DTN 069: A New Materials Age Dawns

Plus: Supersonic rocketplanes, kamikaze hoverboards, solar-covered canals, robots controlled by a brain in jar, and more.

“For me, the manufacturing mechanisms, machinery, and futuristic material blends are really the core underpinnings of this technology. With our specialized multi-material 3D printer design for printing batteries, I approached its development alongside our co-founders using the same systematic approach we took when designing Formula One race cars. We're methodically upgrading each component, adding more complexity, increasing the print speed, and reducing weight - advancing it step-by-step through an iterative process. When you boil it down, we're creating a tool to create boundless sources of energy.”

The Big Picture

A New Age of Materials Is Dawning, for Everything From Smartphones to Missiles

"Shifting substantial portions of what we make and use from steel and plastic to composites—which are amalgamations of a variety of fibers, embedded in a variety of plastics—could bring new kinds of transportation, more terrifying weapons of war, and lighter and more durable smartphones, wearables and other consumer electronics.

All of that is possible because composites, while they have their challenges, are often able to perform just as well as high-strength metal parts, but with a fraction of the weight. Composites are the reason modern jetliners are so fuel-efficient, and the entire wind-power industry would be impossible without enormous turbine blades made from composites." (The Wall Street Journal)

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Deep Tech News

• Europe debuts a new rocket

• Deep tech startups with very technical CEOs raise larger rounds, research finds

• Elon Musk says second Neuralink brain implant about a week away

• OpenAI partners with Los Alamos to test AI’s value for lab work

• Dawn Aerospace gets approvals for supersonic rocketplane tests

• In a first, a solar microgrid will directly power an industrial plant

• Stratolaunch ready for first reusable hypersonic test after Roc expansion flights

• Crew of NASA's earthbound simulated Mars habitat emerge after a year

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JPEG of the Week

Russian group adapts hoverboards into four-wheeled combat robots for use in Ukraine conflict.

A Russian team is repurposing hoverboards to create makeshift four-wheeled robots for military applications in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. These improvised machines are designed for various combat roles, including kamikaze-style attacks, supply transportation, and smoke screen deployment.

This development is part of a broader trend in the conflict, where both sides are increasingly utilizing improvised unmanned vehicles across different domains. While aerial drones and uncrewed maritime vessels have been widely reported, these hoverboard-based robots represent a new frontier in improvised ground-based autonomous systems. (via NewsScientist)

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Peer Review

• New method could yield fast, cross-country quantum network

• The art of molecular self-assembly: Crafting 2D nanostructures for advanced materials

• Scientists successfully create a time crystal made of giant atoms

• Scientists create a cell that precludes malignant growth

• Physicists move one step closer to topological quantum computing

• Oxford Ionics doubles performance of previous quantum chip world record

• Powerful laser miniaturized from tabletop to microchip

• First anode-free sodium solid-state battery

• High-selectivity graphene membranes enhance CO₂ capture efficiency

• AI-assisted technology detects nanoplastics in water—instantly

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Funding x M&A

• Biden-Harris Administration Announces $14M to Increase Domestic Battery Recycling

• US opens $1.6B competition for chip packaging research

• Maximum Fidelity Surgical Simulations completes $2.25M seed funding round

• House unveils $25.2B NASA funding proposal

• More ex-military officials are becoming VCs as defense tech investment reached $35B

• X-Bow, a producer of advanced manufactured solid rocket motors (SRMs) and hypersonics technologies, raises more than $70M in Series B funding

• Kuva Systems, a company which specializes in camera-based methane emissions monitoring for the oil and gas industry, raises $8.7M in funding

• AMD to buy Finnish startup Silo AI for $665M in drive to compete with Nvidia

• EVTOL company Archer Aviation receives additional $55M investment from Stellantis

• AEI hunting for more space investments after closing $1.28B fund

• Element Biosciences raises over $277M in Series D funding

• Defense tech startup Helsing raises at $5.4B valuation

• Exein raised $15M Series B to stop robotic arms going haywire

• Alpine Space Ventures closes first fund to grow the space economy on both sides of the pond

• Pan Cancer T raises €4.25M in seed extension funding

• German quantum computing startup planqc raises €50m Series A

• Peter Thiel’s pro-doping Olympics alternative seeks to raise $300M

• Opthalmic gene therapy firm Beacon raises $170M series B

• Stellantis invests additional $55M in air taxi maker Archer

• Nine ventures join first SoCal-UK Space Accelerator

• Pentagon greenlights $140B ICBM program despite cost overruns

• Scout Space selected for DARPA’s commercial tech initiative

• SoftBank's $10B-plus plan to get into the AI race centers on power and chips

• Cartken, a startup building autonomous delivery robots, raised a $10M round

• AI robotics startup Skild AI raised a $300M Series A at a $1.5B valuation

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Miscellanea

Spain sentences 15 schoolchildren over AI-generated naked images / US nuke agency buys internet backbone data / Tim Doucette, a blind astronomer who built the Deep Sky Eye Observatory / FedEx's secretive police force is helping cops build a car surveillance network / California to impose permanent water restrictions on cities and towns / Whataburger app becomes unlikely power outage map after Houston hurricane / Facebook keeps asking me to say ‘happy birthday’ to dead people / Future of space telescopes in the era of super heavy lift launch / Heritage Foundation insists it was not hacked by ‘gay furries’ / Model rocket enthusiasts are learning how to do vertical landings / Lunar spacecraft receive dozens of collision warnings / Scientists build robot controlled by a brain in a jar / Cold shipping might be the next industry that batteries disrupt / CubeSat propulsion technologies are taking off / NATO backs effort to save internet by rerouting to space in event of subsea attacks / ICANN's list of abandoned vanity TLDs, which now has about 134 entries / US intelligence community is embracing generative AI / Why haven't biologists cured cancer? / Private firms and open sources are giving spies a run for their money / ChatGPT just (accidentally) shared all of its secret rules / What happens if you shoot down a delivery drone? / Waymo robotaxi pulled over by Phoenix police after driving into the wrong lane / Tesla makes it onto Chinese government purchase list

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The Deep Tech Agency.

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