The Deep End #29
Tripling nuclear energy capacity, the Pentagon's secret space plane, and Europe's AI ruling
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22 Countries Pledge to Triple Nuclear Capacity in Push to Cut Fossil Fuels
From the New York Times:
The United States and 21 other countries pledged on Saturday at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050, saying the revival of nuclear power was critical for cutting carbon emissions to near zero in the coming decades.
Read more here.
Diminutive and mysterious, the Pentagon’s X-37B set to launch again
From the Washington Post:
It’s an itty-bitty spaceplane, not quite 30 feet long and under 10 feet tall, with a pair of stubby wings and a rounded, bulldog-like nose. But despite its diminutive size — it looks like a miniature version of the space shuttle — the Pentagon’s most mysterious spacecraft, known as the X-37B, has built an outsize reputation.
Is it a secretive Pentagon weapon? Is it stealthy? Does it sneak up to satellites? What exactly does it do in space? And why is it up there for so long?
The Pentagon won’t say. And the veil of secrecy over the X-37B continues ahead of its launch Sunday at 8:14 p.m. Eastern on its seventh mission. But this time there are some clues that at least something is different.
Read more here.
Europe reaches a deal on the world’s first comprehensive AI rule
From the Associated Press:
European Union negotiators clinched a deal Friday on the world’s first comprehensive artificial intelligence rules, paving the way for legal oversight of AI technology that has promised to transform everyday life and spurred warnings of existential dangers to humanity.
Read more here.
Other deep tech stories
AI
Google Just Launched Gemini, Its Long-Awaited Answer to ChatGPT (Wired)
Meta, IBM Create Industrywide AI Alliance to Share Technology (Bloomberg)
Meta and Microsoft say they will buy AMD’s new AI chip as an alternative to Nvidia’s (CNBC)
Microsoft’s Copilot is getting OpenAI’s latest models and a new code interpreter (The Verge)
Space
Millennium Space to build a missile-sensor layer in medium Earth orbit (Space News)
Energy
The U.S. Gas Startup at the Center of an Epic Feud With Global Energy Giants (WSJ)
ConsumerTech
Apple Aims to Make a Quarter of the World’s iPhones in India (WSJ)
Drones
The U.S. Can Afford a Bigger Military. We Just Can’t Build It (WSJ)
DZYNE Technologies to build massive drone factory in California to support Department of Defense projects. (Defense Post)
Aerospace
Alaska Airlines agrees to buy Hawaiian Airlines in $1.9 billion deal (CNBC)
DARPA selected four firms to design a 500-mph VTOL X-plane (Forbes)
L3Harris to sell commercial aviation business for $800 million (Breaking Defense)
Xwing and Daedalean Join Forces to Advance AI in Aviation (sUAS News)
BioTech
Seattle biotech hub pursues ‘DNA typewriter’ tech with $75M from tech billionaires (TechCrunch)