Fusion and its problems.

The biggest technical problem in fusion seems simple. How to control plasma. Theoretically, that requires only. That the outermost layer of the plasma belt is at a higher energy level. Than the inner plasma that travels in Tokamak reactors. The higher energy level. At the outermost layer of that plasma. Traps energy in the plasma ring. 

When fusion begins. Energy. That comes from the middle of the plasma ring. It will break the plasma. So, fusion starts in the middle of the plasma ring. That plasma ring travels in a magnetic tube. That keeps it away from the walls of the Tokamak reactors. That plasma is hotter than the Sun.  The system must increase the temperature to compensate for the Sun’s gravitational effect. 

This means the reactor compresses plasma in the middle of the magnetic tube. And that causes another problem. When. fusion starts. Ignition pushes ions, or high-temperature plasma, away from the center. This spreads the plasma all around the Tokamak reactor. That also causes the plasma to touch the reactor’s structure. When the plasma, which is at temperatures of billions of degrees, destroys the reactor. 

The solution could be. The system pushes back when fusion starts. This means. The energy level is at the outermost layer of the plasma. It should be higher than the center of the plasma ring. The idea is this. The energy level in the outermost layer of the plasma ring is higher than in its inner layers. 

That outside energy pushes the deuterium and tritium together, forming helium. Lithium deuteride, lithium hydride: normal hydrogen is replaced. Using deuterium is a good source for deuterium and tritium. But that system requires a neutron source. 

In thermonuclear weapons. The small nuclear bomb. Creates the needed energy and neutrons to start fusion. Maybe. Fusion reactors. They could use a neutron source and laser-accelerated neutrons to create conditions that can start fusion in lithium deuteride. 

The outer layer’s higher energy level helps to keep that plasma in that form. If. The energy level in the middle of the plasma ring rises higher than the outermost layer. That energy breaks the plasma ring. And fusion is impossible. The key element is to keep that plasma in one form.

If that is possible. Researchers. Are one step closer to a fusion power plant. The technical problems with this type of reactor are huge. But if that reactor can transport energy into the network. This can be the next step. To benefit renewable energy. The main problem with a hydrogen economy is how to produce hydrogen.

Hydrogen is a promising energy source. If it is produced using clean energy. Things. Like aircraft carriers. They could produce hydrogen for their air wing as fuel. Fusion reactors can offer a clean way to produce hydrogen. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_hydride

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak

The Zircon missile could be more conventional than researchers thought.

The 3M22 Zircon missile could be an atmospheric hypersonic missile. But it will not be a hypersonic cruise missile. 

Russian 3M22 Zircon missile can be impressive, but it’s less impressive than Russia claimed. Rumors say that the Russian Zircon missile uses an air-breathing ramjet engine. That two-stage missile has speed. 

It will be about Mach 9. The speed of this missile is impressive. But there is no visible sign of an air intake on that missile body. That suggests. The Zircon is probably regular. A two-stage missile that uses two solid-fuel rocket engines. This gives it a higher altitude than a regular cruise missile. The Zircon’s flight altitude is about 30- 50 kilometers. This makes that system a so-called quasi-missile. That missile has a hypersonic speed. But the other technology is more conventional. There is a possibility. 

An improved version of the Iskander missile could be the Zircon. 

Zircon could be a horizontally flying missile. This means the missile follows a horizontal trajectory in the atmosphere. The difference is that the Zircon uses a rocket engine. A cruise missile uses a jet engine. So. We could call the Zircon an atmospheric missile. Or a hypersonic missile that uses a conventional rocket engine. 

“A Kh-47M2 Kinzhal being carried by a Mikoyan MiG-31K interceptor” (Wikipedia, Kh-47M2 Kinzhal)

9K720 Iskander. 

The codename of that missile is 9M723-2 or “Iskander 1000”. The missile is a so-called quasi-ballistic missile. 

Another possibility is that. Russians put new hope in the land-launched, ground-attack version of the Zircon missile. 

Russian media said. An improved version of the 9K720 Iskander missile will enter service. This winter.  And that will give more strike capacity. For. Russian troops. Could that new missile concept be Zircon? Or rather, saying. Ground-launched version of the Zircon missile. When we compare Zircon with the Iskander and Kinzhal.

Could the Zircon missile be the ground-launched version of the Kinzhal? 

The Kinzhal is a hypersonic atmospheric missile. Kinzhal missile reaches only hypersonic speed. It is launched from a MiG-31 aircraft. Maybe the Russians replaced the MiG-31 interceptors with a solid-fuel rocket stage. And that could raise the speed of that missile to Mach 9. If the Russians just replaced the launching aircraft with a solid-fuel rocket. That makes it possible to launch those missiles from ships, trains, and road-mobile platforms. That makes it harder. 

To find those missiles. The system can increase the strike capacity of the Russian systems. 

https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/russia-iskander-1000-9m723-2-missile-combat-debut-ukraine-nato/

https://luftlage.substack.com/p/not-quite-a-diamond

https://www.twz.com/sea/russias-zircon-may-not-be-a-hypersonic-cruise-missile-after-all

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K720_Iskander

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3M22_Zircon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-47M2_Kinzhal

Theoretical data science doesn’t require computers.

Computer science doesn’t need computers. Theoretically, we can talk about many systems. That are still impossible or extremely hard to create. In those cases. computer science doesn’t need computers. We can think theoretically. 

About computers without physical infrastructure. Or. Those computers require physical structures to maintain the data-processing structures. 

Those structures have the shape of multiple internal quantum fields. The touching points of those fields would be the quantum dots. And that allows this kind of network computing. Sometimes people think that the Multivac. Fictional supercomputer from Isaac Asimov's novel could be the multiple internal quantum fields. The idea is that. Multiple internal vacuums or bubbles could form a quantum computer. But those ideas remain in the imagination. 

Theoretically, we can create things like interstellar spaceships. Turning theory into practical solutions. That is something more difficult. 

Than just drawing formulas on paper. So does computer science need computers? We could make everything that a computer does with paper and pencil. We can store our writings and drawings in data storage called books. 

So does data science exist without computers? The question is similar to the next. 

Does astronomy exist without telescopes? 

Telescopes collect data. And a researcher computes data. The data that the researcher uses doesn’t come only from telescopes. That data comes from multiple sources. Also. Historical cases and sources. Particle accelerators and other tools, like chemical analysis, are part of astronomy. Another thing is that astronomers require mathematics. So, can astronomy exist without telescopes? Cosmologists can work without ever looking through any telescopes.

There must be something. 

That collects data. That cosmologists process. But then to computing. Researchers make many new ideas, like quantum computers. Those systems have one problem. Being trusted. The information that the system produces. It must be confirmed. The system will not know whether the data that it uses is right or wrong. 

There is. An interesting detail in computer science. The system doesn’t create information or knowledge. It just processes information that it collects from multiple sources. Then that system creates an entirely new data mixture. 

Data systems. They are tools that increase data mass. Modern computers are more effective than computers were in the 1950s. But the problem is. The data mass that they handle. It is much larger than it was in the 1950s. This data accumulation creates a need. 

For more and more effective computers. Moore's law is the historical observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles roughly every two years while the cost of computers decreases. The problem with Moore’s law is this. The number of transistors that manufacturers can put on microchips cannot grow eternally. 

This means. That computers require more and more microchips. 

Moore’s law claim. The computer’s price decreases. But what if Moore’s law expands into microchip-level structures? Moore’s law is two-stage. The first stage is that the number of transistors on microchips doubles every two years. The second stage is that it makes computers cheaper. This can be true. New processors make older computers cheaper. The new computers are more expensive. AI creates a need to make new types of computers. Those computers need more power. So they need more microchips. Another thing. That. Moore’s law doesn’t apply. It is the network-based solutions. PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) outsources computing to the computer centers. 

This means that the local workstations don’t require as much power. But. Because. PHP runs code on servers. It delivers answers to workstations. That increases the need for more power in servers and data centers. PHP allows cloud-based architecture creation. In those cases, multiple regular computers form a network-based computer. The problem is the same as in computers or data centers. There are new applications. That require more computer power. And that increases the need to improve the power of those data systems. That happens by connecting more processors into that network. 

When researchers create new computers. 

Existing computers. Or their resources are not used. 

They could be used. And increasing memory capacity. It makes it possible to write code that wastes memory. Lack of precision. In code makes some modern programs vulnerable. Another thing is that. AI makes. Possibility. And the illusion. Of. The ability to create customized tools for every office. This means. Outsourcing human work. Too easily to AI. AI is not complete yet. And it might not ever be at the level we are. We can create AI that mimics humans. But those reactions are programmed into its algorithms. That makes AI so interesting and frightening. 

When we think about the future of computing. 

We must realize that directly networked human brains are the most effective computers. BCI systems and implanted microchips make it possible to create such a system. There, humans form the data systems without individuals. Those systems melt human minds into one entire mind. 

Technological singularity among humans. And humans and computers.  It is one possible way. To develop data systems for the future. But another thing that can turn reality. It is the retrocausal network. 

Retrocausality means. 

The ability to send information from the future to the past. This means. If. Retrocausal networks can be made. That means. The solution comes before the input is given. And that is one of the most exciting things in data science. Retrocausality is one of the most interesting and frightening phenomena that we can imagine. Information that comes from the future is hard to confirm. The information exists from the point at which it starts to exist. This means. 

That we cannot be sure. That the information we see is retrocausal. Or. Is it generated for some other reason? But those things are philosophical questions. And that brings other questions. 

To the minds of people. What are the limits in data science? If we connect our brains straight to computers. We can make data systems effective. But otherwise, we open our minds. Our brains. To computers. And that makes it possible for hackers to read our minds. The problem is that when we use BCI systems. Our minds don’t make a difference. 

Between reality and a computer’s virtual reality. In BCI, the system interacts with brains. That allows hackers to input data into our brains. If. They can hack the computer. The microchip implant makes it possible to see what happens in human brains. That makes it possible. 

To remotely control robots. That gives freedom to handicapped people. But the same tools. They can be dangerous in the wrong hands. They can destroy individualism and diversity. And many other things. Diversity guarantees. That there are lots of routes. That we can select. Lack of diversity Means that we have only one route. And if that route is wrong. We are in trouble. We have no other choices. That. We can select. If. We choose the wrong way. Even. If the solution looks fine. Later, that can turn into a route. To destruction. We cannot see the future. We must realize this in modern technology. 

Computers and microchips play a vital role. Internet is the platform that shares information. This information contains data. That involves virtual information. 

But these systems can also use that data to control physical items like drones. The robot is the link. Between. The virtual and physical worlds. 

This means that AI can make the system. That inputs information into human brains. That can turn humans into physical tools for the computers. As well as. AI it. Turns robots into physical tools for computers. But humans are much more than robots. We have imagination. 

The ability to create synthetic memories. And the ability to handle abstractions like physical things. The ability to interconnect information from multiple sources. It makes it possible to create things that seem real. But today, those things are imagination. 

https://www.quantamagazine.org/does-computer-science-need-computers-20260828/

New tool: networked operational area.

"Patria demonstrates remote operation of Patria AMV armoured vehicle from Tokyo to Finland" (Edr online Magazine)

Researchers controlled the Patria AMV vehicle in Finland. From Japan, over a 5G network. This is a new step for network-based robotics that can operate in both civil and military applications. This technology uses the regular internet as a platform for robot control. This makes the system more flexible than satellite-based systems. The system can use regular internet tools. Like satellite modems. Or regular modem network application tools. The system can use wireless modems and WiFi range-extension systems to extend range and improve coverage. The wireless modem can be connected to a regular internet socket. 

The WiFi extender transmitters. Mesh modems can be installed in the drones. That makes them atmospheric communication satellites. Networked applications. Can tell HQ. About the use of ammunition. And intelligence data about the enemy. If the ammunition is equipped with RFID, HQ can know precisely what type of ammunition is used. How many anti-tank and armour-piercing bullets those troops have. And how many of those bullets are used. The system can tell. Which bullets the operator shoots right now. 

They can be on the ground. This system can improve range. And integrity on the battlefield. This kind of network can interconnect different types of systems. The ability to use regular networks. It is something. That makes drones flexible. Drones that use ground stations can benefit from roaming and mesh architectures. This allows. Drones to be controlled. Without satellites. Another thing that makes these applications interesting is this. Drones can operate as atmospheric satellites. They act like orbital satellites. Stealth drones can carry internet tools to observe and interconnect battlefields. 

Those drones can communicate with kamikaze and other drones. They can use radio- or laser-based communication tools. Lasers can operate under heavy jamming signals. High-flying drones. Can follow and locate lower-flying attack drones. Their high-resolution cameras can locate those smaller drones by following their laser LEDs. The laser LEDs can operate in visible light, Infrared.. And. UV areas. The UV laser pointers are invisible to IR cameras. So those systems can be used as communication and target markers. 

This thing is a new tool for the battlefield. Modern AI makes it possible. That laser marks a target in less than a second. The drone, missile, or bomb takes an image of the target. And then it travels to it. This kind of system. It can make intelligent ammunition possible to attack fast-moving targets. The ability to control robots over the internet is a fascinating idea. The humanoid robots can carry internal mesh modems. So. They can scale their data over the network. This kind of application changes everything that we know about warfare, logistics, and robotics. 

https://www.edrmagazine.eu/patria-demonstrates-remote-operation-of-patria-amv-armoured-vehicle-from-tokyo-to-finland

New attack uses vulnerability in microchips.

“Modern processors are fast, in part, because they guess. Rather than waiting to find out which way a program will branch, a chip predicts the likely path. And races ahead. When the guess is right. “ (MIT)

“Time is saved. When it’s wrong, the work is discarded, but traces of it linger. Since the Spectre vulnerability was disclosed in 2018, attackers have known how to read those traces to pull secrets out of memory they should never see.” (MIT)

MIT Schwarzman college of computing uncovers a new type of attack. That opens Linux passwords to an attacker. The attacker uses the vulnerability in a modern microchip log file. The microprocessor itself creates this file. Called a “guess file”. Officially, that file is called prediction machinery. But. I use the term “Guess file”. That is the log file. The microchip uses it to predict how the program routes itself. 

“AMD’s defense, called saferet, cleans the prediction machinery immediately before each use, leaving a vulnerable window just two instructions wide, which typically execute within tens of nanoseconds. The researchers hit it anyway, by slowing down the processor at that exact spot to make the target easier to strike.” (MIT)

There is one small vulnerability. The system needs to stop before it starts a new task. That opens the door to the processor. A couple of milliseconds is enough to slow the processor. The attacker can strike. We know. That hackers can exploit even the smallest windows and backdoors. They can get access to the system. Those vulnerabilities are growing bigger in the time of AI. AI can launch attacks. Using precise and fast reactions. The AI waits for the processor to slow down. Before it begins a new task. When the processor stops, the AI tries to slip malicious code into the processor. 

So the computer makes a bad guess. And that opens a path to at least the password file. 

“The defenses work by wiping or isolating the processor’s prediction machinery, removing anything an attacker might have planted. The catch, as PhD student Daniël Trujillo and MIT Assistant Professor Mengjia Yan point out, is that the wipe and the moment the predictions get used can’t happen at the same instant. There is always a gap. — sometimes only a handful of instructions wide. Anything that runs in that gap can dirty the machinery all over again. The researchers call this class of attack “TONTOU.” (MIT)

If hackers can infect microchips, they can infect an entire computer. The microchip is a small computer. There is a cache and an operating system. The Kernel is the program that connects the hardware to software. Every command that a user gives. And a program that runs on a computer travels through the processor. If malware. Can be written in the microchip. The results can be destructive. The cache is the point. There, the malware could write itself. 

If. The cache is not protected. That can cause infection. There is a small possibility that the attackers can write their malware in that memory. Normally, a microchip’s internal control programs run on ROM. But that cache is vulnerable. Researchers in an MIT laboratory created a method called “interrupt injection”. 

“To show what this means in practice, the team built a working exploit on an AMD system running a current Linux kernel. They first stripped away a defense that scrambles where the operating system sits in memory, succeeding in all 10 tries in about nine minutes each. That helped them read protected memory at roughly five bytes per second — slow, but fast enough to locate and copy “/etc/shadow,” the file storing the system’s root password hash, in half their attempts.” (MIT)

This file tells the computer which program requires attention. Normally, the processor destroys that file immediately after it uses it.  But researchers could slow the processor at a critical moment. And they could use that file to open the password file. This means. They got access to the entire system. 

But the “guess-file”. It has another option. That option is that. It determines which program or file can use the microprocessor’s resources. There is a small possibility. Tha. If hackers can create that file. And slip it into the microchips. They can gain access to the entire system. And they can slip in any malware. In a computer, using the microprocessors as the platform. 

https://computing.mit.edu/news/new-type-of-attack-can-slip-past-the-defenses-in-your-computers-processor/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(security_vulnerability)

Organoid-based computing is coming.

"A brain in a vat that believes it is walking"

Organoids are replacing regular AI in systems. An organoid network connects so-called mini-brains into a network. This technology is based on. Mini-brains are used. In the medical industry. To replace microchips. Mini-brains are lab-grown neural structures. Created originally for medical testing. Researchers tested neurological and cancer medicines using those brains. Researchers taught mini-brains to play ping-pong and interact with computers. 

During that experiment. Mini-brains controlled computers. This made it possible to create artificial intelligence using half-organic networks. It’s possible to connect. Mini-brains together. Using regular computers and networks. That means it's possible to create a computer. That is as intelligent as humans. An interesting detail is that. It’s possible to create full-size human brains in the laboratory. And then those brains. They could be connected. Those brains in a vat together. That makes it possible to create the ultimate neural computers. 

Another interesting model is this. The brain-in-a-vat can also control robot bodies. The robot bodies can have organic brains that control their actions. And in some very interesting futuristic ideas, the bird-of-prey, or those birds' brains, could control jet fighters. Researchers can create artificial brains. Using cloned stem cells. Then they connect those brains to a jet fighter’s computer. 

Those things are interesting. This can pave the way to robots. And computers. That are as intelligent as humans. This raises ethical and moral questions. Do those machines need the same rights as humans have? The problem with intelligent machines is that they can start to think that they are slaves. The brain is the center of our lives. 

And that means. Cloned brains are also like ours. Cloned brains require information. To know how to react. So, when we think about the robots. That human brains control. We think about humans. With steel shells. 

And that can lead to machine rebellion. When. We think about machines. We think about non-organic silicon microchips. We never thought about machines that computers created using living neurons. Those artificial brains can think. In a similar way. To how. We think. Organic computers. They are similar to our brains. But there is one little difference. Computers can drive information into them. With. Incredible speed. And they can spread that information across the network. 

When we think about the brain-in-a-vat. It. Can communicate with other brains using the brain-computer-interface. Those chips. That the system will use. They can be similar to those microchips that some companies have already implanted in human brains. Those microchips allow wireless communication over the network. 

And that makes it possible for organic brains to communicate with computers. Or they can communicate directly with other brains. This can give a network high-level abilities. And those systems are opening a path to next-generation systems. 

Maybe someday in the future. We will send the probes to other solar systems. In some scenarios, those probes could use brain-in-a-vat as computers. This means those cloned brains communicate and control the craft’s computers. When those brain cells turn old. The system can clone other brains. And drive data into the new brains. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat

Space militarization is becoming more complicated.

A Polish company was hired to deploy data-center satellites with high-power microwave weapons. Those satellites can destroy incoming anti-satellite weapons. But satellites can also use the same microwave weapons to destroy other satellites. Satellites play a vital role in modern military operations. This means. They are top-priority targets for enemy operations. Satellites search for targets. For aircraft and drones. They navigate aircraft, ships, and weapons to targets. 

Satellites operate at all levels. In military operations. Strategies and tactics. They base data on what satellites collect. Modern satellite technology. It allows command and control of individual soldiers from another side of the world. 

Combined combat tactics. The principle is precise knowledge of the location of one's own troops and the enemy. Next-generation tools like combat robots require more advanced data connections. Those satellites are becoming vital elements in combat scenarios. 

Artillery, gunship helicopters, and aircraft.  They require location knowledge to operate precisely and accurately. This means that those systems require satellites. Satellites connect forces under one centralized command. Without those satellites, the HQ cannot command and deliver supplies. Nuclear submarines also need satellites to provide operational launch codes to their missiles and other nukes. Submarines cannot launch without those codes. And that’s why those communication satellites are targets for killer satellites. 

Pentagon says that ASAT weapons are the priority on the list. And we can guess that Russia thinks the same. Russia has tested its own anti-satellite capacity. And that thing requires a counter-reaction. 

The role of satellites is becoming bigger all the time. New hypersonic missiles require ultra-fast reaction. If. A suspected hypersonic missile launch. There is no time to send AWACS to search for the enemy and control defenses.

Another problem is that AWACS is a potential target for high-speed anti-radiation missiles. The third thing is that. There are not enough AWACS platforms to cover the entire world. This is why the Pentagon wants to create a satellite network. That covers the entire planet. This network of radar satellites. It can detect threats in less than one second. But those satellites. They are vulnerable to ASAT missiles that can detect radar signals. 

Satellites can drop drone swarms into operational areas. They can rise targets and mark them. This is the satellites' priority in operations: reconnaissance. Reconnaissance satellites. Make real-time command-and-control battles possible. They play a vital role in all kinds of transportation and affect operations. Reconnaissance and attack patrols, as well as drone swarms, use satellites for navigation. Maybe quite soon. Satellites can launch conventional air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. Those missiles can hit things like strategic bombers. Even. Individual vehicles. 

Weapons make them killer satellites. This means that there are killer and counter-killer satellites. The problem with killer satellites is that they are good targets for other killer satellites. But the problem is how to uncover those satellites. But. If a killer satellite loses its shield. The other satellites can destroy it. The orbital nukes can cause massive destruction with an EMP impulse. 

In many scenarios. Thermonuclear war begins with an EMP strike. The EMP weapon is hidden in the regular-looking satellite. When. That satellite is in the right position. The EMP weapon detonates. And that electromagnetic pulse hits the ground. The disaster can be huge. When we think about cases like the Starfish Prime nuclear test over Honolulu on June 9, 1962, the entire city went down. Modern technology is more vulnerable to EMP than older technology. 

The EMP pulse from 1,4 megaton warhead. Detonated at an altitude of about 400 kilometers. Destroyed things. Like 1960s radios. This kind of weapon can be launched just before the nuclear strike. And those systems. They require a very fast reaction. The microwave pulses are also EMP weapons. The system can create the EMP microwave using high-power capacitors. The system can use solar panels to create that destructive pulse. The system is very easy to make. And the fact is that. Any satellite that carries this kind of counter-ASAT system can use it against other satellites. 

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/satellite-defense-ares-shield-contract-lonestar-data-holdings

https://www.twz.com/space/new-anti-satellite-weapons-now-officially-a-top-u-s-priority

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime