Articles

Aerospace

NAWCWD Engineers Turned a Threat Simulator into an Offensive Electronic Attack Weapon

Keith Yuen, a supervisory engineer at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) spent years building a jammer designed to defeat America’s own radars. Then the question changed: what if the same system could jam the enemy? The system is Angry Kitten. Read on to learn more about it.

Articles

Aerospace

Heritage in Motion: Why Legacy Engineering Matters More Than Ever in Today’s UAV Market

The uncrewed aerial vehicle market is advancing at extraordinary speed, reshaping both commercial and defense aviation. Yet this rapid innovation brings with it growing engineering pressure. UAVs are expected to be lighter, more autonomous, more modular, and more adaptable, all while maintaining near-flawless reliability. This is where heritage becomes decisive. Read on to learn more.

Articles

Materials

Polymer vs. Metal Seals: A Comparison In Critical Space Systems

Neither polymer nor metal seals are universally optimal in space applications. Read on to learn why and find out which is superior.

Articles

Materials

Advanced Silicone Materials for Harsh Aerospace Environments

As aerospace and defense systems become more advanced, the demands placed on materials continue to increase. Components must perform reliably under extreme and often overlapping conditions, including thermal cycling, mechanical stress, chemical exposure, and vacuum environments. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

RF & Microwave Electronics

Advancing Next Generation Weather Data from Space

PlanetiQ has been awarded a $15 million, 48-month Strategic Funding Increase contract by the U.S. Air Force. Read on to learn more about it.

Application Briefs

Manufacturing & Prototyping

A New Electric Propulsion Satellite Thruster to Meet Demand for New Constellations

Rocket Lab’s new in-house designed and manufactured electric propulsion system, named “Gauss,” features a hall thruster, power processing unit and a propellant management assembly. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Software

Northrop Grumman’s AI Revolution in Space Engineering

Teaming with Flexcompute powered by NVIDIA, Northrop Grumman recently created a physics AI model that accurately predicts thruster impingement – a challenging simulation and modeling problem that exists when the exhaust from a spacecraft or rocket will interact or impact other nearby spacecraft or surfaces. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

RF & Microwave Electronics

NEC Completes Design of Japan’s Optical Communication Demonstrator Satellite

NEC Corporation will develop a small technology demonstration satellite to conduct in-orbit verification of key technologies essential for realizing future optical communication satellite constellations, including optical communications, high-speed network routing design, and high-capacity millimeter-wave band communications. The design of the satellite-mounted equipment (payload) for this demonstration has now been completed. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

RF & Microwave Electronics

Solid-State Data Recorders for SDA’s Tranche 3 Tracking Layer Satellites

Mercury Systems was awarded a contract from L3Harris Technologies to provide SSDRs for the U.S. Space Development Agency Tranche 3 Tracking Layer satellite constellation. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Rapidly Deployable Counter-Threat Space Missions for NATO

EnduroSat, a space infrastructure builder, and Shield Space, a veteran-found UK defense technology company, have entered into a strategic partnership to deliver rapidly deployable counter-threat space missions for NATO and allied defense customers. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Manned Systems

A Reconfigurable Spacecraft for Security and Space Logistics

Ascent spacecraft are designed to support dynamic space operations through advanced maneuverability capabilities, including refueling and high-thrust propulsion, while carrying multiple rideshare payloads. Read on to learn more about them.

Articles

Energy

Making EV Batteries Truly Sustainable: Where to Focus and What Industry Can Do

As the global electric vehicle fleet approaches 40 million vehicles, a critical question emerges: are we truly on the path to building a sustainable transportation future, and where should we focus our efforts to improve? The answer lies in how quickly we can move from today’s linear EV battery value chain into a truly circular system. Read on to learn more.

Articles

Software

Express Delivery: Simulation App Speeds Up Electric Truck Battery Design

The custom simulation app developed by the LaserBATMAN consortium can be used to help produce more robust battery designs with ranges that can support highway travel over longer distances with fewer failures — all while promoting the use of green energy. Read on to learn more.

Articles

Energy

Quality Assurance: The Hidden Key to Battery Manufacturing

Ultimately, the success of the battery industry will not be determined solely by breakthroughs in chemistry or capacity. It will be judged by its ability to manufacture at scale, safely, sustainably, and affordably. And that only hinges on quality assurance. Read on to learn more.

Articles

Design

New York 2026: Product Diversity on Full Display

Debuts from the 2026 New York Auto Show, including the Hyundai Boulder, Kia EV3, Subaru Getaway and news from Lucid.

Technology Report

Power

WCX: NHTSA Open to Negotiated Rulemaking on Some Safety Issues

The chief lawyer for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said the agency wants to move quickly to reduce regulatory burden.

Briefs

RF & Microwave Electronics

Space Systems Command Looks Ahead to New Era of GPS Success

The GPS III series is the third generation of the U.S. Space Force’s GPS satellites and consists of ten 5,000-pound satellites manufactured by Lockheed Martin, with the first launched in 2018. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Manned Systems

European Researchers Develop Self-Healing Composite Material for Spacecraft

Healable spacecraft structures could soon be possible thanks to cutting-edge composite technology. Swiss companies CompPair and CSEM, and Belgian company Com&Sens have partnered with the European Space Agency (ESA) to modify their self-healing carbon fiber product for use in space transportation. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Materials

Researchers Discover Record-Setting Heat Conducting Material

A multi-institution research team working at the Advanced Photon Source has discovered a metallic material with the highest thermal conductivity measured among metals. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

RF & Microwave Electronics

Glaring Vulnerabilities Discovered in Satellite Communications

With $800 of off-the-shelf equipment and months’ worth of patience, a team of U.S. computer scientists set out to find out how well geostationary satellite communications are encrypted. And what they found was shocking. Read on to find out why.

Briefs

Materials

From Racing Car to Rocket Tank

Carbon fiber has become indispensable in high-performance industries such as automotive engineering and aerospace. It’s lightweight, extremely durable, and can be shaped in almost any way. Start-up Blackwave, founded at the Technical University of Munich, specializes in this versatile composite material. What began with custom components for sports cars and aircraft has evolved into the development of high-pressure tanks for space applications. Read on to learn more.

Products

Energy

New Products

See the new products, including BYD's FLASH Charging, delivering up to 1500kW through a single connector, and the second generation of its Blade Battery; Sensata's FaultBreak contactor, a next-generation high-voltage switching and protection solution; and more.

Articles

Energy

How Redwood Materials Prioritizes Battery Recycling Safety

Whether it’s a phone, mouse, e-bike, or EV, the batteries powering those devices at some point need to be collected, shipped, and recycled in a safe manner. Read on to learn what Redwood Materials is working on to help make this happen.

Briefs

Energy

Lithium Metal Battery Issue Might be Solved

KAIST announced that the research team led by Prof. Nam-Soon Choi has developed a technology that resolves the most critical challenge of lithium-metal batteries, “interfacial instability,” at the electronic structure level. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Energy

A New Electrolyte Points to Stronger, Safer Batteries

Researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a new gel electrolyte that both improves the lifetime and safety of anode-free lithium batteries, an emerging battery architecture that could dramatically boost energy density while simplifying manufacturing. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Energy

Safer Batteries for Storing Energy at Massive Scale

Among the enduring challenges of storing energy is batteries that can hold large amounts of electricity for a long time. In addition to having a large capacity – potentially enough to power a neighborhood or small city for days or weeks – ideally, these batteries would be safe, affordable, and environmentally harmless. With an eye toward meeting those benchmarks, researchers at Case Western Reserve University are developing novel electrolytes—fluids that can conduct ions—for rechargeable flow batteries.

Briefs

Energy

Researchers Turn Recovered Car Battery Acid and Plastic Waste Into Clean Hydrogen

Researchers have developed a solar-powered reactor to break down hard-to-recycle forms of plastic waste – such as drinks bottles, nylon textiles and polyurethane foams – using acid recovered from old car batteries, and converting it into clean hydrogen fuel and valuable industrial chemicals. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Green Design & Manufacturing

Improved EV Battery Technology Will Outmatch Degradation From Climate Change

In a new study led by the University of Michigan, researchers have shown that batteries have gotten a lot better over the past several years. So much so, in fact, that their gains will more than offset their expected heat-related degradation on a warming planet. Read on to learn more.

Technology Report

Government

WCX: Expert Claims War Hurting China’s Already-Struggling Economy

As the opening keynote speaker for SAE WCX 2026 in Detroit, China analyst Gordon Chang was direct in his assessment of the Iran war’s effect on China, particularly the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Read on to learn more.