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Interesting Links 🏭
An excellent review on passive and active thermal control methods for small spacecraft, from NASA. All components have specific operating temperature ranges, but designing spacecraft components to stay within these limits is challenging due to the unique environmental factors in space like solar heating and radiative heat loss. Traditional passive thermal management methods like paints, coatings, and multi-layer insulation continue to dominate due to low mass, volume, and power requirements. However, there is a growing trend towards incorporating advanced active thermal control systems like cryocoolers (miniature refrigeration system) and fluid loops (system that circulates a working fluid through the spacecraft to a heat sink).
The review is from a chapter in NASA’s annual state-of-the-art report on small spacecraft. The full 350 page+ report has detailed technical information on in-space propulsion, spacecraft material selection, avionics, and more!
Optimizing heat transfer (or lack thereof) is as important in spacecraft design as it is in corrugated fiberboard for food packaging. For products like butter and meat, which are packaged prior to freezing, a high packaging resistance (low thermal conductivity) can increase freezing times by up to 25%! This paper measures the thermal conductivity of different types of paper and cardboard packaging, and develops a finite element model of expected heat transfer in fiberboard materials and thickness. The results showed that the bulk of the heat flow occurs through the medium paper in the fluted region.
This week Baukunst released Contours of CAD and AI, a report exploring how emerging AI and machine learning techniques will shape the way we design and build the world around us. Contributors include founders/execs from startups and established players like Autodesk, PTC, nTop, Onshape, and more.
We see AI in hardware currently used in two ways: 1) as copilots for development tasks like automating schematic designs (JITX, Flux) and 2D drawings (Drafter); and 2) in agentic engineering environments, where "intelligent workers" can independently complete single or multi-step processes, such as tracking suppliers, vendors, or coordinating with external partners (Sygma, Dystr, etc.)
An old, but golden primer on reading component datasheets. It covers typical device performance, minimum and maximum requirements, key characteristics, and safe usage guidelines. After the primer, this guide provides an in-depth walkthrough of reading a Power MOSFET datasheet.
Here’s an overview of U.S. manufacturing construction spending over the past five years. Annual spending on semiconductor fabs and manufacturing facilities has reached $132 billion since the CHIPS Act was passed in 2022. Companies have pledged $300 billion of private investment to US based semiconductor manufacturing since the CHIPS Act, dwarfing the original $39 billion. TSMC secured a $6.6 billion subsidy for its Arizona chip production, but encountered challenges scaling the factory.
Sponsored: Presented by Instrumental
On October 16th, Instrumental is hosting the Build Better 2024 Summit, a manufacturing summit for leaders across engineering and operations. The focus is on 'The Next Way' — exploring how companies are using data, tech, and AI to reshape the development and production of complex electronics across consumer, aerospace, defense, and networking industries.
The event will be happening aboard the USS Hornet, a retired aircraft carrier from WWII!
Startup News 🚀
TuSimple, a once-promising autonomous vehicle startup founded in 2015 and backed by significant Chinese and U.S. investments, is pivoting from autonomous trucks to animation & gaming in a startling turn of events. Upon IPO’ing in 2021 at a post-money valuation of $8.5 billion, the company's stock plummeted leading to its delisting in 2024. With their remaining capital, TuSimple China pivoted to animation and gaming and has raised concerns among shareholders and U.S. regulators, particularly due to the founder’s connections with other private businesses and the lack of disclosure around the new direction.
A neat Kickstarter campaign: Mola is a modular construction system that simulates structural behavior, helping architects and engineers build intuitive knowledge of building design.
Reverion has raised a $62M Series A to advance its renewable fuel cell-based biogas power systems. Their technology enables biogas plants to operate like traditional peaker turbines, but with a twist: when renewable energy is plentiful, the plant can reverse its cycle, storing excess energy as green hydrogen. The round was led by Energy Impact Partners (EIP).
Kairos Power's Hermes reactor has become the first non-light water nuclear reactor in the U.S. to receive a construction license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in over 50 years. This fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor represents a major advancement in molten salt technology where liquid salts are used as a coolant and sometimes as a fuel carrier, allowing for higher operating temperatures and increased efficiency.
DarkHive has raised a $21M Series A for its defense-focused UAS technology. Ten Eleven Ventures led the round with Crosslink Capital, RTX Ventures, and Stellar Ventures participating. DarkHive previously raised a $4M Seed last year and has won over $100M of DoD contracts.
Open Jobs 💼
Sponsored:
Cartken is looking for a Robot Electrical Engineer in Phoenix, AZ
Entry-Level
SpaceX is looking for a New Graduate Mechanical Engineer (Starship) in Brownsville, TX
Lockheed Martin is looking for an Electronics Engineer (Early Career) in Sunnyvale, CA
Mid-Level:
Renu Robotics is looking for a Mechanical Engineer in San Antonio, TX
Pyka is looking for an Electrical Engineer in Alameda, CA
Senior to Staff:
Google is looking for a Supplier Quality Engineer, Machine Learning in Austin, TX
Sun Nuclear is looking for an Electrical Engineering Manager in Melbourne, FL
Internships:
Humane is looking for an Electrical Engineering Intern in San Francisco, CA
Found Energy is looking for a Mechanical Engineering Co-op in Boston, MA
Anduril is looking for an Electrical Test Engineering Intern in Costa Mesa, CA
To see the full list of open roles, visit our job board. Want to share an exciting role at your company? Reach out to us at info@hardwarefyi.com.
Meet our Sponsors:
Sygma is building the AI assistant for hardware teams - track issues smarter, stay on schedule and on budget, and ship faster.
Doss simplifies your operations by tracking inventory from PO to POS.
SendCutSend manufactures custom sheet metal parts, delivered directly to your door.
FlashPCB provides super-fast PCB assembly by running design rule checks on your board, automatically generating a BOM, and final quotes within minutes.
POP Manufacturing offers rapid prototyping and quick-turn services for FDM, PolyJet, full-color 3D printing, and CNC machining.
Summit Interconnect is a manufacturer of advanced technology printed circuit boards focused on complex rigid, flex and rigid-flex PCBs.
Cofactr is an automated electronic component procurement and inventory management platform.
AllSpice.io is the Git for hardware collaboration platform, connecting native engineering design tools to provide revision control, automation and more.
Partsbox controls your electronic components inventory management software. Keeps track of where your parts are stored, manages BOMs and production.
Roboze manufactures high-performance super polymers and composites through advanced 3D printing, creating parts strong like metal.
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