University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

New Capabilities

Preparing a separate NOM4D experiment for the International Space Station

A payload about one cubic meter in size rode a SpaceX rideshare rocket into orbit on March 30, 2026, carrying composite struts, aluminum joints, a perforated reflective film and a robot arm. Over the following months the robot picked up those parts and built a section of a truss in open space, with no astronaut involved.

Updated 6 days ago

New Capabilities

As of September 2026: Research partner in the PUR-1 remote control demonstration

Engineers at Purdue University and Idaho National Laboratory remotely adjusted the power of a working research reactor in real time, without anyone touching a control rod on site. The demonstration used an automatic digital control loop, then a reinforcement learning model, linking high-performance computers in Idaho, the reactor in Indiana, and a Microsoft Azure cloud in Virginia.

Updated Sep 24

New Capabilities

As of June 2026: Home institution of the study authors

Global rice harvests have nearly doubled since the 1960s. A new study finds that rising carbon dioxide in the air did part of the work, adding about 30% to the gains that came from environmental factors.

Updated Jun 18