Orbex, a small launch company based in the UK, got more money from backers, including Scotland’s national bank. The company is now getting ready for its first orbital launch, but the date for that mission has not yet been set.

With its start in 2015, Orbex is one of only a few companies in Europe racing to make the next generation of launch vehicles. The retirement of the Ariane 5 and big delays to the Ariane 6 and Vega C rockets have left a huge gap that these companies are trying to fill. Without these vehicles, there is almost no native launch capacity coming out of Europe.

But Orbex also has a chance because of his absence. The company is working on what is sometimes called a “microlauncher.” It is a two-stage vehicle called Prime that is only 19 meters tall and can take up to 180 kilograms of payload. Rocket Lab’s Electron is the most similar. It’s only a meter shorter, but it can take up to 300 kilograms.

The fact that Orbex is small is not a problem for the company. In fact, Orbex CEO Philip Chambers told TechCrunch via email that the company is seeing “positive market conditions” for its product.

“There is a pent-up demand for sovereign launch capabilities,” he said. “We are seeing an exponential growth of satellites being launched into LEO, and demand for launch is far exceeding supply. At the moment, it’s not possible to launch a single kilogram from Europe.” “We will let European customers choose how to launch their own payloads and let them launch European payloads from European soil.”

Prime will take off from a new spaceport being built with money from the UK’s national space agency in Sutherland, which is in northern Scotland. The end goal is to use a patented recovery technique that the company calls REFLIGHT. This is an interstage device that sits between the rocket stages. When the booster comes off, four “petals” will unfold and, along with a parachute, create enough drag for a soft landing in the ocean.

It’s possible that a bigger car will be made in the future, but Chambers made it clear that Prime was the company’s top goal. He did say, though, that many of the rocket’s main technologies could be used with bigger packages.

Considering the laws of physics, it would be logical for Orbex to explore the option of using larger vehicles in order to compete on cost per kg.

The company is starting its Series D round with £16.7 million ($20.7 million) in new funding, including investments from Octopus Ventures, BGF, Heartcore, EIFO, and other contributors. Following the closure of a £40.4 million ($50 million) Series C in October 2022, Orbex has secured additional capital. Although a spokesperson has confirmed that the new funding will assist Orbex in accelerating the development of Prime, ensuring its readiness and scalability for the launch period, the specific launch window has not been announced yet.

It is possible that the US Navy will try its first powerful microwave weapon on a ship as early as 2026. The experimental weapons, which are part of Project METEOR, will send out beams of very strong electromagnetic energy that will damage drone electronics.

According to the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget documents, METEOR will “provide capability with low cost-per-shot, deep magazine, tactically significant range, short time engagement for multi-target approach, and dual deception and defeat capability.” The USA Naval Institute News reported on this.

The US military is interested in directed energy systems, a new type of weapon that can hurt targets without using solid bullets. Microwave weapons are one type of these systems. These are things like lasers, soundwaves, and even particle beams, along with microwaves.

A very high-frequency wave of electromagnetic energy is used by powerful microwave weapons to harm equipment. If the equipment was used to aim at a drone, the waves would quickly destroy it. Each shot is pretty cheap (at least in theory) compared to rockets, bullets, and other flying weapons of mass destruction.

Part of the push for microwave weapons and other directed energy systems is a reaction to the rise of cheap drones, which have completely changed the way modern wars are fought, as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the war in Gaza, and the crisis in the Red Sea all show. Small armies and guerilla groups can use new drone technologies that are cheap, easy to get, and can be changed to do a lot of damage and trouble for even the strongest troops in the world.

One of the most dangerous threats is drone swarms, which are groups of dozens or even hundreds or thousands of machines that work together to launch an attack. In the years to come, this kind of technology is likely to become more and more connected with artificial intelligence (AI), which will make things even more dangerous.

Using regular weapons to fight this kind of enemy is expensive, but directed energy weapons could cut down on that cost while still being very effective.

According to DefenseScoop, Dr. Frank Peterkin, the Principal Director for Directed Energy in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, said in a recent webinar, “Directed energy is basically electromagnetic radiation, whether it’s light or RF [radio frequency] energy, and therefore travels at the speed of light.”

“For those of you who haven’t read a physics book in a while, hypersonic threats are really, really fast—that’s around 5 to 15 Mach.” The speed of light is 100,000 times faster than any hypersonic machine we or anyone else is working on. He also said, “It’s really fast.”

A lot of other countries are also making their focused energy weapons stronger. The UK recently showed off its DragonFire system, which is basically a big laser gun that can shoot down targets in the air. The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) showed off the weapons in a film and said they could hit a target the size of a penny from 1 km away.

Boston Dynamics is discontinuing its hydraulic robot Atlas after years of pushing the limits. In order to bid adieu, the innovative firm has compiled a film montage showcasing the most remarkable instances of the mechanoid marvel, encompassing comical dancing routines, impressive acrobatic maneuvers, and a handful of unsuccessful attempts.

Atlas has been a source of inspiration for nearly ten years, igniting our creativity, motivating future generations of roboticists, and surpassing technical obstacles in the area. Boston Dynamics stated in a video aired on April 16 that it is now time for their hydraulic Atlas robot to rest and unwind.

“Please review all the achievements we have made so far with the Atlas platform,” they added.

Boston Dynamics, a robotics company based in Massachusetts, created Atlas for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon’s advanced technology division. Initially, it was conceived as a component of a prize competition with the aim of accelerating the progress of a humanoid robot capable of aiding in search and rescue missions.

Upon its public introduction in 2013, Atlas required a tether for stability and was limited to walking in a linear path. Almost.

A 1-year-old youngster has limited ability to walk and frequently stumbles. “As you observe these machines and draw comparisons to science fiction, it is important to bear in mind that this represents our current technological capabilities,” stated Gill Pratt, a program manager at DARPA who was involved in the design and funding of Atlas, in an interview with the New York Times in 2013.

Significant transformations have occurred since that time. The engineers at Boston Dynamics have meticulously tweaked the robot’s technology and algorithms throughout its development, enabling it to carry out physical tasks that would be difficult for most people with ease.

The most recent version of Atlas has a height of 150 cm, which is a little less than 5 feet, and a weight of 89 kilograms, equivalent to 196 pounds. With the help of its 28 hydraulic joints, this machine can achieve speeds of up to 2.5 meters (nearly 8 feet) per second. Additionally, it is capable of executing somersaults, athletic jumps, and 360° spins.

Additionally, it is equipped with a multitude of sensors that are utilized to accurately sense the immediate surroundings and respond accordingly in real-time. For example, if an obstacle is placed in the path of the robot, it will identify the issue and navigate around it. If you push it with a pole, it will elegantly adapt its body to stay upright.

Boston Dynamics has not provided an explanation for its decision to discontinue its renowned robot. Certain analysts have proposed that the corporation is preparing for the release of another novel product, but others have questioned whether Atlas has become a financial liability. While the company has successfully marketed its other inventions, such as the dog-like robot Spot, to different companies for diverse purposes, Atlas was never made available for sale.

According to IEEE Spectrum, Boston Dynamics has announced that they are retiring the hydraulic Atlas robot. Does this imply that a hydraulic Atlas robot is not the next item on the schedule? Currently, the outcome is uncertain and cannot be predicted.

It is uncertain what the future holds for the robots developed by Boston Dynamics, but we can only hope that it does not involve a rebellion by these machines.