Alan Simon @SlashSimon

@CJHandmer @TerraformIndies The keys to commercial success will be further refining the process to enhance efficiencies and massively scaling to dramatically lower costs. The cost of production must be competitive with, or lower than, traditional costs of producing fuel.

DARPA’s Rads to Watts Program Imagine a small nuclear battery that can produce electricity continuously for up to 30 years without refueling or recharging. A power source that can quietly operate for decades inside a remote sensor, an autonomous underwater vehicle, a spacecraft, or critical infrastructure, delivering persistent energy where conventional batteries inevitably fail. If artificial intelligence gives machines the ability to think, then persistent nuclear power will give them the ability to endure. Together, they have the potential to unlock a new generation of autonomous systems that operate not for hours or days, but for years and decades, with minimal human intervention. That long-term vision is what makes DARPA’s Rads to Watts program so compelling. At first glance, it sounds almost like science fiction. Instead of storing electricity chemically like a conventional battery, DARPA is exploring how to directly convert radiation from radioisotopes into electricity using advanced solid-state devices known as radiovoltaics. Think of them as the nuclear equivalent of a solar cell. Solar panels convert photons into electricity. Radiovoltaics convert energetic particles from radioactive decay directly into usable electrical power. The concept has existed for decades, but power levels have remained too low to unlock widespread applications. DARPA’s objective is dramatically different: develop breakthrough materials and device architectures capable of converting radioisotope energy into useful electrical power at far greater levels while surviving intense radiation for years or even decades. If successful, the technologies emerging from Rads to Watts could lay the foundation for a new class of compact, ultra-long-lived power sources that redefine what is possible for autonomous machines, defense systems, and space infrastructure. DARPA has selected 7 teams to compete in the Rads to Watts program. They represent a mix of startups, established nuclear companies, and leading research universities, each pursuing a different approach to high-power radiovoltaic technology. The teams are: Avalanche Energy – Developing alphavoltaic (alpha-particle) power cells. Avalanche is leveraging expertise from its fusion work to create compact, high-power direct energy conversion devices. BWX Technologies (BWXT) – Bringing deep expertise in nuclear fuel, isotope handling, and source engineering, making it one of the strongest industrial competitors. City Labs – The only participant already selling commercial nuclear batteries. Its current products use tritium betavoltaics, and the DARPA effort aims to dramatically increase their power density. Arizona State University – Exploring radiation-tolerant semiconductor materials that intentionally use atomic-scale disorder to improve durability under intense radiation. Morgan State University – Leading Project SYMPHONEE, which uses Strontium-90 recovered from nuclear waste. Partners include Northrop Grumman, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Project Omega, Widetronix, and Applied Research Associates. University of Missouri – Developing novel radiovoltaic materials and device architectures. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Focused on semiconductor innovations that can deliver useful electrical power under realistic radiation conditions. Some teams are focused on alpha emitters, others on beta emitters such as tritium or strontium-90, while others are reinventing the semiconductor materials themselves. The end goal of DARPA’s Rads to Watts program is enabling a new class of products and companies built around decades-long autonomous power, much as lithium-ion batteries enabled the smartphone, drone, and electric vehicle industries.

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TLDR: Start small, then expand and don’t worry about competition.

Damian Player @damianplayer

20 hours ago

Peter Thiel's Stanford lecture, "Competition is for Losers." he published Zero to One three weeks earlier. this is the book in 40 minutes:

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Big maritime milestone: xCell just proved expeditionary manufacturing works in real conditions. Firestorm's xCell platform printed 1,000+ parts, including 12 Squall FPV drones, en route to RIMPAC in Hawaii, as part of @NPS_Monterey CAMRE's distributed advanced manufacturing network. In sea conditions peaking at 12 ft waves, service members manufactured and built the FPVs in transit, using our xCell microfactory. Upon arrival to RIMPAC, the drones were flown as adversary aircrafts in a counter-UAS exercise. Every part xCell printed on deck is one that doesn't need to be flown or shipped across contested waters — cutting the fuel, aircraft hours, and personnel it takes to keep a ship operational. Repairs that once meant days or weeks waiting on a resupply run, can now happen in hours, on station. That's the difference between logistics as a bottleneck and logistics as an advantage — sustainment at the point of need, not thousands of miles away. This was conducted aboard the USS Essex and facilitated by NPS' PIA partner FLEETWERX.

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Researchers at Light Origins have created LightParkour, a single AI system that lets their Lightbot 0 humanoid robot handle everything from walking to climbing to vaulting. It works using just a depth camera and a velocity command, deciding on its own which movement fits each obstacle. The system even adapts to obstacle shapes and variations it has never encountered before.

Hughes Satellite Systems just filed bankruptcy because Starlink captured that market. So, your comment about mobile telecom could be prescient.

Nic Cruz Patane @niccruzpatane

17 hours ago

If I were AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile, I would be terrified of @SpaceX. SpaceX President & COO Gwynne Shotwell on @Starlink Mobile: "Between AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, there is roughly $600B/yr between them. I anticipate us acquiring a few of their customers, because I think

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@sourceryy @rabois @Gladwell I think the ketchup theory could be true.

$21m / year to $21m / hour!

Jon Erlichman @JonErlichman

20 hours ago

AWS revenue in 2006: $21 million AWS revenue in 2026: $21 million every hour

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Amazing!

Dylan Morris @Dylan_Morri

19 hours ago

@StonePowerUS just designed and tested the lowest emissions dry combustion system on the planet. <2.5ppm NOx That’s 5x the power behind the meter on the same air permit. While saving the world from smog.

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Interesting!

Miguel Arratia @MiguelArratia

22 hours ago

Argentina could, if they keep their act together, surpass its neighbour Chile as number one producer of copper in the world. Today they produce 0.1% relative to #1, but likely they have same stock of reserves. This is just a matter of symmetry along the Andes. Exciting place to

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This is why SpaceX alums are highly valued as founders👇

Race 🕊️ @multiplanet1

a day ago

A SpaceX engineer once described what happens when Elon Musk finds an error in your work. The engineer had submitted a thermal analysis for a component on the Raptor engine. The document was 80 pages. It passed review from three senior engineers. It was approved and scheduled

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Travis Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009 (🐐) and fundamentally changed the way we travel around cities. Now, he’s working together with $JOBY on the next transport revolution. We’re going to be building America’s vertiport network together, starting in TX, FL, NY and CA - states where we’re targeting early operations via the White House-backed eIPP program. Atoms recently raised $1.7B in a financing round led by @a16z and has deep expertise in acquiring, developing and permitting infrastructure. The vision goes beyond just landing pads for electric air taxis to mobility hubs that incorporate EV charging and AV depots, delivering shared economics, seamless journeys for our customers and greater value for the communities we’ll be situated in.

Joby Aviation @jobyaviation

a day ago

Joby is partnering with @travisk’s Atoms to build America's vertiport network. Today, Joby and Atoms announced a definitive agreement to develop next-generation transportation hubs where electric air taxis, autonomous ground vehicles, and ridesharing converge, anchored by GEACS,

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@alexabelonix Alexa, you do you!

Subsea data cables are expensive, take a long time to build, and can be accidentally or intentionally severed. Creating a high capacity, less expensive satellite optical network seems like a great opportunity.

Tyler Presser @presser_tyler

a day ago

Today we're coming out of stealth with a $10.75M seed co-led by @generalcatalyst and @a16z with support from @mainobjectvc , @xyz_vc , and @upfrontvc. Global internet data moves the same way it did 30 years ago. 95% of intercontinental data runs through subsea cables that take a

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Phase 1: Build sensor tech to find copper and deploy it in the world's richest copper region. Phase 2: ??? Phase 3: Profit.

This is so interesting!

jacobruh 🚀 @jrxcket

2 days ago

SATELLITE IMAGES OF SHIP 40 BEING TOWED BY NORMAND RANGER!!! 👀🔥🔥 📸: Vantor via CNN

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Massive raises from Base Power, Mariana Minerals and Valar Atomics today. Funding the build out of batteries, minerals and nuclear. It all starts with founders, operators, investors and goverment working together. This is American Capitalism at its best.

Announcing Valar Atomics' $1B series B led by Sequoia, with Valor Equity Partners, Atreides, Point72, Conviction, and others. Alongside the $1B equity, we have closed a $200m credit facility led by Erebor and JPM. I'm excited to welcome Shaun Maguire from Sequoia to our board.

Base told me they save people money on their electricity bills, keep the lights on during power outages and strengthen the overall power grid. I couldn’t understand how that was possible or why everyone wouldn’t switch to Base, so I wanted to find out for myself. I’m now a customer, investor & endorser. I toured the factory, met the team, visited a home install and asked a whole bunch of questions. I went on the Base website and typed in my address to see how much they could save me on my electricity bill and it said 35%. I switched right there on the spot. No special VIP pricing, no endorsement trick, I literally logged on and did it myself on the regular website right from my phone. The one question I kept coming back to was “Save money, protect your home during outages, help support the power grid. Why wouldn’t everyone want to get Base?” I still haven’t found an answer to that yet. Today they're launching Base Core, a new home battery fully designed by Base and built right here in Texas. Check it out here: basepowercompany.com/watt @basepowerco

We’re designing Seagliders for the ultimate travel experience. From easy docking to smooth float, foil, and fly operations that connect coastal destinations in a fraction of the time of existing transport options, Seagliders check every box: ✔️ convenience ✔️ comfort ✔️ cool factor 😎