News

MassDevice

Paradromics Taps Siemens Healthineers to Develop Scalable BCI Imaging Workflows

Paradromics launched a strategic collaboration with Siemens Healthineers to build an advanced multimodal imaging platform supporting the clinical use of implantable brain-computer interfaces, with Siemens’ 3T MRI systems positioned to handle patients carrying implants. Partnering with one of the largest imaging incumbents gives Paradromics a path into the hospital workflows and installed base that any at-scale BCI rollout has to run through.

TechCrunch

Commonwealth Fusion Systems Gets $85M to Build Better Fusion-Ready Semiconductors

Commonwealth Fusion Systems signed an $85 million CHIPS Act award with the U.S. Department of Commerce covering silicon carbide power electronics, next-generation radio-frequency generators for heating fusion fuel, radiation-hardened electronics for faster reactor control, and adapting AI hardware such as GPUs and TPUs for power plant use. The award gives the federal government a stake in CFS and places fusion squarely inside the national semiconductor industrial strategy.

Robotics 24/7

FORT Robotics Secures $20M Funding Round Led by Tiger Global, Mark Cuban Companies

FORT Robotics secured approximately $20 million in additional commitments from existing investors, with Tiger Global leading at roughly $10 million alongside Mark Cuban Companies, bringing total committed capital tied to its merger with Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp to more than $50 million. The company’s Trust Layer safety platform is now deployed across more than 19,500 units for over 600 customers.

ColoradoBiz

Boom Supersonic Plans $150 Million Turbine Factory in Centennial

Boom committed $150 million to a nearly 200,000-square-foot Superpower Superfactory across two buildings in Centennial, Colorado, adding up to 500 jobs. The same core architecture underpins a 42-megawatt Superpower gas turbine built to power AI data centers off-grid, with Boom targeting 25 turbines annually by 2028 and 50 by 2029—roughly 1GW and then 2GW of yearly output. It is a second revenue line that monetizes the engine program years before Overture carries a passenger.

Interesting Engineering

US Firm Ships 14,000-Pound Turbine Core for Supersonic Jets and 42MW Power Plants

Boom unveiled Sprint Core, a 14,000-pound turbine core carrying roughly 2,000 sensors, built around a six-stage high-pressure compressor, a combustor with 24 fuel nozzles, and a single-stage high-pressure turbine with hollow superalloy blades. It is the foundation of the Symphony engine for Overture, and Boom is clear that this unit is an experimental prototype for gathering engineering data rather than a production article.

Interesting Engineering

US Genesis Mission Backs Digital Twin to Predict Fusion Plasma in Under 20 Minutes

CFS is leading a Department of Energy Genesis Mission project to build an AI-enabled digital twin of its SPARC tokamak, targeting prediction of a full plasma pulse in under 20 minutes. The consortium pulls in four national labs—Princeton Plasma Physics, Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore, and SLAC—alongside NVIDIA, Google DeepMind, General Atomics, and Synopsys, with MIT and Carnegie Mellon. Being named the lead on a federal AI-for-science program puts CFS at the center of how the DOE intends to de-risk fusion operations.

TNW

DARPA Moves Atom Computing, IBM, IonQ and Diraq to Final Quantum Test Stage

DARPA selected Atom Computing as one of four companies—alongside Diraq, IBM, and IonQ—to advance to Stage C of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, a stage carrying potential funding of up to $300 million. Only four of the eleven Stage B companies made the cut. A government team will now verify whether Atom Computing’s neutral-atom architecture can be built and operated as designed, measured against DARPA’s goal of a utility-scale quantum computer whose computing value exceeds its cost by 2033.

BioSpace

Paradromics Demonstrates Four Years of Stable Neural Recording in Major Brain-Computer Interface Durability Milestone

Paradromics reported that its Connexus brain-computer interface maintained stable neural recording for more than four years in preclinical testing, with practically no degradation in signal-to-noise ratio and no tissue migration. Implant longevity is the gating factor for commercial BCI adoption—a device that degrades in eighteen months is a trial, not a product—and a four-year result moves Connexus toward the ten-year device lifetime Paradromics is targeting.

Fast Company

How Hark Designed an AI Assistant That’s Actually Helpful

Hark Pro replaces the chatbot’s endless sidebar with a control panel: customizable widgets for apps and trackers, action items surfaced at the top with one-tap buttons to pay a bill or approve an expense, and a “Handoff” virtual computer that shows its browsing in the chat log to build trust. Design is led by Abidur Chowdhury, formerly design lead on Apple’s iPhone Air, with engineering and AI talent pulled from Apple and Tesla.

National Geographic

Supersonic Flight Didn’t End With Concorde. It’s (Quietly) Coming Back.

Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator has now exceeded supersonic speed six times without an audible sonic boom, using Boomless Cruise: slowing from Mach 1.7 to between Mach 1.1 and 1.3 over land so the shock wave refracts before reaching the ground. Eliminating the audible boom is the precondition for overland supersonic routes, and Boom is targeting first commercial Overture flight in 2030 with 64 to 80 seats.

Forbes

Humanoid Raises $152 Million At $1.35 Billion Valuation: Europe’s Newest Robot Unicorn

London-based Humanoid has become Europe’s first pure-play humanoid robotics unicorn, raising a $152 million Series A at a $1.35 billion valuation. This funding brings their total to $270 million, with investments from Prime Movers Lab, Schaeffler, and Bosch, among others. The company achieved rapid growth by developing its wheeled robot, HMND 01, and securing major deals, including a 1,000-robot order with Schaeffler and production capacity from Bosch for 100,000 units.

SpaceNews

Quantum Space to Go Public in SPAC Deal

Quantum Space, a company led by a former NASA administrator that is developing highly maneuverable spacecraft for national security missions, will go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The company announced that it will merge with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp VI, a SPAC traded on the Nasdaq exchange. The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter, with Quantum Space then trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol QSPC.

PR Newswire

Pyka Executes Autonomous Airdrop Resupply and Casualty Evacuation Missions at US Army Reserve CSTX Exercise

Pyka successfully demonstrated its autonomous cargo aircraft, DropShip, during the US Army Reserve’s Combat Support Training Exercise (CSTX), showcasing how autonomous aviation can support logistics and sustainment missions in austere operational environments. As part of the Army Reserve’s technology insertion effort within Operation Sentinel Justice, Pyka conducted a series of live operational exercises designed to evaluate emerging capabilities against real-world military logistics challenges.

The Cool Down

Scientists Make Breakthrough in Effort to Replicate Power of the Sun

Scientists are taking a step toward developing a nearly limitless power source. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany designed materials that can withstand conditions in the innermost chamber of future fusion reactors. The team collaborated with laser-fusion company Focused Energy on the project. The goal was to design more durable materials for the first wall of fusion reactors. That’s the part of the reactor that holds plasma and protects the rest of the device from conditions formed by the plasma.

Wired

Paradromics Gets FDA Approval to Trial Its Brain Implant in People

Brain implant developer Paradromics has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to test its device in an early-stage human trial. The Austin-based company is aiming to give a digital voice to people who have lost the ability to speak due to severe motor impairment. The trial will assess the long-term safety of the Paradromics device, as well as its ability to enable synthesized speech and text communication.

Fast Company

This Startup Is Growing Mini-Livers to Keep Patients Alive

Dimension Bio received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for its approach: providing a 3D-printed lattice or “scaffold” for new bone to grow in. This could help the startup work toward a more-ambitious goal: building a human liver using its scaffold and donated cells. It would actually be a miniature, simplified version of the organ, meant to function well enough to keep someone alive. That could provide breathing room for an injured or diseased liver to heal, or buy time for the patient to receive a transplant.

Wired

Cognixion Wants to Put Its Brain-Computer Interface in the Apple Vision Pro

Startup Cognixion announced that it is launching a clinical trial of its wearable brain-computer interface technology integrated with the Apple Vision Pro to help paralyzed people with speech disorders communicate with their thoughts. It’s one of several companies, including Neuralink, that is developing a brain-computer interface, or BCI, a system that captures brain signals and translates them into commands to control external devices.

NPR

SpaceX Launches 4 People Into Orbit on Axiom Space AX-4 Mission

A private space crew of four soared into orbit during a middle-of-the-night launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center. It’s the fourth mission brokered by the Houston, Texas-based commercial space company Axiom Space. The company works with SpaceX for rides to the International Space Station and coordinates with NASA for the usage of the ISS for its astronauts. The European Space Agency and the governments of the participating astronauts also contributed to the mission.

Fox News

Brain Implant for Epilepsy Tested in 20-Minute Surgery

Paradromics made headlines by successfully implanting its brain-computer interface (BCI) in a human for the first time. The procedure happened at the University of Michigan during a patient’s routine epilepsy surgery. The device was both placed and removed in just about 20 minutes, a quick turnaround for such a complex technology. This achievement is a big deal for Paradromics, which has been working on this brain implant technology for nearly 10 years.

Time

The Company Helping Build the Next Space Station Is Launching to the ISS

America’s most expensive government housing project cost north of $100 billion, took 13 years to build, and has been continuously occupied since 2000. But the ISS is getting old, and NASA and the 14 other partner nations that built, maintain, and operate it have plans to de-orbit it by 2030, sending it tumbling down through the atmosphere for a controlled splashdown in a remote patch of ocean. Before the ISS dies, however, it will help birth its own replacement—one that will be built and launched by Axiom Space. Over the past three years, Axiom has launched three private, paying crews of four astronauts to the ISS, preparatory to the commencement of station construction.

Quartz

Brain Chips Are Getting Smarter

Seven people now have Neuralink’s brain chip implanted, allowing them to control computers, design 3D parts, and even continue working despite severe paralysis. Meanwhile, competitors such as Paradromics have achieved their first human implants, and researchers at UC Davis have created a system that translates thoughts directly into speech in just 10 milliseconds. The progress has been remarkable, even if the technology still faces significant hurdles before it can fulfill its most ambitious promises.

Ars Technica

Microsoft Lays Out Its Path to Useful Quantum Computing

Microsoft’s Azure Quantum group announced that it has settled on a plan for getting error correction on quantum computers. While the company pursues its own hardware efforts, the Azure team is a platform provider that currently gives access to several distinct types of hardware qubits. So it has chosen a scheme that is suitable for several different quantum computing technologies (notably excluding its own). The company estimates that the system it has settled on can take hardware qubits with an error rate of about 1 in 1,000 and use them to build logical qubits where errors are instead 1 in 1 million.

Quantum Insider

Microsoft and Atom Computing Partner on Level 2 Quantum System for Nordic Users

Denmark’s EIFO and the Novo Nordisk Foundation are investing €80 million to establish QuNorth and acquire Magne, a powerful commercial quantum computer based on logical qubits. The system will be built by Atom Computing and Microsoft, combining neutral atom hardware with advanced quantum software, and is expected to be operational by early 2027. QuNorth will be based in Copenhagen and aims to provide Nordic researchers and industries with priority access to Level 2 quantum computing for applications in chemistry, materials science, and beyond.

Forbes

Trump Clears US for Supersonic Flights Ending 50+ Year Ban

President Trump has issued an executive order “leading the world in supersonic flight” which requires FAA to remove restrictions on supersonic flights within US airspace. The existing noise rules have been in place since 1968, and a corresponding FAA restriction on flights exceeding Mach 1 established in 1970. These rules previously prevented Concorde operations on transcontinental flights. The new Trump executive order requires the FAA to repeal its prohibition on overland supersonic flight, establish an interim noise-based-certification standard, and repeal other regulations that hinder supersonic flight.

Inc

This Startup’s New Hypersonic Engine Could Transform Travel

The Houston-based startup successfully completed the first US flight test of an exotic new type of engine, capable of enabling aircraft to travel four to six times the speed of sound—and possibly up to nine times the speed of sound. Hypersonic travel indicates travel at five times or greater than the speed of sound, while supersonic speeds indicate anything that exceeds the speed of sound, or Mach 1. Venus’ engine was mounted on a 12-foot rocket built, designed, and integrated in-house. The engine was successful on its first attempt in spite of windy conditions.

Payload

Quantum Space Hunts Golden Dome With MDA Vet

Growing industry interest in the Golden Dome missile defense system is only outstripped by the uncertainty about what that program will actually entail. To help cut through the clutter, Quantum Space has hired former MDA executive Richard Matlock to lead its defense business. Matlock’s four-decade career has taken him from the Air Force to the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. He’s served in a series of tech development and acquisition roles for the DoD, most recently as an advanced technology executive at the MDA.

Fast Company

A New Airplane Silently Broke the Sound Barrier - It Looks Nothing Like NASA’s X-59

Boom Supersonic flew a supersonic flight over the Mojave Desert, in California, using a radically different approach that was theorized decades ago but only now has been possible thanks to new engines and computers. The testing of its Boomless Cruise technology—recorded with a sophisticated microphone array by NASA—showed that its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft broke the sound barrier three times without generating a sonic boom that reached the ground. This is the first time a plane has achieved this.

Yahoo Finance

Dalan Animal Health Unlocks the Power of Innate Immunity for a New Era in Disease Prevention

Dalan Animal Health, a global leader in bioscience innovation, announced a major breakthrough in food production and disease prevention with its groundbreaking innate immunity platform. Traditionally considered a non-specific defense mechanism, innate immunity can now be systematically trained to provide broad-spectrum, long-term protection against deadly pathogens. This discovery has the potential to revolutionize animal health, food security, and future human health applications.

Yahoo Finance

Lyten Secures Domestically Sourced Sulfur to Supply its US Lithium-Sulfur Manufacturing Facilities

Lyten, the supermaterial applications company and world leader in lithium-sulfur battery manufacturing, announced further progress in building its US supply chain to meet rapidly growing demand for its Lithium-Sulfur batteries. Lyten has signed agreements with California Sulphur Company, at the Port of Los Angeles, and a Port of Stockton company to supply domestically sourced, industrial-grade sulfur to Lyten’s manufacturing facilities in San Jose, CA, San Leandro, CA, and its recently announced Reno, NV, gigafactory.

Yahoo Finance

Pyka Unveils Pelican 2: The World’s Largest Autonomous Crop Protection Aircraft

Pyka has unveiled its next-generation agricultural spray aircraft, Pelican 2. Featuring an expanded 300-liter payload and a work rate of up to 90 hectares per hour, Pelican 2 is the world’s largest and most productive autonomous electric agricultural aircraft. Pyka has secured FAA authorization for commercial operation of Pelican 2 in the United States, making this the second time Pyka has gained a groundbreaking commercial approval for its uncrewed aerial system (UAS) products.

Yahoo Finance

PhireLink BEAD Grant Demonstrates Savings with Tarana ngFWA

PhireLink, an internet service provider (ISP) in three Southern states, and Tarana, creator of next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) broadband technology, today announced their winning BEAD bid to cover unserved and underserved locations in Louisiana. Deploying ngFWA-powered networks, PhireLink’s deployment will cost roughly half of what it would take to reach their BEAD serviceable locations (BSLs) with fiber, without degradation to service speed or reliability for the end-user.

CNN

Boom: America’s Answer to Concorde Completes Its First Supersonic Flight

The return of supersonic travel has been remarkably slow for something faster than the speed of sound, but a major milestone was achieved when Boom Supersonic completed its first supersonic flight. Boom, the American company building what promises to be the world’s fastest airliner, broke the sound barrier for its first time with a test flight in Mojave, California. The company’s XB-1 demonstrator aircraft’s supersonic flight is the first time an independently developed jet has broken the sound barrier.

Popular Mechanics

A Dazzling New Detonation Engine Could Ignite Hypersonic Travel

Engineers have investigated ways to harness the chaotic power of explosions into an engine that can push past speeds far beyond the comparatively slow realm of conventional chemical combustion. These are known as detonation engines, they come in all types of designs and they each have their own quirks with regards to how they achieve this perilous-yet-powerful propulsion. Recently, rotating detonation engines (RDEs) have started to show some promise. In fact, earlier this year, Venus Aerospace achieved one of the longest sustained tests of its own RDE. This engine combusts its fuel and oxidizer in a rotating ring-shaped channel, and the resulting shockwaves create a sustained combustion reaction that makes the engine more efficient than conventional rockets.

WWD

Mycoworks’ Reishi: A Game Changer for Sustainable Interior Design

Just over a year after Mycoworks’ Reishi, a new material grown from mycelium, debuted its first full fashion look at the Buro Stedelijk museum space in Amsterdam, it’s ready to take on the world of interiors. The first furniture pieces covered in Reishi are being made by the French family-run firm Ligne Roset and will hit the market in 2025. Mycoworks has been working with Ligne Roset for the past five years. The collaboration has tested Reishi’s performance on an industrial level to understand if it will one day be able to meet market demands. Among those tests was putting 220 pounds in weight on top of a chair cushion made of Reishi and repeating that test 20,000 times.

TechCrunch

Focused Energy Buys Two of the World’s Most Powerful Lasers for Its Fusion Quest

Fusion power startup Focused Energy has signed a deal to buy two of the world’s most powerful lasers, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. The massive lasers will be installed in the startup’s future facility, which it is building in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next two years. These are some of the highest-average-power lasers in private company hands. The lasers, capable of delivering over a kilojoule of energy to a target, cost nearly $40 million.

TechCrunch

Lyten Buys Battery Manufacturing Assets From Beleaguered Northvolt

Lyten is acquiring manufacturing assets from Northvolt, a Swedish battery manufacturer that’s facing a cash crunch. As part of the deal, Northvolt is selling manufacturing equipment the company inherited in its 2021 acquisition of Cuberg, another battery startup. Lyten will also assume the lease of Cuberg’s old manufacturing facility. Lyten will invest $20 million next year to expand facilities in San Leandro and its existing operations in San Jose.

Bloomberg

Nuclear Fusion Leader Wants to Build on Site of Old Coal Plants

Commonwealth Fusion has crossed a key threshold on its quest to generate clean power. It’s eyeing shuttered fossil-fuel plants as prime sites to do so. The company is so confident in its fusion technology that it’s evaluating old coal and natural gas plants as locations to build its first commercial system even before its demonstration device is finished. Doing so would mark a step change for the energy transition and the shift from polluting fossil fuels to carbon-free fusion power, though fusion remains an unproven nuclear technology.

Business Insider

A Startup Hoping to Build the Next Concorde Is on Track to Fly Supersonic Within Weeks

The return of supersonic commercial flights just got another step closer to reality. Boom Supersonic announced Saturday that its eighth test flight reached a new maximum altitude of 25,000 feet. It matched the previous test’s top speed of Mach 0.82 — slightly faster than the cruising speed of a Boeing 737. The test focused on showing the aircraft is still controllable at higher speeds without its stability augmentation system.

Forbes

AI Startup ProRata Partners With UK Publishers As Valuation Reportedly Hits $130 Million

ProRata, an AI startup that promises to pay publishers for the use of their work, has announced that several prominent British media organizations have been added to its growing list of partnerships. The Los Angeles-based startup said that it had reached licensing agreements with publishers including the Guardian, Sky News and DMG Media, publisher of the Daily Mail. DMG Media has also committed to making a “significant investment” in ProRata as part of a funding round that values the startup at about $130 million, according to a report in the Financial Times, which cited people familiar with the situation.

Interesting Engineering

US Supersonic Jet Soars to Record 25,040 Feet, Fuels Speedy Travel Dreams

Boom Supersonic is taking significant steps toward bringing commercial supersonic travel back to the skies. The company’s XB-1 demonstrator aircraft recently completed its eighth flight, setting a new altitude record and matching its top speed. This milestone is part of Boom’s ongoing effort to reintroduce supersonic flights, a concept that faded after the Concorde’s final flight in 2003 due to high costs and noise concerns.

MSN

Energy Company Claims Its New Fusion Technology Can Power a Major US City — Using Just ‘Three Soda Cans’ Worth of Fuel

An energy company is super focused on its task of providing clean, laser-based energy to Americans. Focused Energy, a German-American company that arrived in the California Bay Area by way of Austin, TX, has announced plans to build a $65 million facility. Inside the facility, the company will get to work on building lasers that can burn as hot as the sun in order to create power for people’s homes.

TechCrunch

Microsoft and Atom Computing Will Launch a Commercial Quantum Computer in 2025

At the Microsoft Ignite 2024 conference, Microsoft and Atom Computing announced yet another breakthrough on the way to a fault-tolerant quantum computing: The two companies entangled 24 logical qubits using neutral atoms held in place by lasers. The two companies say that this is the highest number of entangled logical qubits on record. (It takes a number of physical qubits to create the logical qubit that can then be used to run quantum algorithms.)

Time

The Best Inventions of 2024: Using the Power of Gravity

Solar and wind energy are renewable, but rely on the weather. Energy Vault’s EVx Gravity Energy Storage System instead employs massive blocks, which, after being raised, store the energy that went into lifting them, and when lowered, release that energy when it’s needed. The ever-present pull of gravity amounts to a natural battery that can provide short-, medium-, or long-term storage. It’s resilient to harsh weather conditions and high temperatures, and since the energy is produced inside the structure, there is no risk of chemical fires.

Reuters

Prada and Axiom Space Aim for the Moon With New Astronaut Suit

Italian luxury group Prada opens new tab and Houston-based startup Axiom Space unveiled on Wednesday the design of a spacesuit that will be used for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission to the moon that is planned for 2026. In its outward appearance, the spacesuit does not stray too far from what astronauts have worn in the past. It is the familiar bulky white suit, with added red trim and grey patches on the knees and elbows. The new Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) was showcased at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan. It aims to combine highly engineered functionality and aesthetics to deal with challenging lunar conditions.

Interesting Engineering

Mach 6 Hypersonic Flight Could Soon Be Reality With Detonation Ramjet Engine

Venus Aerospace has introduced its groundbreaking engine in an exciting development for high-speed aviation. The Venus Detonation Ramjet 2000 lb Thrust Engine (VDR2) was recently launched during the Up.Summit event. This development marks a significant milestone in hypersonic flight technology, with the potential to transform air travel by allowing airliners to cover vast distances at incredible speeds.

NPR

Prada and Axiom Space Reveal Modernized NASA Spacesuits for the 2026 Moon Landing

NASA’s new space suits are getting a hand from Italian luxury fashion house Prada in preparation for humanity’s 2026 return to the moon’s surface. Axiom Space and Prada debuted the flight design of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit this week at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan. The suit is expected to be used for NASA’s historic Artemis III mission in 2026, marking humankind’s first return to the moon since 1972.

The Quantum Insider

Microsoft and Atom Computing Partner to Build a Quantum Supercomputer

Microsoft and Atom Computing have announced a strategic collaboration aimed at building what they claim will be the world’s most powerful quantum machine. This partnership, revealed through posts on Microsoft and Atom Computing’s blogs, will integrate Atom Computing’s neutral atom quantum hardware into Microsoft’s Azure Quantum platform. The collaboration is seen as a key step forward in advancing reliable quantum computing hardware for commercial use.

AeroTime

Boom Supersonic Sets New Top Speed With XB-1 ‘Baby Boom’ Demonstrator

Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 ‘Baby Boom’ demonstrator aircraft has recorded its fastest ever speed during its fourth test flight signaling further progression towards its quest to reach Mach 1. According to Boom Supersonic, XB-1 reached a new top speed of Mach 0.617, more than halfway to breaking the sound barrier. XB-1 completed the record-breaking flight just eight days after its third test flight, in which the developer deployed some new technology for the first time.

Forbes

Atom Computing’s Vision For Quantum Europe

Atom Computing recently announced that Denmark would become its European headquarters. The company will receive an investment of 70 million Danish kroner, which is about USD $10 million. The funds will come from Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund, a state-owned financial institution. The Danish government’s national quantum strategy provides funds for quantum research to bridge the years between conducting research and the commercialization of quantum applications.

Fierce Network

UScellular Boosts Fixed Wireless Capacity With Tarana

Even though UScellular plans to sell off big chunks of its spectrum and subscribers to T-Mobile, that’s not stopping the regional wireless carrier from pursuing its fixed wireless access (FWA) ambitions — even if that means going head to head with T-Mobile in some regions. In fact, UScellular is working with Tarana Wireless to increase its FWA capacity in West Plains, Missouri, a town where the demand for FWA is high. So high that the carrier has been getting such good uptake of its fixed wireless that it was about to run out of capacity on its mobile network.

Fast Company

How Nokia and Axiom Are Putting 4G on the Moon

To make Artemis cheaper than Apollo, the plan is to use off-the-shelf tech, or close to it. That’s why NASA is paying Nokia to network astronauts headed for the moon. Axiom, NASA’s space suit contractor, said last week that it will use Nokia’s tech as the primary comms system for AxEMU space suits that astronauts will wear during the Artemis III landing (assuming that happens on schedule.) To fund the communications upgrade, NASA added $57.5 million to Axiom’s suit task order, which is now valued at $285.5 million.

CNBC

Healthy Returns: Brain Implant Company Paradromics Launches Patient Registry Ahead of Human Trial

The brain implant startup Paradromics is taking steps to prepare for its first in-human trial next year, and the company announced on Monday that it has launched its official patient registry. Paradromics is building a brain-computer interface, or a BCI, called the Connexus Direct Data Interface. Paradromics’ system will initially serve as an assistive communication device that can turn brain signals into outputs like text or synthesized speech. This means patients with severe paralysis could eventually use it to regain their ability to communicate.

Forbes

Boeing/Airbus Duopoly Is Aging and Impeded – Boom Supersonic Wants a Spot

Whatever one thinks of the likelihood that Boom Supersonic can sell its new airplane to airlines, it seems clear the company picked a good time to try. “It’s never been more obvious that the world is not well served by the duopoly that we have in commercial aviation.” said Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of the Colorado startup that wants to build supersonic aircraft in North Carolina. Boom celebrated the opening of its Greensboro factory last month.

PitchBook

Thomas Tull’s Firm Leads $80M Round for Halo Industries in AI Picks-And-Shovels Bet

Billionaire Thomas Tull’s latest AI play is Halo Industries, a startup developing novel ways to make silicon wafers for semiconductors. Tull’s US Innovative Technology Fund led an $80 million Series B for Halo that valued the company at $300 million post-money, founder Andrei Iancu told PitchBook exclusively. 8VC and SAIC also participated in the deal. Halo was previously valued at $67.5 million in a 2020 Series A with backing from Stelac Capital Partners and Prime Movers Lab.

Fox News

Companies Prepare Next Generation of Space Stations for Orbit

NASA is working with at least three companies that are designing space stations to replace the International Space Station before it de-orbits in 2031. Axiom Space is one company that is building a next generation space station. It is creating pods that would first attach to the current International Space Station. The company is sending private astronauts to the International Space Station to prepare for adding the first module, which is expected to be launched in 2026.

Forbes

This Company Founder Wants You Home for Dinner

Venus Aerospace has a vision. They want to fly you across the globe and back before dinner. Venus’s next-generation rocket engine will make hypersonic global transport possible. The vision of being home for dinner is also, most importantly, the core of the company culture. The company’s dual mission is to create a rocket engine for high-speed travel without sacrificing employee health and well-being. From the onset, the company has supported both missions.

Axios

Boom Wraps up Construction of NC Supersonic Jet Factory

Boom Supersonic has wrapped up construction on its Superfactory where it’ll manufacture supersonic passenger jets. Located at the Piedmont Triad International Airport, Boom’s factory has the capacity to produce 33 Overture aircraft per year. The company plans to add an assembly line that will double its production capacity. The Superfactory campus will also include a delivery center where carriers such as United Airlines, American Airlines and Japan Airlines will receive their Overture planes.

CNN

Boom Celebrates Completion of Overture Factory

Boom Supersonic, the company building the world’s fastest airliner, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Overture Superfactory, celebrating the completion of construction. Located at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, NC, the Overture Superfactory is the first supersonic airliner factory in the United States. Overture is Boom’s supersonic airliner, capable of flying twice as fast as today’s commercial planes on up to 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

CNBC

Neuralink Competitor Paradromics Gears up to Test Its Brain Implant on Humans

Neurotech startup Paradromics will be putting its brain implant on trial next year, as the race to be the leader in the nascent brain-computer interface space heats up. The trial would follow competitor Neuralink’s move to implant a chip into a patient’s brain in March. The company, which was cofounded by Elon Musk, later disclosed that part of its brain implant malfunctioned in the weeks following the procedure.

Fierce Biotech

AbbVie Inks $2B-Plus Next-Gen Neuro Deal with Gilgamesh

The two companies have agreed to research and develop a portfolio of therapeutics using Gilgamesh’s research platform designed to discover novel neuroplastogens—compounds that improve neuroplasticity. Under the deal, AbbVie will have the option to lead development and commercialization activities. In return, Gilgamesh will receive $65 million upfront and have the chance to make up to $1.95 billion in aggregate option fees and milestones, as well as tiered royalties.

Bloomberg

Designer of World’s Tallest Building Wants to Turn Skyscrapers Into Batteries

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has developed a series of prototype designs that use electric motors to elevate massive blocks, creating potential energy that can be converted into electricity when the blocks are lowered. The designs are based on technology developed by partner Energy Vault as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries and other types of chemical cells. They are seeking developer partners interested in offsetting greenhouse gas pollution from buildings, which the United Nations estimates are responsible for almost 40% of global emissions.

Space

Boom’s XB-1 Test Plane Gets FAA Green Light for Supersonic Flight

Like Tom Cruise’s “Maverick” character in “Top Gun,” Boom Supersonic is feeling the need for speed. The company has received a first-of-its-kind approval from the FAA to exceed Mach 1 during test flights of its XB-1 supersonic jet. These flights are slated to occur sometime this year within the black mountain supersonic corridor in Mojave, CA. The sleek, delta-shaped XB-1 is now free to go supersonic at Boom’s California complex when fully ready.

Inc

Venus Aerospace CEO Sassie Duggleby Is Building a Time Machine to Get You Across the World and Home for Dinner

Sarah “Sassie” Duggleby wants to build a time machine. And her Houston-based company Venus Aerospace is working on a hypersonic engine that’s about as close as it gets. The hypersonic engine in Venus’s Stargazer aircraft is designed to travel up to Mach 9 speeds, making it more akin to “a slow-flying rocket as opposed to a fast-flying jet” Duggleby says. The Concorde, by comparison–which still holds the record as the fastest passenger plane to cross the Atlantic–flew at Mach 2 speeds.

Business Insider

Boom Supersonic Just Flew Its Test Jet for the First Time as It Races to Build the World’s New Speediest Airliner

Colorado aerospace company Boom Supersonic wants to bring back the era of the Concorde — a beloved faster-than-sound passenger jet that flew for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2003. Boom’s vision of the next supersonic airliner is a Mach 1.7 plane called the Overture, and the company just flew its first prototype. Nicknamed the “baby boom,” the XB-1 demonstrator is the “foundation” for the futuristic Overture. Boom says it uses the experimental plane to prove innovative technologies key to safe and efficient supersonic flight.

Fast Company

How This Company Is Using Graphene to Build a Cleaner, Lighter, More Powerful Battery

Graphene was invented in 2004, and Lyten is now leading efforts to use it to build cleaner, lighter, and more powerful lithium-sulfur batteries. Using a “scaffold” of 3D graphene within the electrolyte to tame the typically unruly lithium-sulfur combination, Lyten’s batteries avoid the need for nickel, manganese, cobalt, and graphite. They offer dramatic efficiency gains over their lithium-ion counterparts—not to mention environmental and ethical improvements. These will be critical for electric vehicles, drones, satellites, and other energy-intensive devices, like eVTOL aircraft.

Fortune

Russia and China Are Leading in Hypersonic Innovation — Here’s What’s Holding the US Back

In the fabric of human achievement, speed has always been a defining thread. From the first locomotives to the dawn of aviation, our quest to travel faster has consistently reshaped society. Today, we stand on the cusp of a new era in transportation. High-speed flight represents the next frontier. With the ability to travel commercially at speeds near or above Mach 5, we stand on the brink of revolutionizing global mobility, shrinking the vast distances that separate us.

Psychedelic Alpha

Gilgamesh Scoops $14M from NIDA to Develop Safer Ibogaine Analog for Opioid Use Disorder

Psychedelic drug developer Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals has scooped a grant worth $14m from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to develop its ibogaine analog, GM-3009, for opioid use disorder (OUD). The company hopes that the compound will prove to be ‘cardiac-safe’, alluding to concerns around ibogaine’s cardiotoxicity which may represent a barrier to achieving FDA approval for the drug.

Ars Technica

The Company Building a Rotating Detonation Engine Is Pushing the Tech Forward

Venus Aerospace conducted its first powered flight last month, reaching Mach 0.9 with a drone. The 8-foot-long vehicle was dropped from an Aero L-29 Delfín aircraft at 12,000 feet and flew under the power of a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant engine. This engine was not fired at full thrust because the location of the test flight, an unspecified range in the United States, did not permit flight faster than the speed of sound.

Reuters

US-Based Carboncapture Raises $80M From Saudi Aramco

Los Angeles-based CarbonCapture, which aims to build machines that suck carbon dioxide out of the air to fight climate change, said it had raised $80 million from investors that include Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco. The money raised in CarbonCapture’s latest major funding round represents one of the largest injections of private capital into direct air capture (DAC) – a technology that has yet to be proven at scale - over the last five years.

The Wall Street Journal

Silicon Valley’s Next Mission: Help the US Catch China and Russia in Hypersonic Weapons

The US is years behind its biggest rivals in cutting-edge hypersonic missile technology. Silicon Valley is betting it can help the military catch up. Venture capitalists, better known for pumping money into business-software services and social-media apps, are now deploying hundreds of millions of dollars into developing the technology for hypersonic weapons the US military wants but has struggled to figure out despite decades of trying.

Yahoo Finance

EV Charging Pioneer Scott Mercer Takes on Fusion as CEO of Focused Energy

The inertial fusion energy company Focused Energy welcomes Scott Mercer as CEO, furthering its position as a leader in the burgeoning global fusion industry. Scott, as founder and CEO of Volta Charging, built an innovative business model that brought new revenue opportunities to the hard-to-commercialize energy-critical industry of public charging. He’ll bring that same creative skill and innovation acumen to bear on another energy-critical and hard-to-commercialize industry: fusion.

Forbes

Energy Vault Wins Big With Gravity Storage In China

Energy Vault (NYSE: NRGV) will license six additional EVx gravity energy storage systems in China just months after starting the commissioning of the world’s first GESS facility near Shanghai. Energy Vault installations use excess renewable energy to lift massive composite blocks; then, when the energy is once again needed on the grid, the blocks are dropped and the kinetic energy from the dropping blocks spins generators that supply electricity to the grid. The company believes it will be able to achieve a respectable round-trip efficiency (RTE) of over 80% with its current design.

The Wall Street Journal

Pentagon Eyes Microwave Weapons to Tackle Drone Threat

Pentagon planners worried about the increasing threat from drones have looked at everything from mesh nets and missiles to cannons and lasers, but now a once highly-classified technology is attracting more attention and funding. High-power microwave devices that can disrupt or even fry the electronics of aerial threats—such as drones and missiles—are moving to the forefront of defense strategies after years of development.

Energy.gov

DOE Announces $42 Million for Inertial Fusion Energy Hubs

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $42 million for a program that will establish multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary hubs to advance foundational inertial fusion energy (IFE) science and technology, building on the groundbreaking work of the Department’s researchers into harnessing the power of the sun and stars. President Biden has set a goal of demonstrating a proof-of-concept for several different types of fusion power plants in 10 years as part of the effort to achieve the Administration’s ambitious climate and energy goals.

SpaceNews

Quantum Space Reveals Plan For Scout-1 Satellite and Sentry Mission

Quantum Space plans to launch Scout-1, the space infrastructure and services company’s first satellite, no earlier than March 2024 on a SpaceX Transporter rideshare flight. From sun synchronous low-Earth orbit, the Scout-1 satellite will test a sensor Quantum Space plans to send to deep space as part of QuantumNet, a constellation to provide customers with communications, navigation and space situational awareness services in geostationary and cislunar space.

Fast Company

The Next Big Technologies in Food and Agriculture for 2023: Dalan for Creating the First Honeybee Vaccine

Bees face multiple stresses, from climate change to pesticides. Last winter, beekeepers in the US lost around half of their hives. Dalan Animal Health is focused on one challenge—a highly contagious disease called foulbrood that threatens bees worldwide. The company developed the first-ever vaccine for bees, which is given to a queen bee to pass on to her offspring. After nabbing a conditional license from the FDA in late 2022, Dalan started piloting the vaccine with thousands of hives.

Barron’s

Space Flight Without the Rocket Fuel? A Florida-Based Company Is Aiming for the Stars

No single automobile, vessel, or aircraft can possibly match the pollution potential of the fuel-driven rockets used to put astronauts and satellites into space—making extraterrestrial exploration and space tourism dirty propositions in the age of climate change. Now, the minds behind a luxury travel venture want to send customers closer to the stars while leaving no carbon footprint via a creative approach: They skip the rocket in favor of a balloon.

Via Satellite

Quantum Space Exec Details Plan to Open Access to GEO

Recently formed startup Quantum Space plans to open access to and understanding of Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Cislunar orbit with its upcoming missions. Describing GEO as a “critical resource,” Bracken said the company is developing a fleet of in-orbit logistics and payload hosting vehicles called “Rangers,” and smaller multi-purpose vehicles called “Scouts” to provide communications and data collection. Both spacecraft systems are designed to work together to form QuantumNet, an edge computing network to support communications in GEO.

CNBC

ISS Commander Peggy Whitson Talks Axiom Mission, Making Space Accessible

Peggy Whitson is America’s most experienced astronaut, having spent 675 days in space. She’s just returned from her fourth flight to orbit. Axiom Space recently completed its second human spaceflight mission traveling to and from the ISS via a SpaceX Dragon Capsule. CNBC sat down with the retired NASA astronaut to discuss her return to space, the commercialization of human spaceflight and her outlook on the private space economy.

CNBC

Commonwealth Fusion Has Raised $2 Billion to Make Energy Like the Sun — Here’s a Look Inside

A fusion power plant has been, so far, firmly rooted in the realm of science fiction. Commonwealth is trying to change that, and has raised more than $2 billion in venture capital from the likes of Bill Gates, Gates’ climate investment firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Google, John Doerr, Khosla Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures and more. That’s more private capital than any other fusion startup, according to the Fusion Industry Association, the industry’s trade group.

Fast Company

Boom Supersonic Reveals New Partners and Engine Details, Bringing Its Mach 1.7 Passenger Jet Closer to Reality

It can take a long, steady ground roll to get a big airplane up to speed, and for Boom Supersonic, the path off the runway is starting to look a little clearer. At the Paris Auto Show this week, the aerospace startup announced a slew of partners for the construction of major components of its aircraft, marking another significant step towards its goal of bringing supersonic air travel to the masses—or, at least, the wealthiest subset of the masses.

Quartz

A Pair of Space Upstarts Are Competing With SpaceX to Rescue the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, and in the decades since scientists have benefitted from its unprecedented views far beyond our galaxy. But Earth’s gravity and atmosphere will inevitably pull the bus-sized telescope back to the planet, perhaps as soon as 2028. NASA will need to safely bring it back down to crash into the Pacific Ocean, or better yet: lift it into a higher orbit so it can continue its mission, which has already cost the US about $16 billion since the idea for the telescope was conceived in 1977. Astroscale and Momentus want to use a robot to raise the telescope to a higher orbit.

CNBC

Neuralink Competitor Paradromics Gets One Step Closer to FDA Approval for Its Brain Implant

A growing team at the neurotech startup Paradromics is working on a brain implant that sounds like the work of science fiction and it has caught the attention of federal regulators. Paradromics is developing a device that could help patients with severe paralysis regain their ability to communicate by deciphering their neural signals. The company announced that it has received the Breakthrough Device designation from the Food and Drug Administration for its flagship system, called the Connexus Direct Data Interface.

Bloomberg

Startup Energy Vault Is Closer to Finishing Gravity Storage Project in China

California startup Energy Vault is nearing completion of its first major power-storage project, one of the only systems in the world to generate electricity using gravity. The project in Rudong, China, north of Shanghai, will be finished by September, Chief Executive Officer Robert Piconi said Wednesday in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. It will be able to deliver as much as 25 megawatts of power for four hours.