZeroMark raised a $7M seed round

• Basalt Technologies, a spacecraft OS company, raised a $3.5M seed round

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Miscellanea

This tiny fern has the largest genome of any organism on Earth / Less than a tenth of deeptechs are founded by all-women teams / Why scientists say we need to send clocks to the moon / Starlink's disruption of the space industry / How to EMP-proof a building / How the Guinness Brewery invented the most important statistical method in science / Trump promises he'd commute the life sentence of 'Silk Road' founder Ross Ulbricht / How many charging stations would we need to totally replace gas stations? / Airbus to build satellite that will predict the northern lights / Ore Energy exits stealth mode unveils battery based on only iron, water and air / Invasive species are transforming the Everglades

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The Deep Tech Agency.

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