The Deep End #75
Hermeus hits milestone in hypersonic development
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Hermeus Uncrewed Quarterhorse Mk 1 Test Aircraft Flies for the First Time
Quarterhorse Mk 1 just flew at Edwards Air Force Base—proving what’s possible when you embrace rapid, iterative development.
From clean sheet to completed build in 204 days. 21 days from arrival to 130-knot taxi. 6 days from ops restart to flight. 20 months from first requirements to wheels up.
Now, we’re analyzing flight data and rolling those insights straight into Quarterhorse Mk 2—already in production at our Atlanta headquarters. This is the way. Fast airplanes fast.
Tech Terrain
Defense Tech
Anduril and Meta Team Up to Transform XR for the American Military
Why this matters: The effort has been funded through private capital, without taxpayer support, and is designed to save the U.S. military billions of dollars by utilizing high-performance components and technology originally built for commercial use.
Saildrone bags $60M investment for AI-powered maritime security in Europe
Energy
NuScale secures NRC approval for second small reactor design
Trend to watch: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission completed its technical review of NuScale’s SMR in just under two years. The nuclear startup, holds the only other SMR standard design approval from the NRC, granted in 2020.
Future Mobility
China's cargo drone completed its first flight, carrying 2,200 pounds over 1,000 miles
Why this matters: This milestone shows Beijing’s growing focus on using autonomous systems to help achieve economic and strategic goals in difficult and remote areas.
Joby announces completion of $250 Million funding round from Toyota
Advanced Computing
Why this matters: This breakthrough enables organizations to rapidly integrate advanced capabilities into existing products, democratizing powerful AI technologies and bringing high-performance inference directly to end-users
Finwave Semiconductor, a semiconductor manufacturing company, raised an $8.2M round
Space
White House to withdraw Isaacman nomination to lead NASA
Trend to watch: The announcement comes days after NASA released more details about its proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, which seeks to cut the agency’s overall spending by about 25%, with steeper cuts in science, space technology and other areas outside of exploration.