🗞 News of the day

🤖 X Planes

DARPA is developing a revolutionary X-plane that can take off and land vertically from Navy ships.

• Innovative Design Goals: DARPA's ANCILLARY program is focused on creating a lightweight, uncrewed X-plane capable of vertical take-off and landing from Navy ships. The aircraft must carry a significant payload and have an extended flight duration. The aim is to enhance the capabilities of small vertical take-off and landing uncrewed aerial systems by threefold, with flight tests set to start in early 2026.

• Cutting-Edge Specifications: Six companies, including AeroVironment and Northrop Grumman, are competing with unique design concepts for the project. These designs prioritize reducing system risks and enhancing payload weight and range. The X-plane must combine the vertical take-off and landing abilities of a helicopter with the efficient flight characteristics of a winged aircraft.

• Robust Testing and Versatility: The testing phase will ensure that the drones can be deployed and retrieved from Navy ships without requiring large mechanical launchers or recovery equipment. The X-plane must demonstrate its capability to operate in various weather conditions and perform missions efficiently.

This innovative development in aviation technology promises significant advancements in military and uncrewed aerial system capabilities.

🔖 Today's Cool Story

🚨 Aliens Harvesting Our Energy

Are aliens building giant Dyson spheres around stars? Astronomers think maybe!

Alright, picture this: Massive structures, called Dyson spheres, built around stars to collect energy. Sounds like science fiction, right? Well, these mind-blowing megastructures were first imagined by Freeman Dyson back in 1960.

The idea is that an advanced civilization could build a gigantic shell around a star to harvest its energy. Basically, it's like putting a giant solar panel around the sun, and it would give off tons of infrared radiation, making it detectable.

Now, astronomers have been hunting for signs of these Dyson spheres for over 60 years. They've been combing through all kinds of astronomical data, looking for anything that screams "alien technology." Recently, they found seven promising candidates within 1,000 light-years of Earth.

These seven stars, known as M-dwarfs, are smaller and dimmer than our sun. They're taking a closer look at these stars, trying to figure out if they could be hiding these colossal energy-harvesting spheres.

NASA folks are also curious about other techno signatures—clues that could indicate intelligent alien life. These could be anything from weird laser or radio signals to strange chemicals in distant planets' atmospheres. Imagine finding an alien civilization just by sniffing out some funky gases!

Even though we haven't found any solid evidence yet, the search goes on. And, let's be real, the idea that we might one day stumble upon some alien tech is pretty darn cool!

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