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ToughSF

@toughsf.bsky.social

Matterbeam. Author of the ToughSF blog. Original SuperNerd. Ex-Kurzgesagt Duck. Freelance writer. Discord https://discord.gg/nXvRPcE7uU

6,091 Followers  |  143 Following  |  3,344 Posts  |  Joined: 11.05.2023
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Posts by ToughSF (@toughsf.bsky.social)

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Under the overpass, in the glow of neon lights.
#art by Matvey Radkov.
www.artstation.com/artwork/4Nn1nW

05.03.2026 14:00 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Well, they lived several levels underground in the previous season, which is more than enough protection if they spend a good % of their time there.

05.03.2026 02:12 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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According to the For All Mankind official 2004-2012 timeline, 'Iridium' has become the unobtanium that justifies the space economy, Mars habs above ground are protected by magnetic shielding and there's an interplanetary illegal immigration problem with stowaways:
youtu.be/sjQmbeoiMOM

05.03.2026 02:05 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image Post image 04.03.2026 15:32 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Quaia is an all-sky quasar map showing over 1.2 million active supermassive black holes detected by the Gaia mission:
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
It's the catalog with the "largest total volume of the universe mapped".

04.03.2026 15:32 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Carbon has a metastable BC8 form that's tougher than diamond. Its compressive strength may be 30% higher!

However, it would have to be grown as nanocrystals condensing out of liquid carbon at insane 5000K and >1500 GPa conditions.
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

04.03.2026 14:35 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Kitbashing industrial equipment together to create spaceships is not a terrible approach.
#space #art by Stanislav Verbitsky.
www.artstation.com/artwork/yk8qaR

04.03.2026 14:27 β€” πŸ‘ 342    πŸ” 61    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1
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Xcimer Energy is developing a commercial DT fusion reactor that's like a highly modernized NIF: a 10+ MJ Krypton-Fluoride 248 nm excimer laser (>5% efficiency) as driver and capsules shot by EM gun into a HYLIFE III chamber with molten FLiBe in the walls
xcimer.energy

04.03.2026 14:16 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Solar sails with a modest lightness ratio of 0.1 can transfer to Venus or Mars and become "quasi-pole-sitters", orbiting indefinitely less than 30Β° from the planet's poles:
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Thinner sails with better lightness ratios can become perfect 0Β° pole sitters.

04.03.2026 13:40 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I'm quoted several times in there.

04.03.2026 13:08 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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A simulation of a neutron star merger by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics that would explain the GW170817 gravitational wave observation by β€ͺ@LIGOVirgo‬, followed by a gamma ray burst:
youtu.be/xIthgcx-axs

04.03.2026 00:12 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Cinematics, environment and mood concepts for Battlefield 6.
#art by Jakub Kowalczyk.
www.artstation.com/artwork/Zl8PwX

03.03.2026 23:50 β€” πŸ‘ 23    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It's a known problem for decades.
Which is why US tactics have always relied on breaking air defences down so that strike aircraft can come in unopposed with masses of dumb bombs as early as possible.

03.03.2026 08:44 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Sunlight reflects off the thin spread of gas and dust throughout the Solar System, creating a very fait glow opposite our Sun.
It's called Gegenschein.

03.03.2026 00:55 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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CSBA report on the "inadequacy of Western munition stocks" and how the "U.S. military has encountered difficulties meeting its PGM demands in nearly every campaign since their adoption".
csbaonline.org/uploads/docu...
It then goes through multiple scenarios to detail how bad it gets.

03.03.2026 00:30 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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A Cold War interceptor with two turbojets and one massive ramjet, inspired by the French Leduc 0.22. The pilot sits inside the intake cone.
#art by AST21.
www.artstation.com/artwork/JrJ3kZ

02.03.2026 23:19 β€” πŸ‘ 69    πŸ” 14    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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"In fact, the art of computer programming was essentially invented for SAGE."
MIT Lincoln Lab's page on the US's first air defence system; the 'Semi-Automatic Ground Environment' ADS, built in a panic over nuclear-armed Soviet bombers flying over the Arctic:
www.ll.mit.edu/about/histor...

28.02.2026 15:25 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Hotspot impact ignition of fusion fuel:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A spherical capsule of DT has a plastic cone inserted into it. When blasted by a laser pulse, a piece of fuel is flung into the sphere's center where its impact generates ignition conditions for the rest of the fuel.

28.02.2026 02:49 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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"Sous-Marin NuclΓ©aire Lanceur d'Engins de Troisieme GΓ©nΓ©ration", the next French nuclear ballistic submarine, expected to operate from 2035 to 2090.
#art by Nikausse.
www.artstation.com/artwork/JrNXzD

27.02.2026 21:40 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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A great basic introduction to how space nuclear reactors work, their challenges and their potential performance at their current level of development:
ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20...

27.02.2026 01:33 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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"The Expanse: Future Worlds" was a series of behind-the-scene segments that featured crew, cast and creatives interviews plus worldbuilding details for the main show. Here's the first one:
youtu.be/mBikjImHxKg

27.02.2026 01:26 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Concept art for Balde Runner 2049, by Kamen Annev.
#art
www.artstation.com/artwork/80A3q
www.artstation.com/artwork/3W9Z2
www.artstation.com/artwork/P0Dk1
www.artstation.com/artwork/L6m2K

27.02.2026 01:20 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Am I reading this right?
The Type 091, China's first nuclear submarine, spent its first *15* years without any torpedoes installed?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_09...
And those torpedoes, Yu-3s, took 23 years to develop?

27.02.2026 01:17 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
A Rhean erakker limps along after surviving some hits.

A Rhean erakker limps along after surviving some hits.

Titanian interceptors, fitted by the various Houses of Titan, ascend to defend the moon from incoming aggressors.

Titanian interceptors, fitted by the various Houses of Titan, ascend to defend the moon from incoming aggressors.

A Bysphere Vipretta assault ship conducts live fire testing over Uranus.

A Bysphere Vipretta assault ship conducts live fire testing over Uranus.

Titanian defenders initiate a burn.

Titanian defenders initiate a burn.

Warcraft Wednesday

#hibourverse #space #scifi

25.02.2026 15:58 β€” πŸ‘ 62    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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oh this one is even better

24.02.2026 09:05 β€” πŸ‘ 36    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Harrier from SpaceSolar is a 360Β° power beaming tech demonstrator, part of their CASSIOPeiA space-based solar power satellite:
youtu.be/jGd8x8d2n3M
It's 0.5m wide and being tested in on the ground, for a 1.7km wide final design operating at GW scale from GEO.

24.02.2026 10:31 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Yanera-Class Interstellar Cargo Ship.
Debris shield, container stack, glowing radiators... it's got most of the right pieces for a realistic starship!
#space #art by aaunaa.
www.artstation.com/artwork/x3EVB1

23.02.2026 23:26 β€” πŸ‘ 74    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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A liquid sheet radiator:
ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citation...
Similar to liquid droplet radiator, and matching power density, but a thin continuous film of liquid is used to radiate heat. The flow was always stable in physical testing up to 11 m/s.

23.02.2026 23:22 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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A really good attempt at rendering Werka's Afterburning Fission Fragment rocket design, one of the few nuclear propulsion systems that can achieve 30-50,000s Isp without an electric conversion step or explosive chain reactions:
forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?to...

23.02.2026 23:17 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The 1000+ bases of the United States across the world:
geoawesome.com/top-14-maps-...
About a third of American troops are always stationed overseas.

23.02.2026 23:14 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0