poweringspace.com: Power in Space - Generation, Transmission, Storage, Use

Image of the Day · 2026-08-20

The Shadow Is the Wire

The power line is drawn by the reactor's own shadow

Artistic imagining, not existing hardware, of a fission surface-power reactor standing alone on the lunar plain at dusk: a tall metallic core tower topped by nine radiator fins fanned open like a blossom, casting one impossibly long shadow across cratered regolith that doubles as its power cable, running to a toy-small habitat dome dwarfed on the horizon under a star-flecked, amber-lit sky. — An artistic imagining, not existing hardware: a fission surface-power reactor on the lunar plain casts a shadow so long it becomes the power line itself, running from the machine's base to the small habitat it keeps alive through the coming 14-day lunar night. Second image in the poweringspace.com Image of the Day series. Image: poweringspace.com. Artistic imagining.

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August 19, 2026 Multi-layer optical interconnects and thermal management for chiplet-based 3D heterogeneous integration

An NSF-funded project at Michigan State University, led by Principal Investigator Navid Yazdi, investigates multi-layer optical interconnects and thermal-management technologies for high-density chiplet-based 3D heterogeneous integration. The central objective is to develop high-density vertical optical waveguides and optical I/O for high-speed communication between stacked layers. The second objective is a scalable thermal-management architecture using modular thermal-interface chiplets that provide low thermal resistance while mechanically decoupling chip stacks from shared cold plates. The project will measure loss, crosstalk, data rate, bit-error rate, alignment tolerance, thermal resistance, heat-removal capability, and pressure drop, and will integrate both technologies in a module-scale 3D test vehicle.

August 18, 2026 Emerging space nuclear power needs: a 1984 Air Force perspective

In a 1984 conference paper at NASA Lewis Research Center, F. J. Redd and E. V. Fornoles of the Air Force Space Technology Center argued that growing interest in new classes of military and civil space systems demanding substantial power was driving renewed interest in space-qualified nuclear power. They identified power as a limiting technology for future space goals and noted that development speed was constrained by the absence of clear system requirements. The needs they described for robust surveillance, survivable communications with anti-jam, electric propulsion, and weapons applications remain relevant today.

August 17, 2026 AI-secure command channels for autonomous spacecraft

An NSF EPSCoR Research Fellowship led by Efren Lopez Morales at New Mexico State University, collaborating with UC Santa Cruz, develops a formal framework for modeling how AI systems transform inputs into spacecraft commands, characterizing AI-enabled command manipulation attacks, and building runtime validation mechanisms that check AI-generated commands against mission and safety constraints before execution. The project uses an AI-enabled satellite command prototype with realistic spacecraft command and telemetry interfaces. It is funded research at the framework development stage with no deployed results as of the award date.

August 16, 2026 Predicting perovskite solar cell degradation with multi-scale machine learning

An NSF-funded project at Penn State Behrend combines a curated photovoltaic device database, physics-based drift-diffusion modeling, nanoscale electrical characterization, and interpretable machine learning to discover design rules for stable mixed-cation perovskite solar cells. The framework links material composition, fabrication processes, and device architecture to efficiency and stability, but no device results have been demonstrated yet as of the award date.

August 15, 2026 DT-AIM: Digital-Twin-Accelerated Inverse Metasurface Optimization

NSF Award 2610941, led by PI Ifana Mahbub at the University of Texas at Dallas, is a three-year, $506,406 program that develops the Digital-Twin-Accelerated Inverse Metasurface (DT-AIM) framework for designing large reconfigurable metasurfaces. The framework integrates electromagnetic simulation, reduced-order modeling, physics-informed machine learning, and hardware-in-the-loop validation. Goals include a tenfold reduction in design time and a 90 percent decrease in the need for full-wave electromagnetic simulations. The project will fabricate and test real metasurface tiles. Applications span antennas, photonics, acoustics, and wireless power transfer including power-beaming systems. No deployed system is claimed.

August 14, 2026 High-mobility Ge-on-AlAs nanosheet FETs and CFET for adaptive and ultra-low-power electronics

An NSF-funded project at Virginia Tech, led by Principal Investigator Mantu K. Hudait, investigates high-mobility germanium-on-aluminum-arsenide nanosheet field-effect transistors and complementary FET (CFET) architectures for sub-nanometer technology nodes. The project uses ultra-high vacuum molecular beam epitaxy to develop stacked Ge-on-AlAs nanosheet structures, targets 0.5V operation with minimal power consumption, and employs Synopsys TCAD and Verilog-HDL predictive modeling with thermal effects. Circuit-level demonstrations of inverters, ring oscillators, and 6T SRAM cells are planned. No devices have been fabricated yet as of the award date.

August 13, 2026 Semiconductor manufacturing in microgravity: the NSF CHIPS in Space feasibility assessment

NSF Award 2421927 (EAGER: CHIPS in Space) was a $300,000 project led by PI David A. Staack at Texas A&M that explored the scientific, technical, and economic feasibility of semiconductor manufacturing in space. The project reviewed more than 180 prior microgravity experiments, found substantial evidence that reduced gravity improves crystal quality and material performance, produced one of the first techno-economic assessments of space-based semiconductor manufacturing, organized two national workshops, and established the In-Space Semiconductor Manufacturing Alliance. The findings are assessment-level, not flight demonstrations.

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Daily Image of the Day

A daily 3000x3000 artistic imagining of power in space: generation, transmission, storage, and use. Browse the archive or open today's image at full resolution.

Section Generation

Solar arrays, space nuclear power, fission surface power, radioisotope systems, and ideas not yet invented.

Section Transmission

Power beaming, wireless power transmission, microwave and laser transfer, rectennas, and the wiring that moves electrons.

Section Storage

Space batteries, energy storage, flywheels, fuel cells, and the buffers that bridge generation and demand.

Computation and power budgeting, spacecraft power systems, in-space grids and microgrids, refueling and ISRU propellant.

Section Analysis

Daily readings of new research from government and first-party primary sources, newest first.

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