BREAKING: Canada is developing an air-transportable nuclear microreactor built to fit aboard a C-17 and power Arctic military bases, remote communities, and critical infrastructure. CSMC, the Canadian space and defense company, unveiled three new reactor platforms, POLAR-1 for Arctic and defense operations, JAY-1 for lunar power, and ORCA-1 for nuclear research, testing, and workforce development. POLAR-1 is targeting first criticality in 2028, with fleet-scale deployment envisioned from 2030.

BREAKING: @RainmakerCorp, the cloud-seeding technology firm, says it has developed biodegradable cloud-seeding materials that outperform traditional silver iodide on a per-particle basis. The company says the materials are naturally found in soils across the U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: 8VC leads $16M Lazarus round to build modular supercritical CO₂ turbines for America’s data center buildout. Today, @LazarusEnergy, the Hawthorne-based startup, has secured an oversubscribed $16M seed round led by @8vc, with additional investment from Marlinspike, DST Global, Neuron Power Ventures, and @relentless_inv, as well as follow-up investment from @fiftyyears and @sidedoor_vc. The company is betting that a new turbine architecture can help solve one of the biggest constraints on America’s data center buildout, power. Supercritical carbon dioxide could decide America’s AI sovereignty. CO₂ crosses into the supercritical phase above 31.1°C and 73.8 bar, where liquid and gas collapse into a single fluid with liquid-like density and gas-like flow. It plays a special role in closed-loop Brayton cycle turbines, which could become core to data center power generation. Turbines are becoming increasingly important for data centers as power demand exceeds grid capacity and operators look for reliable on-site power. The traditional turbine market is behind, with wait times exceeding 5 to 7 years and OEMs even turning down new orders because capacity is maxed out. Lazarus is attempting to shift the supply curve. The LA startup was founded by George Kitromelides (CEO) and Luke Malcolm (CTO), both formerly on the propulsion team at Anduril, alongside team members from Siemens Energy, Williams International, and Ursa Major. The startup is developing turbines that enable a forward-deployable power plant fitting inside a shipping container. “Supercritical CO₂ lets you reduce the size of your components significantly,” according to George Kitromelides (CEO), thus enabling the distributed form factor. Traditional turbines are optimized for specific heat sources. Lazarus designed its system to be heat-source agnostic, allowing it to convert heat from nearly any major energy source into electricity. Lazarus has created a natural edge. It can serve today’s data center market with proven inputs like natural gas while remaining positioned for future heat sources like small modular reactors. Deployment is another edge. Traditional turbine players can require months or years of construction to set up on-site, while Lazarus’ platform is fully assembled at its facility and requires zero on-site construction. In areas like nuclear, this can be key. Luke Malcolm (CTO) states, “SMRs are supposed to be compact, modular, deployable power. And when you build your compact reactor and then spend a year building all your steam infrastructure on-site, that kind of defeats the whole purpose.” Lazarus is focused on two end markets, data centers as the beachhead market and small modular nuclear reactors as the secondary market, both with unique business models. In the data center market, “The OEMs are straight up rejecting new orders. They’re turning customers away because they just can’t keep up with demand,” according to George Kitromelides (CEO). Lazarus wants to provide power-as-a-service in the data center market, where it would own and operate the asset instead of the data center operator incurring CapEx. Additionally, the own-and-operate/PPA model allows Lazarus to generate significantly more long-term revenue than a one-time equipment sale. Under a power purchase agreement (PPA), customers pay for the electricity generated by the system over time rather than purchasing the power infrastructure upfront. Lastly, behind-the-meter power is surging as data centers seek dedicated, off-grid generation to avoid grid delays and secure reliable power. Lazarus enables that by delivering compact on-site power systems built for data center demand. On the nuclear side, Lazarus would integrate with SMR companies to supply the power cycle, with nuclear heat going into the Lazarus cycle and electricity coming out. This model would focus on selling units to reactor companies, followed by multi-year maintenance contracts. Lazarus is developing a true picks-and-shovels play for the AI power gold rush. But the broader opportunity extends well beyond data centers. As the forward-deployed stack expands across compute, manufacturing, medical units, and logistics, compact containerized power could become critical infrastructure for Department of War installations, remote mining operations, disaster response, and any site where reliable power needs to move closer to the edge. The team of six full-time engineers is focused on firing a 1-megawatt sub-module of its system by late this year or early next year. The system will be powered by natural gas. Additionally, the startup has secured an MOU with a nuclear customer and has received strong interest from the data center market.

BREAKING: @HadrianInc has secured a $1.37B Series D. The American advanced manufacturing company is scaling its Factory-as-a-Service model while expanding into autonomous welding and new capabilities across inspection, energetics, casting, forging, assembly, electronics, additive manufacturing, sheet metal, pipe and tube, and NDT.

BREAKING: @AntaresNuclear has secured a $470M Series C after achieving criticality with its Mark-0 reactor. The startup is developing nuclear microreactors for the U.S. Air Force. Paradigm and Caffeinated Capital co-led the round.

Daily Hard Tech Headlines: - @PsiQuantum has secured a $125 million agreement with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to expand testing of its approach to building a utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer. The company remains one of only two participants in Stage C, the final phase of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. - @terraindustries, an African defense and critical infrastructure security startup, has launched Kama, an autonomous interceptor drone built to counter weaponized commercial drones. The company plans to produce the system at its Abuja and Accra factories. - @_Andrenam_ has secured an $18 million Series A. The Los Angeles startup develops sonar systems for maritime security, with the round led by Upfront Ventures. - @Saronic has partnered with Samsung Heavy Industries to scale autonomous ship production in the United States, focusing on robotic shipyard automation and high-throughput manufacturing. - Hokkaido Spaceport’s Launch Complex 1, a new Japanese orbital launch site, is nearing completion. - Northrop Grumman has launched its Mission Robotic Vehicle aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, enabling the inspection of satellites in orbit using two robotic arms and the installation of propulsion modules to extend their operational lives. - Bahrain is exploring the development of its first small modular nuclear power plant. - The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has launched a Drone as First Responder program using systems provided by Paladin. - MOBY Robotics, an ocean intelligence startup, has secured a commercial contract to map the seabed in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone using deep-ocean robotic systems. The customer was not disclosed. - United States Marine Corps tested forward manufacturing capabilities in Okinawa during Valiant Shield 26, including circuit-board repair, metal restoration, hybrid manufacturing, and 3D printing while in transit. - @vast, the Long Beach space infrastructure startup, has launched a national security division focused on space-based capabilities for the DOW and intelligence community. Melanie Stricklan will lead the division. - Babcock International Group, ACUA Ocean and Frankenburg Technologies are teaming up to develop a maritime C-UAS system combining Acua’s unmanned surface vessel, Babcock’s launcher and Frankenburg’s precision-guided interceptor missiles. - Cooperative Ventures, backed by two of North America’s largest agricultural cooperatives, has invested in OpenTug, which develops software for the inland barge networks that move grain, fertilizer, and other bulk commodities across the United States. - Simon Shuham, the former head of product at Exowatt, has launched a Denver-based stealth startup developing high-efficiency systems that convert stranded waste heat into electricity. - Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC) secured a $4.5 million investment from the Canadian government to support the scaling of small nuclear technology for the Arctic.

BREAKING: @Saronic has partnered with Samsung Heavy Industries to scale autonomous ship production in the United States, focusing on robotic shipyard automation and high-throughput manufacturing. The partnership brings South Korean shipbuilding expertise into U.S. shipyards.

BREAKING: Uber founder @travisk says his new company, Atoms, is deploying autonomous mining technology at the world’s largest iron ore mine deep in the Brazilian Amazon and at a phosphate mine near the Iraq–Saudi Arabia border. Shared on @tbpn.

Exclusive Interview: Inside @RoboStrategy, the first publicly listed investment company dedicated to backing leading private robotics companies. For years, robots have felt like they were always almost here. Scott Walter, PhD, @GoingBallistic5 who has spent more than 40 years in robotics, believes that may finally be changing. We discuss why deployment has historically been so difficult, and why the next wave will likely begin in factories, logistics centers, hotels, and other commercial environments before reaching the home.

BREAKING: @valaratomics has begun a loss-of-forced-cooling test on its Ward 250 nuclear reactor, shutting off all powered cooling and simulating a total electrical failure. The plant has been fully de-energized, and all electrical systems are offline. Valar will monitor the reactor over the next several days as it relies solely on passive systems to remove decay heat, testing one of the most critical failure modes in nuclear power.

America must stockpile compute for the new era of national security. Armada just secured $230M to help build that compute stockpile, developing modular edge data centers for critical infrastructure and remote environments. U.S. Navy ships, oil rigs, remote mines, manufacturing facilities, and critical infrastructure sites are becoming the front lines of data generation, where 75% of data is now being generated. Our interview with Armada CEO @danwrightSF breaks down the rise of hyperscaler infrastructure at the edge and why decentralized compute is becoming one of the most important strategic assets.