🌎 Y Combinator-backed jet engine
LNG-fueled flight at Mach 3.4 (~2,600 miles per hour)—can it be done?
Hello Freethinkers,
Ian Brooke has no engineering degree or famous PhD advisor. But the 34-year-old is aiming to revolutionize flight as we know it through his “turboelectric” jet engines, which promise massive efficiency gains across a whole range of speeds. The long-term goal of his company, Astro Mechanica, is to make commercial flight cheaper, more sustainable, and more efficient for everyone. But before that comes a slightly less ambitious goal: Building a jet-powered “mothership” that launches satellite-carrying rockets into space.
On the ground this week, we explore the rise of the semi-autonomous car, and how steadily making our vehicles less “dumb” will help usher in the future of self-driving cars.
Onward,
Stephen
FREETHINK FEATURES
Ian Brooke wants to revolutionize flight as we know it
Jet engines are powerful, delicate, and deceptively simple machines. They carry billions of passengers around the world every year, and they have been around for almost a century. Is there still a major breakthrough in engine design left to be invented? Ian Brooke and Astro Mechanica think so, and if they’re right, their machines could propel us (finally) into the supersonic age.
FUTURE EXPLORED
The rise of the semi-autonomous car
Automakers are quietly automating more and more functions of standard “dumb” cars. From adaptive cruise control and lane assist and to self-parking and valet services, drivers are increasingly splitting their responsibility with computers. This “semi-autonomous” valley — between 100% human control and 100% self-driving — has unique challenges, as car and driver learn to navigate each other.
IN THE KNOW
Britain's energy shift
by @eamonnives on X
The UK, the birthplace of the industrial revolution, is shutting down its last coal power plant at the end of this month. It's a landmark moment in a century-long process of decoupling economic growth from carbon emissions. But even now, three-quarters of the UK's total energy (especially cars, industry, and home heating) still relies on fossil fuels. Is nuclear power the answer?
Battery electric trucks offer emission cuts of 75-85% over their entire life cycle
Retired coal plants can aid the energy transition — by going nuclear
WORTH SHARING
Could we determine if UAPs/UFOs are aliens?
What’s intriguing about this piece from Ethan — besides being a prime example of “open-minded skepticism,” as one X user noted — is that it establishes clear evidentiary thresholds needed to conclude that an unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) truly defies natural or terrestrial explanation. What are they? From chemical signatures to craft sizes and speeds, Ethan zooms in on several key criteria here.
Stephen Johnson is the managing editor at Big Think and a writer at Freethink.