Swiss Firm Launches Quantum-Safe Encryption Test in Orbit

Swiss security firm EnsoLab Tech AG launched its SkyBridge payload into low-Earth orbit on Monday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, marking what the company describes as the first real-world test of post-quantum cryptographic communications hardware in space.

The mission lifted off at 10:20 UTC from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of SpaceX's Transporter-16 rideshare mission. SkyBridge will evaluate next-generation encryption protocols designed to withstand attacks from future quantum computers, testing how those methods perform and adapt on commercial hardware under the harsh conditions of orbit.

What SkyBridge Will Test

The payload will assess post-quantum cryptographic encryption and secure satellite-to-ground communications over an initial operations phase lasting two to three weeks, with broader results expected over time. The mission targets applications for defence, government, satellite operators, and critical infrastructure providers — sectors already preparing for the eventual shift to quantum-resistant security.

"This is one of the most demanding environments a hardware system can face," EnsoLab founder Masood Shaikh Mohammed said of the orbital testing conditions. Prof. Andrea Guerrieri, technical lead within EnsoLab's research core and head of the Adaptive Heterogeneous Systems Lab at HES-SO in Switzerland, said the technology "creates a new way for space systems to communicate safely, adapt to changes, and perform, even in a future where current encryption methods may no longer be secure".

A Growing Race for Quantum-Safe Space Communications

The launch comes amid accelerating global efforts to harden communications infrastructure against quantum threats. In August 2024, the National Institute of Standards and Technology finalized three post-quantum cryptography standards, and in March 2025 selected an additional key encapsulation mechanism, providing the algorithmic foundation for migration worldwide. Google announced last week a 2029 timeline for completing its own post-quantum cryptography migration.

Other firms have pursued similar orbital tests. SEALSQ Corp launched a satellite with post-quantum cryptographic chips aboard a Falcon 9 in 2025, and U.S.-based Forward Edge-AI has a working post-quantum prototype on orbit with plans for a quantum-secure space router.

The SkyBridge mission is supported by partners including DPhi Space and Momentus, and is connected to research with HES-SO Valais-Wallis School of Engineering in Switzerland. EnsoLab plans to use the results to advance further development and early commercial activity.

New Study Says Earth Can Sustain Only 2.5 Billion People

The Earth can no longer sustain its current human population, according to a study published Monday in Environmental Research Letters by an international team of researchers. The paper concludes that the planet's sustainable carrying capacity is roughly 2.5 billion people — less than a third of today's 8.3 billion — and that decades of fossil fuel dependence have masked the true scale of ecological overshoot.

A Biological Turning Point

Led by Flinders University ecologist Corey Bradshaw, the research team analyzed more than two centuries of global population records using ecological growth models. They found that before the 1950s, population growth accelerated as human numbers rose — more people meant more innovation and energy use, which supported further expansion. That pattern reversed in the early 1960s, when the global growth rate began to fall even as the population continued climbing.

"This shift marked the beginning of what we call 'a negative demographic phase,'" Bradshaw said. "It means that adding more people no longer translates into faster growth." The study projects that if current trends hold, the global population will peak between 11.7 and 12.4 billion by the late 2060s or 2070s.

The gap between that trajectory and a sustainable level of about 2.5 billion has been bridged only through intensive extraction of natural resources, the researchers argue. "Earth cannot keep up with the way in which we are using resources," Bradshaw said. "It cannot support even today's demand without major changes."

Environmental Links and What Comes Next

The study found that total population size explained more variation in rising global temperatures, ecological footprints, and carbon emissions than per-capita consumption alone — underscoring the combined role of both human numbers and consumption patterns. The consequences of overshooting the planet's biocapacity, the researchers warned, include declining biodiversity, reduced food and water security, and widening inequality.

The co-authors include the late Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University, as well as researchers from the University of Western Australia, the University of Cambridge, and the University of California. The team stressed the study does not predict sudden collapse but urged governments to pursue rapid shifts in energy, land use, and food systems.

"The window to act is narrowing, but meaningful change is still achievable if nations work together," Bradshaw said.

Powerful X-Class Solar Flare Hits Earth Ahead of Artemis 2 Launch

NASA and NOAA have built a layered monitoring system to protect the crew in real time. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center will provide specialized decision-support for the entire mission, working directly with NASA's Space Radiation Analysis Group at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Meanwhile, NASA's Moon to Mars Space Weather Analysis Office at Goddard Space Flight Center will continuously assess solar eruptions and share findings with the Johnson team.

"Our focus will be real-time space weather analysis, prioritizing solar energetic particles and events that could produce them," said Mary Aronne, operations lead for the Goddard office. "We're looking for the trigger, which would typically be a flare or a coronal mass ejection."

The teams will draw on data from spacecraft positioned across the solar system, including NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars, which can observe sunspots on the far side of the Sun up to two weeks before they rotate into Earth's view.

Orion's Built-In Defenses

Inside the Orion capsule, six radiation sensors measure dose rates across the cabin, while astronauts will wear personal dosimeters. If radiation levels spike, onboard systems trigger audible alarms. At higher thresholds, the crew is trained to reconfigure their cabin, repositioning stowed equipment to add shielding mass between themselves and incoming particles — a procedure that will be tested for the first time on this mission.

The baseline radiation exposure from passing through the Van Allen belts and galactic cosmic rays is expected to be comparable to a one-month stay on the International Space Station, roughly 5 percent of an astronaut's career limit, according to NASA. Any solar storm exposure would add to that total.

A Volatile Sun Adds Urgency

The Sun is in an active phase of Solar Cycle 25, and some researchers have argued NASA should delay the flight. A team led by Dr. Victor Velasco Herrera of the National Autonomous University of Mexico warned that a high-risk window for powerful eruptions could extend through mid-2026. NASA has pressed ahead with an April 1 launch window opening at 6:24 p.m. EDT, with backup opportunities through April 6. NOAA has issued a moderate geomagnetic storm watch for March 31 following the latest flare.

Three Labs Report Quantum Photonics Breakthroughs Toward Smaller Scalable Devices

Three separate research teams this week reported advances in quantum photonics that could accelerate the development of smaller, more practical quantum devices — from fiber-integrated light sources to chip-scale multi-emitter platforms.

A Quantum Light Source on a Fiber Tip

Scientists at A*STAR's Quantum Innovation Centre in Singapore demonstrated a lens-free entangled photon-pair source by placing an ultrathin crystal of niobium oxide diiodide (NbOI₂) directly onto the end of an optical fiber. The device generates pairs of correlated photons through spontaneous parametric down-conversion without any bulk free-space optics, achieving a coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) of up to approximately 4,600 — far exceeding the previous record of around 800 for similar van der Waals crystal sources. Graphene encapsulation protects the crystal from environmental degradation, and both the pump laser and the generated photon pairs travel entirely through optical fibers, eliminating alignment complexity. The work, posted to arXiv on March 25, provides what the authors describe as "a practical platform for future two-photon quantum interference experiments directly using optical fibers".

Optical Tornadoes from Liquid Crystals

Separately, physicists at the University of Warsaw, the Military University of Technology, and France's Institut Pascal CNRS reported creating "optical tornadoes" — laser light carrying orbital angular momentum in its lowest energy state — using topological defects called torons embedded in a liquid crystal microcavity. Published in Science Advances, the work showed that these self-organizing structures generate a synthetic gauge field that inverts the usual ordering of energy states, causing the ground state to carry angular momentum. "For the first time, we managed to obtain this effect in the ground state," said Prof. Guillaume Malpuech of Université Clermont Auvergne. "This is significant because the ground state is the most stable and the easiest for energy to accumulate in". Because light naturally settles into this state, lasing becomes easier to achieve — potentially enabling simpler photonic devices for optical communication and quantum technologies without complex nanofabrication.

Five Quantum Dots Interfere on a Single Chip

Researchers at Heriot-Watt University, collaborating with colleagues at Technical University, scaled quantum interference from two emitters to five independent quantum dots fabricated on a single chip. Using programmable spatial light modulators to shape the excitation and collection of single photons, the team compensated for manufacturing imperfections and spectral variations that had previously limited multi-emitter interference. The group verified interference through cooperative-emission measurements and Hong-Ou-Mandel two-photon interference, observing a peak bunching parameter of 1.52 — well above the 0.5 ceiling for two-dot systems. The results, posted to arXiv on March 27, establish what the researchers call "a route towards large-scale, programmable quantum photonic architectures," though they acknowledge that scaling well beyond five emitters while maintaining coherence remains an open engineering challenge.

China Tests Hybrid Engine for Next-Generation Stealth Battle Drones

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China has flight-tested a hybrid propulsion system designed to make small battlefield drones quieter, harder to detect, and capable of flying longer distances, according to a report broadcast on Friday by CCTV-7, China's military television channel.

The 60-kilowatt system, which was tested in December, combines fuel-powered and electric propulsion to address a longstanding tradeoff in drone design. Fuel-powered systems used in larger uncrewed aircraft deliver strong performance and long endurance but produce considerable noise and heat. Smaller battery-powered drones are quieter and less visible on infrared sensors but suffer from limited flight time

How the System Works

The hybrid unit generates electricity from fuel during flight, then allows the drone to switch to a quiet electric mode when stealth is required, according to the South China Morning Post, which first reported the CCTV-7 broadcast. This dual-mode capability would enable small drones to cover longer distances while maintaining low noise levels and reduced thermal signatures — qualities that could make them harder to detect and intercept on the battlefield.

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The system was developed by Sichuan Tianfu Light Power Technology, a state-backed firm that also unveiled the hybrid power unit alongside two turbofan engines at a low-altitude economy industry conference in late 2024. The company, which operates under the umbrella of China's Aero Engine Corporation, has been working to bring both the hybrid system and a larger 600-kilogram-force turbofan engine to commercialization.

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A Broader Drone Buildup

The hybrid propulsion test is one element in a sweeping Chinese effort to expand unmanned aerial capabilities. In February, China flew the CH-YH1000S, described as the world's first hybrid cargo drone, in Chongqing — a project that drew on a partnership between the aerospace sector and the country's electric vehicle industry. In December, the CH-7 stealth endurance drone completed its maiden flight. And in late March, state media broadcast a live demonstration of the Atlas drone swarm system, which allows a single operator to command up to 96 coordinated drones through an AI-driven kill chain.

Meanwhile, a Mitchell Institute report published this week revealed that China has stationed more than 200 obsolete J-6 fighter jets, converted into attack drones, at six air bases near the Taiwan Strait. Analysts said the converted jets would function like cruise missiles in the opening phase of any Taiwan conflict, designed to overwhelm air defenses by forcing expensive interceptors to be spent on cheap, expendable targets.

The Stealth Advantage

The hybrid propulsion breakthrough addresses a specific gap: giving small tactical drones the range of fuel-powered aircraft without sacrificing the stealth advantages of electric flight. As drone warfare shifts toward autonomous swarms and attrition-based strategies, the ability to operate quietly and evade infrared detection could prove decisive in contested airspace.

Scientists Discover Simple Amino Acid Cocktail That Boosts mRNA and CRISPR Delivery

A team of scientists at Biohub has found that co-injecting three common amino acids alongside lipid nanoparticles — the same delivery technology behind COVID-19 mRNA vaccines — can increase mRNA delivery to cells up to 20-fold and push CRISPR gene editing efficiency from roughly 25% to nearly 90% in a single dose, according to a study published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine.

The discovery, led by Daniel Zongjie Wang and Shana O. Kelley, offers a strikingly simple workaround to one of the most persistent obstacles in genetic medicine: lipid nanoparticles, or LNPs, work far better in laboratory dishes than they do inside living organisms.

A Metabolic Bottleneck, Not a Design Flaw

Rather than attempting to engineer a better nanoparticle, the Biohub team investigated why cells in the body are so much worse at absorbing LNPs than cells grown in standard lab conditions. They found that when cells were cultured in a medium mimicking the nutrient-lean environment of human blood plasma, LNP uptake dropped 50% to 80%.

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Metabolic analysis traced the problem to suppressed amino acid pathways. "The field has spent enormous effort engineering nanoparticles," Wang said. "We found, however, that the cell's own metabolic state is an equally important — and addressable — part of the equation."

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Through systematic screening, the team identified an optimized supplement of methionine, arginine, and serine that restored and amplified the cellular uptake pathway. The cocktail worked across intramuscular, intratracheal, and intravenous delivery routes and was effective regardless of the specific lipid formulation or mRNA cargo used.

Striking Results in Preclinical Models:

In mice with acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure, LNPs carrying growth hormone mRNA produced only a 33% survival rate when administered alone. With the amino acid supplement, every mouse survived, therapeutic protein levels rose nearly nine-fold, and markers of liver damage dropped to near-healthy levels.

In a separate set of experiments targeting lung tissue with CRISPR-Cas9, a single dose without the supplement achieved editing efficiencies of 20% to 30%. Adding the amino acid cocktail pushed that figure to 85% to 90% — a result that could prove transformative for diseases like cystic fibrosis that demand efficient gene correction in the lungs.

JWST detects dry ice in a planetary nebula for the first time

Astronomers have discovered carbon dioxide ice — commonly known as dry ice — inside a planetary nebula for the first time, using the James Webb Space Telescope to peer into the heart of NGC 6302, the Butterfly Nebula.

The finding, detailed in a paper published February 25 on the arXiv preprint server, challenges the assumption that planetary nebulae are too hostile for fragile molecular ices to survive. The research was led by Charmi Bhatt of the University of Western Ontario in Canada and involved an international team of 26 scientists from institutions across North America, Europe, and South America.

A Surprising Detection

NGC 6302, also called the Bug Nebula, is a bipolar planetary nebula located roughly 3,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. At its center lies the ancient core of a Sun-like star, surrounded by a massive dusty torus and bright lobes of expelled gas.

Using JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the team identified two absorption features characteristic of pure, crystalline carbon dioxide ice within the nebula's dusty torus. The ice absorption profile displayed a distinctive double-peak pattern between 14.9 and 15.3 micrometers, accompanied by cold gas-phase carbon dioxide at temperatures of 20 to 50 Kelvin along the same lines of sight.

Planetary nebulae are expanding shells of gas and dust shed by dying stars, and their environments are generally bathed in intense ultraviolet radiation — conditions long thought to destroy delicate ice molecules. The detection suggests the dense torus around NGC 6302's central star provides enough shielding for ice chemistry to persist.

Distinct Chemistry in a Dying Star's Envelope

The researchers found that the ratio of gas-phase to ice-phase carbon dioxide in NGC 6302 is more than an order of magnitude higher than what is typically observed in young stellar objects, according to the paper. This points to a fundamentally different ice formation or processing mechanism in evolved stellar environments compared to the cold molecular clouds and protoplanetary disks where ices are more commonly found.

The result builds on earlier JWST observations of NGC 6302 that revealed the presence of methyl cation and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, suggesting the nebula hosts unexpectedly rich organic chemistry. The authors emphasized that future high-resolution observations of planetary nebulae will be essential to determine whether ice chemistry is common in dense nebular tori, or whether the Butterfly Nebula is an outlier.