Today: 11 November 2025
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Marcin Frąckiewicz

CEO of TS2 Space and founder of TS2.tech. Expert in satellites, telecommunications, and emerging technologies, covering trends in space, AI, and connectivity.

China’s “Night‑Light” Laser vs. Starlink: What a 2‑Watt Beam Really Means for the Coming Orbital Arms Race

China’s “Night‑Light” Laser vs. Starlink: What a 2‑Watt Beam Really Means for the Coming Orbital Arms Race

In June 2025, a Chinese team led by Prof. Wu Jian of Peking University of Posts & Telecommunications and Dr. Liu Chao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences down-linked 1 Gbps from a GEO satellite 36,000 km away using a 2 W infrared laser. The coverage framed the feat as pulverizing Starlink, but there is no evidence of destructive action; the achievement is a bandwidth demonstration. The key innovation is AO‑MDR synergy, combining adaptive optics with mode-diversity reception to correct atmospheric distortion. Adaptive optics reshape the wavefront with hundreds of deformable-mirror actuators, while MDR routes the beam through multiple spatial
22 June 2025
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Operation Midnight Hammer: How Stealth Bombers, Fighters, and Bunker Busters Obliterated Iran’s Nuclear Sites

Operation Midnight Hammer: How Stealth Bombers, Fighters, and Bunker Busters Obliterated Iran’s Nuclear Sites

Operation Midnight Hammer, conducted June 21–22, 2025, targeted Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites. Seven B-2 Spirit bombers from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base flew an 18-hour mission to Iran, delivering 14 GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Pens, marking the first-ever operational use of the MOP. To maximize surprise, at least six B-2s were observed flying west toward the Pacific as a decoy while seven B-2s proceeded east to strike. More than two dozen Tomahawk land-attack missiles were launched from an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine stationed in the Middle East to strike Isfahan around 2:15–2:35 AM local time.
22 June 2025
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Midnight Hammer: How U.S. Stealth Bombers Obliterated Iran’s Nuclear Sites and Shook the World

Midnight Hammer: How U.S. Stealth Bombers Obliterated Iran’s Nuclear Sites and Shook the World

Operation Midnight Hammer occurred June 21–22, 2025, a one-night U.S. stealth airstrike targeting Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Seven B-2 Spirit bombers departed Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, for an ~18-hour flight to Iran with mid-air refuelings, escorted by F-22 and F-35 fighters and electronic warfare support aircraft. The raid delivered 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-buster bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds, to strike the underground enrichment halls. An Ohio-class submarine in the Arabian Sea launched more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles at Isfahan to destroy above-ground targets and divert attention. The operation employed deception tactics including decoys, with a separate
22 June 2025
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Stunning Satellite Images Reveal Fordow Nuclear Facility Cratered by U.S. Airstrike

Stunning Satellite Images Reveal Fordow Nuclear Facility Cratered by U.S. Airstrike

Before the Strike: Trucks and Bulldozers Spotted at Fordow Satellite surveillance captured telltale signs of Iranian preparations at Fordow. On June 19, 2025 a Maxar satellite image shows cargo trucks parked outside the underground entrance of the Fordow complex foxnews.com. The next day (June 20) another image reveals bulldozers and heavy vehicles moving toward the tunnel entrance foxnews.com. These vehicles were clearly visible in the raw imagery – Fox News reports that “trucks and vehicles can be seen at the Fordow site” in pre-strike pictures foxnews.com foxnews.com. Open-source analysts say this “unusual activity” likely indicates that Iran was shuffling equipment
22 June 2025
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Space‑Laser Shockwave: Inside China’s 2‑Watt Orbital Beam That Claims to Outgun Starlink and Reshape the Security Balance in Space

Space‑Laser Shockwave: Inside China’s 2‑Watt Orbital Beam That Claims to Outgun Starlink and Reshape the Security Balance in Space

In June 2025, Wu Jian of Peking University of Posts & Telecom and Liu Chao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences directed a 2-watt laser from 36,000 km in geostationary orbit to a ground station, achieving 1 Gbps. The test claimed the 1 Gbps downlink is five times faster than Starlink downlinks, per the South China Morning Post. The AO-MDR scheme combines adaptive optics and mode-diversity, routing eight spatial modes through a 1.8 m telescope and real-time selecting the three cleanest channels. Usable signal quality rose from 72% to 91% despite atmospheric turbulence thanks to AO-MDR. Starlink consumer downlinks typically
22 June 2025
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Mind‑Blowing Satellite Images Reveal Fordow’s Cavernous Crater: Inside the High‑Resolution Photo Forensics that Exposed the Collapse of Iran’s Underground Nuclear Fortress

Shock From Space: Commercial Satellite Photos Reveal How U.S. Bunker‑Busters Crushed Iran’s Fordow Nuclear Mountain

On 22 June at 02:14 a.m. local time, B-2 bombers released at least a dozen 30,000-lb GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs targeting Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. By noon on 22 June, Planet Labs Skysat imagery showed a pale-grey haze over Fordow and two dark impact scars at the vehicle and personnel tunnel portals. Fordow lies 80–90 meters beneath the Kuh-e Daryacheh ridge and housed up to 2,976 IR-1 and IR-6 centrifuges enriching uranium to 60%. Analysts say Israel long sought U.S. MOP capability to neutralize Fordow because the site is too deep for conventional drilling. Image signatures include grey tunnel
22 June 2025
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Mind‑Blowing Satellite Images Reveal Fordow’s Cavernous Crater: Inside the High‑Resolution Photo Forensics that Exposed the Collapse of Iran’s Underground Nuclear Fortress

Mind‑Blowing Satellite Images Reveal Fordow’s Cavernous Crater: Inside the High‑Resolution Photo Forensics that Exposed the Collapse of Iran’s Underground Nuclear Fortress

On 22 June at 10:22 UTC, Maxar released 0.5-meter imagery showing three circular Fordow blast scars about 25 meters across at the portal area. Planet Labs’ SkySat captured higher-cadence shots showing eastward dust clouds and bulldozers arriving by noon local time. Five classic penetrator indicators are visible in Fordow imagery: entry craters, radial debris ejection, thermal scarring, rock-face fracturing, and surface subsidence, including uphill fissures and an 8-meter cavity collapse. The Fordow centrifuge galleries are estimated at 80–100 meters deep, leaving uncertainty about complete destruction. Fordow produced 166 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium-235 in the last quarter, nearly enough
22 June 2025
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Explosive Satellite Images Reveal Fordow’s Secret Moves Before U.S. Strike—Inside the High‑Stakes Showdown Over Iran’s Nuclear Future

Explosive Satellite Images Reveal Fordow’s Secret Moves Before U.S. Strike—Inside the High‑Stakes Showdown Over Iran’s Nuclear Future

Fordow lies beneath roughly 90 metres of limestone outside Qom and houses Iran’s most advanced uranium-enrichment cascades, with enrichment reaching 60% by June 2025 per the IAEA. Fordow was exposed by Western intelligence in 2009, had activity frozen under the JCPOA from 2013 to 2015, and restarted enrichment from 2019 to 2024, reaching 60% in 2025. Commercial satellites from Planet Labs, Maxar, and Airbus imaged Fordow almost hourly in mid‑June 2025. On 19 June 2025, new ventilation stacks appeared on roof section C of Fordow, signaling possible underground welding work. On 20 June 2025, a convoy of five flat‑beds and
22 June 2025
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Everything You Need to Know About Iran’s Secretive Fordo Nuclear Facility

Everything You Need to Know About Iran’s Secretive Fordo Nuclear Facility

Fordo, officially Shahid Ali-Mohammadi Nuclear Facility, sits about 30 km northeast of Qom, Iran, built into a mountain on an IRGC base and buried 80–90 meters underground. Western intelligence uncovered Fordo, and Iran formally notified the IAEA on 21 September 2009, shortly after the United States, the United Kingdom and France publicly revealed knowledge of the site. Before the JCPOA, Fordo housed about 2,700 IR-1 centrifuges; after JCPOA, by January 2017 the IAEA verified only 1,044 IR-1 machines remained in one wing. Construction began around 2006–2007, and by September 2009 inspectors confirmed tunnels and halls but said no centrifuges or
22 June 2025
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Stunning Satellite Images Expose the Full Impact of U.S. Airstrikes on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan Nuclear Sites — What the Pictures Reveal, Why They Matter, and What Happens Next

Stunning Satellite Images Expose the Full Impact of U.S. Airstrikes on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan Nuclear Sites — What the Pictures Reveal, Why They Matter, and What Happens Next

On 21 June 2025, the U.S. strike package used B-2 launched GBU-57 bunker-busters and sea-launched Tomahawks to damage Natanz and Isfahan and cut external power to Fordow. Maxar Technologies and Planet imagery circulated minutes after President Trump’s confirmation, enabling open-source observers to map bomb craters, scorched roads, and collapsed roofs at Natanz and Isfahan. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said the sudden loss of external power made it “very likely” the roughly 15,000 Natanz centrifuges were badly damaged or destroyed, based on satellite evidence. Fordow is buried 80–90 meters inside Mount Kuh-e-Daryacheh and was designed to withstand direct air attack, with
22 June 2025
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100 Semiconductor Giants Powering the Modern World

100 Semiconductor Giants Powering the Modern World

TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip fab, handling about 61% of global foundry revenues. NVIDIA is the largest fabless chip company in 2024, with data-center GPUs and AI accelerators generating $124.3 billion in revenue. Samsung Electronics is the world’s largest memory chip maker and, in 2024, regained the #1 position in overall semiconductor revenue at US$66.5 billion, with its foundry division offering 5nm and 4nm processes. Intel Corporation is an IDM (logic, x86 CPUs) with $49.2 billion in 2024 revenue, pursuing a dual IDM and external-foundry strategy via Intel Foundry Services and advancing 3nm and 2nm process technology. Synopsys
22 June 2025
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Top 100 Robotics and Drone Companies Shaping the Future of Automation (2025)

Top 100 Robotics and Drone Companies Shaping the Future of Automation (2025)

Amazon Robotics (formerly Kiva Systems) operates over 500,000 mobile robots in its fulfillment centers to power rapid order fulfillment. DJI remains the world’s largest drone manufacturer, commanding over 70% of the global market with flagship Phantom and Mavic series. SoftBank Robotics’ Pepper humanoid, launched in 2014, was the world’s first full-scale consumer-facing humanoid robot and became an iconic retail assistant. Intuitive Surgical dominates robotic surgery with the da Vinci system, boasting more than 7,500 installed robots worldwide and over 10 million surgeries performed. Zipline operates autonomous fixed-wing medical delivery drones with more than 500,000 deliveries and flight ranges up to
22 June 2025
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