☢️ Stellarators could give US nuclear edge over China, MIT invents game-changing transistor for electronics, China’s secretive spaceplane offers ‘dual use’ military tech

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A team of 24 physicists from leading plasma research institutes in the US has released a white paper suggesting that if the United States wants to stay ahead in nuclear fusion technology, it should construct a “flexible” stellarator facility that could lead to the development of a fusion plant in the future.

Currently, there is no planned or existing facility in the country where researchers can test their theories and concepts related to fusion pilot plants. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Principal HPC Software Engineer 
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MUST READ

☢️ Nuclear fusion race: ‘Flexible’ stellarators could give US edge over China

The study’s suggestions hold immense importance for the US considering the fact that China and Russia are actively advancing their own nuclear fusion technologies.

Nuclear fusion research is conducted using two types of devices: tokamaks and stellarators. These devices can confine hot plasma and achieve the conditions required for nuclear fusion reactions. Scientists study these reactions to better understand nuclear fusion and the conditions that are necessary to operate a fusion plant.

Lead author of the white paper, Felix Parra Diaz suggests that stellarators and tokamaks “are close relatives, with many aspects in common. Physics discoveries that benefit one are usually of interest to the other.”

⚡️ MIT’s breakthrough transistor could be game-changer for electronics

MIT physicists have created a transistor using a ferroelectric material that could revolutionize electronics. The material—an innovation of the same core team and colleagues in 2021—is ultrathin and separates positive and negative charges into different layers.

The team has demonstrated that their novel transistor surpasses current industry standards in several key aspects. At the center of the new transistor is the ferroelectric material stacked in a parallel configuration, an arrangement that does not occur naturally.

When an electric field is applied, the layers slightly slide over each other and alter the positions of boron and nitrogen atoms, dramatically changing the material’s electronic properties.

✈️ China’s secretive spaceplane offers ‘dual use’ tech, could fulfill military goals

China’s secretive spaceplane has recently captured international attention after being observed releasing and retrieving an object during its third mission, raising questions about its capabilities and purpose.

During its third mission in June, the spacecraft was seen releasing an object, moving several kilometers away, and then returning to within a few hundred meters of it, Reuters reported.

Experts noted that a reusable spacecraft capable of interfering with complex satellite networks would be of significant value as militaries worldwide advance these systems.

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