"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...
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.
"Sous-Marin Nucléaire Lanceur d'Engins de Troisieme Génération", the next French nuclear ballistic submarine, expected to operate from 2035 to 2090.
#art by Nikausse.
www.artstation.com/artwork/JrNXzD
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...
"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
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
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?
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.
A Bysphere Vipretta assault ship conducts live fire testing over Uranus.
Titanian defenders initiate a burn.
Warcraft Wednesday
#hibourverse #space #scifi
oh this one is even better
24.02.2026 09:05 — 👍 34 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0
The Harrier from SpaceSolar is a 360° 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.
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
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.
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...
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.
Radioisotope microbatteries using diamond Schottky barrier diodes to directly convert Beta decay into electricity:
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
There's some potential of 4-6% conversion efficiency, but only 0.6% has been demonstrated at a paltry 0.000000003 W/cm^2 using Ni63.
The Synod battleship from EVE: Frontier. No regard for realism, but the aesthetics make up for it.
#space #art by Long Pham.
www.artstation.com/artwork/2BXwWy
The many warheads of the Minuteman missile:
minutemanmissile.com/nuclearwarhe...
It started with 1 Mt W59s and 1.2 Mt W56s, then evolved into a MIRV launcher with much more accurate but lower yield 170 kT W62s and 300 kT W87s.
NASA got John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Ring's Gimli) to present about their 'Fellowship of the Telescopes':
youtu.be/M8FklyI2IEo
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Habitable Worlds Observatory should soon join them.
One of the concepts for the Discovery from '2001: A Space Odyssey' was an Orion drive spaceship, based on documents handed to Kubrick as soon as the propulsion system was declassified:
youtu.be/rDkk_qar5wI
By Nick Stevens.
A fancy split-wing Ekranoplan design with a twin catamaran hull and six massive missile launchers.
#art by "E wo kaku Peter".
www.artstation.com/artwork/4eJrL
A 45mm Combustion Light Gas Gun demonstrator achieving 2.77 km/s muzzle velocity with 200g projectiles using a H2-O2 propellant mix at 20% efficiency:
apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/A...
It's subscale for a 155 mm L/70 Navy gun with 400 km range, supplied by onboard electrolysis.
Interplanetary, not interstellar, science with JWST; CO2 and H2O2 detected on Charon:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This means the ices on its surface are chemically interacting with faint solar UV and cosmic rays via photolytic/radiolytic processes, plus carbon ion implantation.
Systems Engineering of the B-2, also a deep dive into how the stealth bomber was designed and built:
apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA...
It actually uses asymmetric thrust instead of split rudders for yaw control during 'penetration mode' to maintain stealth.
MTOW 152t, payload 20t.
Image taken by a parachute-up-look camera aboard the protective back shell of NASA's Perseverance rover during its descent toward Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021.
Sky crane at work
Image acquired during Perseverance's descent to Mars, using the Descent Stage Down-Look Camera. This camera is mounted on the bottom of the descent stage and looks at the rover.
bye bye sky crane, and thank you!
Five years ago
#Mars #Perseverance 🧪🔭
Concepts for the Weyland-Yutani Heavy Loader in Predator: Badlands.
#art by @dofresh.bsky.social
www.artstation.com/artwork/5WzbGJ
There's official ITER comics, with 8 volumes since 2019:
www.iter.org/publication-...
"Projectile, Atomic, Supercaliber 279mm XM388" loaded with the W54 nuclear warhead based on Ted Taylor's Scarab device, launched by the Davy Crockett recoilless rifle, was meant to release a very 'dirty' 20 ton yield at 2-4 km range.
18.02.2026 11:21 — 👍 22 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 1
'Balios-A' arriving at Jupiter. Having a transparent debris shield is great visuals.
#space #art by @gtgraphics.bsky.social
cara.app/post/8d87427...
The PM-2A 'portable' reactor installed in Camp Century used 93% enriched U235 and was designed for "9.2 MW-years at 10 MW", paired with a 7-stage steam turbine to generate 1.98 MWe.
Shielding was provided by a water tank plus lead bricks:
radiationeffects.org/wp-content/u...
@pomarede.bsky.social would know most about this.
17.02.2026 07:14 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
