The Big Picture
Hubble: keeping an observatory working across 200,000 orbits
Hubble combines servicing, revised pointing modes and repeat observations with archive research, connecting its engineering history to long-running science.
The Big Picture
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EnerVenue: nickel–hydrogen cells and the route to Changzhou production
EnerVenue prepares its Changzhou battery line. Nickel–hydrogen research, electrode suppliers, vessel revisions and field pilots trace its route into production.
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BepiColombo’s route from electric cruise to Mercury science
BepiColombo has released its transfer module, leaving two connected orbiters to approach Mercury ahead of a sequence of planned separations and science operations.
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LZ: xenon signals, calibration and a high-energy search
LUX-ZEPLIN examines an unexplained high-energy event. Its xenon detector relies on calibrated light, charge, clean materials and background measurements.
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Zeiss expands the factories behind semiconductor optics
Zeiss’s semiconductor expansion spans optics production, mask repair and customer qualification. The programme connects new buildings with ASML’s manufacturing plans.
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PLATO: camera calibration and spacecraft testing
PLATO has completed its electronics tests. Camera calibration, onboard processing and stellar catalogues prepare the mission to measure planetary transits.
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Cerebras and the engineering of disaggregated AI inference
AMD and Cerebras plan to split prompt processing from token generation. Research on wafer-scale software, scheduling and memory shows the engineering involved.
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How Euclid’s survey reached a record-breaking quasar
Euclid’s distant quasar discovery connects infrared detectors, precise spacecraft pointing, calibrated survey images and confirmation from ground-based telescopes.
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Thorium nuclear clocks: feedback, crystal engineering and the search for new physics
Operating thorium clocks connect nuclear transitions to laser feedback, while crystal shifts and conditional physics sensitivity set separate measures of progress.
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OSCAR-QUBE: diamond sensing, flight tests and magnetic calibration
OSCAR-QUBE mapped Earth's magnetic field from the ISS. Diamond readouts, launch qualification and calibration explain the flight and future engineering options.
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Dragonfly’s engineering path from test rigs to Titan
Dragonfly enters integration for its mission to Titan. Rotor tests, sample handling and thermal design chart what NASA must verify before a planned 2028 launch.
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Inside Project Silica: glass media, readers and archival libraries
Project Silica combines laser-written glass with optical readers and archival libraries. Separate experiments trace its media, robotics and preservation requirements.
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Inside Sila’s Moses Lake silicon-anode factory
Sila’s manufacturing ramp connects customer qualification, local training, feedstock supply and later financing and quality milestones.
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Bigbelly’s Massachusetts assembly and public-space bin range
Bigbelly assembles public-space waste bins in Massachusetts, with products ranging from simple enclosures to connected equipment and food-scrap collection.
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EFKO’s investment plan links food factories with new technologies
EFKO’s 2025 investment plan covered conventional food production and innovation. Dated projects span factory expansion, ingredient development and research.
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Cooling paint: moisture, heat transfer and evidence from buildings
NTU's cooling paint combines reflection, heat emission and evaporation. Other experiments explain moisture, durability and the scale of building-energy savings.
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Solar Orbiter’s polar views and observing methods
Solar Orbiter combines polar images and particle measurements to investigate solar magnetism, wind and flares.
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Lucy’s asteroid encounters: navigation, instruments and Donaldjohanson
Lucy’s Donaldjohanson flyby joins autonomous tracking, infrared measurements and image analysis. Earlier engineering tests and later findings trace the mission’s work.
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PUNCH: turning four spacecraft into a solar-wind observatory
PUNCH combines four cameras, polarized light and careful calibration to follow solar material from the corona across the inner solar system.
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Flamanville 3: commissioning tests, maintenance and the power ramp
Flamanville 3’s start-up links equipment maintenance, regulatory approvals and staged testing, from fuel loading to full thermal power.
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KATRIN: measuring neutrino mass through tritium, fields and detector response
KATRIN links tritium spectroscopy with field calibration and detector testing. Its mass limit and later TRISTAN simulations address separate neutrino questions.
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ACT: microwave maps, calibration and lensing reconstruction
ACT combines microwave maps with noise models, optical calibration and lensing reconstruction to measure cosmic structure and test cosmological parameters.
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KM3NeT’s record neutrino: the signal, the calibration and the unanswered origin
KM3NeT’s extraordinary neutrino observation links deep-sea optical measurements with a search for cosmic origins that remains open after one exceptional event.
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CONUS+: germanium recoils, reactor backgrounds and calibration
CONUS+ detects reactor antineutrinos through germanium nuclear recoils. Background studies and calibration separate its first result from later precision work.
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SMILE’s route from instrument benches to Earth’s magnetic shield
SMILE combines X-ray and auroral imaging with local plasma measurements. Instrument delivery, spacecraft tests and commissioning trace a view of Earth’s shield.
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Chong Liu and the materials challenge of selective lithium extraction
Iron phosphate offers a route to lithium amid competing ions. Particle engineering, membranes and later experiments reveal distinct measures of progress.
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Juice’s instruments: calibrating a Jupiter observatory in flight
Juice tested cameras, radar and spectrometers during its cruise, linking spacecraft deployment with lunar, terrestrial and comet observations.
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SVOM’s path from gamma-ray triggers to ground follow-up
SVOM combines gamma-ray triggers, X-ray optics and rapid follow-up. Its integration, early alerts and new bursts show how space and ground observations connect.
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COSI: from cold germanium detectors to gamma-ray sky maps
A launch contract sets the schedule. Detector assembly, calibration and balloon observations show how COSI is being prepared to reconstruct the gamma-ray sky.
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TESS: keeping a sky survey running and checking its signals
TESS combines repeated sky observations with data-quality checks, candidate vetting and follow-up research. Its recovery history shows how the survey works.
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SKA-Low’s route from first antenna to verified array
SKA-Low’s antenna rollout connects manufacturing, remote infrastructure and software testing with the calibration needed for radio astronomy.
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Fervo’s geothermal wells: from Project Red to Cape Station
Fervo’s geothermal programme links horizontal wells, reservoir monitoring and power contracts. Project Red and Cape Station trace the work from pilot tests to commercial generation.
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PREFIRE: measuring polar heat with compact spectrometers
PREFIRE pairs small satellites with far-infrared spectrometers. Launches, calibration and cloud screening shape its record of heat escaping Earth’s polar regions.
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NIF fusion ignition: the lasers, targets and measurements behind the gain
NIF’s ignition experiments combine precision targets, laser control and diagnostics, with later results extending a distinct measure of fusion energy gain.
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PACE’s journey from ocean-colour optics to validated data
PACE links ocean colour with atmospheric polarimetry. Prototypes, spacecraft tests and field campaigns trace how its measurements of seas and skies are checked.
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LISA: building a gravitational-wave observatory across space
LISA links free-falling test masses through laser measurements. Telescope prototypes, charge control and simulated data mark separate steps toward flight.
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XRISM: cold detectors and the moving X-ray universe
XRISM combines cryogenic spectroscopy with wide-field imaging. Its first light, detector engineering and dated scientific results reveal hot cosmic gas in detail.
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