Tour the tomb of NASA’s first and last nuclear reactor

by Laura Domela

Where a crown jewel once stood in NASA’s ambitious plans for human space exploration now lies a decontaminated nuclear grave.

Current laws bar NASA from building or researching fueled nuclear devices. Yet in a bygone era five decades ago, the space agency’s future was dependent on one: the Plum Brook Reactor Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.

NASA turned on its first, last and only nuclear fission test reactor in 1961 to research nuclear-powered airplanes, then eventually nuclear-powered space rockets. But the mounting cost of the Vietnam War and waning interest in manned space exploration led President Richard Nixon to mothball the facility in 1973.
via Wired

Quickly and accurately identify inter-domain leakage issues in IC designs

Sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software

Power domain leakage is a major IC reliability issue, often missed by traditional tools. This white paper describes challenges of identifying leakage, types of false results, and presents Siemens EDA’s Insight Analyzer. The tool proactively finds true leakage paths, filters out false positives, and helps circuit designers quickly fix risks—enabling more robust, reliable chip designs. With detailed, context-aware analysis, designers save time and improve silicon quality.

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featured chalk talk

Designing Scalable IoT Mesh Networks with Digi XBee® for Wi-SUN

Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Digi and Silicon Labs

In this episode of Chalk Talk, Quinn Jones from Digi, Chad Steider from Silicon Labs and Amelia Dalton explore how Wi-SUN Micro-Mesh can reduce cost and simplify deployment for your next IoT mesh network. They also investigate the benefits that Digi XBee solutions bring to these types of networks and how you can jump start your next IoT mesh network design with Silicon Labs and Digi.

Click here for more information about Digi XBee® Wi-SUN® Modules

May 4, 2026

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Tour the tomb of NASA’s first and last nuclear reactor

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