Illustration of a nuclear fusion reactorScience Photo Library / AlamyLimitless power from nuclear fusion may be a step closer following the accidental discovery of a new process to supply the isotope lithium-6, which is vital to providing fuel for a sustainable fusion reactor.The least challenging fusion process involves combining two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium, to yield helium, a neutron and a lot of energy. Tritium, a rare, radioactive isotope of hydrogen, is difficult and expensive to source. Breeder reactors seek to manufacture tritium by bombarding lithium with neutrons. AdvertisementLithium atoms exist as two stable isotopes: lithium-7 makes up 92.5 per cent of the element in nature and the rest is lithium-6. The rarer isotope reacts much more efficiently with neutrons to produce tritium in a fusion reaction.However, the two lithium isotopes are extremely difficult to separate. Until now, this has only been achieved at a large scale using a highly toxic process reliant on mercury. Due to the environmental impact, this process has not been employed in Western countries since the 1960s and researchers are forced to rely on dwindling stockpiles of lithium-6 produced before the ban.Sarbajit Banerjee at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and his colleagues have now discovered an alternative method serendipitously, while they were looking at ways to clean water contaminated by oil drilling.The latest science news delivered to your inbox, every day.Sign up to newsletterThe researchers noticed that the cement membranes they employed, containing a lab-made compound called zeta vanadium oxide, collected large quantities of lithium and seemed to disproportionately isolate lithium-6.Zeta vanadium oxide contains tunnels surrounded by oxygen atoms, says Banerjee. Lithium ions move through these tunnels, which happen to be just the right size [to bind lithium-6], he says. We found that lithium-6 ions are bound more strongly and are retained within the tunnels.The researchers dont fully understand why lithium-6 is preferentially retained, but based on simulations, they believe it has to do with the interactions between the ions and the atoms at the edges of the tunnels, says Banerjee.He says they have only isolated less than a gram of lithium-6 so far, but they hope to scale up the process so it can produce tens of kilograms of the isotope. A commercial fusion reactor is expected to need tonnes of the element every day.However, these challenges pale in comparison to the bigger challenges with plasma reactors and laser ignition for fusion, says Banerjee.Journal reference:Chem DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2025.102486Topics:

Europe is on the cusp of a new dawn in commercial space technology. As global political tensions intensify and relationships with the US become increasingly strained, several European companies are now planning to conduct their own launches in an attempt to reduce the continents reliance on American rockets. In the coming days, Isar Aerospace, a company based in Munich, will try to launch its Spectrum rocket from a site in the frozen reaches of Andya island in Norway. A spaceport has been built there to support small commercial rockets, and Spectrum is the first to make an attempt. Its a big milestone, says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and spaceflight expert at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts. Its long past time for Europe to have a proper commercial launch industry. Spectrum stands 28 meters (92 feet) tall, the length of a basketball court. The rocket has two stages, or parts, the first with nine enginespowered by an unusual fuel combination of liquid oxygen and propane not seen on other rockets before, which Isar says results in higher performanceand the second with a single engine to give satellites their final kick into orbit. The ultimate goal for Spectrum is to carry satellites weighing up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) to low Earth orbit. On this first launch, however, there are no satellites on board, because success is anything but guaranteed. Its unlikely to make it to orbit, says Malcolm Macdonald, an expert in space technology at Strathclyde University in Scotland. The first launch of any rocket tends not to work. Regardless of whether it succeeds or fails, the launch attempt heralds an important moment as Europe tries to kick-start its own private rocket industry. Two other companiesOrbex of the UK and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) of Germanyare expected to make launch attempts later this year. These efforts could give Europe multiple ways to reach space without having to rely on US rockets. Europe has to be prepared for a more uncertain future, says Macdonald. The uncertainty of what will happen over the next four years with the current US administration amplifies the situation for European launch companies. Trailing in the USs wake Europe has for years trailed behind the US in commercial space efforts. The successful launch of SpaceXs first rocket, the Falcon 1, in 2008 began a period of American dominance of the global launch market. In 2024, 145 of 263 global launch attempts were made by US entitiesand SpaceX accounted for 138 of those. SpaceX is the benchmark at the moment, says Jonas Kellner, head of marketing, communications, and political affairs at RFA. Other US companies, like Rocket Lab (which launches from both the US and New Zealand), have also become successful, while commercial rockets are ramping up in China, too. Europe has launched its own government-funded Ariane and Vega rockets for decades from the Guiana Space Centre, a spaceport it operates in French Guiana in South America. Most recently, on March 6, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched its new heavy-lift Ariane 6 rocket from there for the first time. However, the history of rocket launches from Europe itself is much more limited. In 1997 the US defense contractor Northrop Grumman air-launched a Pegasus rocket from a plane that took off from the Canary Islands. In 2023 the US company Virgin Orbit failed to reach orbit with its LauncherOne rocket after a launch attempt from Cornwall in the UK. No vertical orbital rocket launch has ever been attempted from Western Europe. Isar Aerospace is one of a handful of companies hoping to change that with help from agencies like ESA, which has provided funding to rocket launch companies through its Boost program since 2019. In 2024 it awarded 44.22 million ($48 million) to Isar, Orbex, RFA, and the German launch company HyImpulse. The hope is that one or more of the companies will soon begin regular launches from Europe from two potential sites: Isars chosen location in Andya and the SaxaVord Spaceport on the Shetland Islands north of the UK, where RFA and Orbex plan to make their attempts. I expect four or five companies to get to the point of launching, and then over a period of years reliability and launch cadence [or frequency] will determine which one or two of them survives, says McDowell. ISAR AEROSPACE Unique advantages In their initial form these rockets will not rival anything on offer from SpaceX in terms of size and cadence. SpaceX sometimes launches its 70-meter (230-foot) Falcon 9 rocket multiple times per week and is developing its much larger Starship vehicle for missions to the moon and Mars. However, the smaller European rockets can allow companies in Europe to launch satellites to orbit without having to travel all the way across the Atlantic. There is an advantage to having it closer, says Kellner, who says it will take RFA one or two days by sea to get its rockets to SaxaVord, versus one or two weeks to travel across the Atlantic. Launching from Europe is useful, too, for reaching specific orbits. Traditionally, a lot of satellite launches have taken place near the equator, in places such as Cape Canaveral in Florida, to get an extra boost from Earths rotation. Crewed spacecraft have also launched from these locations to reach space stations in equatorial orbit around Earth and the moon. From Europe, though, satellites can launch north over uninhabited stretches of water to reach polar orbit, which can allow imaging satellites to see the entirety of Earth rotate underneath them. Increasingly, says McDowell, companies want to place satellites into sun-synchronous orbit, a type of polar orbit where a satellite orbiting Earth stays in perpetual sunlight. This is useful for solar-powered vehicles. By far the bulk of the commercial market now is sun-synchronous polar orbit, says McDowell. So having a high-latitude launch site that has good transport links with customers in Europe does make a difference. Europes end goal In the longer term, Europes rocket ambitions might grow to vehicles that are more of a match for the Falcon 9 through initiatives like ESAs European Launcher Challenge, which will award contracts later this year. We are hoping to develop [a larger vehicle] in the European Launcher Challenge, says Kellner. Perhaps Europe might even consider launching humans into space one day on larger rockets, says Thilo Kranz, ESAs program manager for commercial space transportation. We are looking into this, he says. If a commercial operator comes forward with a smart way of approaching [crewed] access to space, that would be a favorable development for Europe. A separate ESA project called Themis, meanwhile, is developing technologies to reuse rockets. This was the key innovation of SpaceXs Falcon 9, allowing the company to dramatically drive down launch costs. Some European companies, like MaiaSpace and RFA, are also investigating reusability. The latter is planning to use parachutes to bring the first stage of its rocket back to a landing in the sea, where it can be recovered. As soon as you get up to something like a Falcon 9 competitor, I think its clear now that reusability is crucial, says McDowell. Theyre not going to be economically competitive without reusability. The end goal for Europe is to have a sovereign rocket industry that reduces its reliance on the US. Where we are in the broader geopolitical situation probably makes this a bigger point than it might have been six months ago, says Macdonald. The continent has already shown it can diversify from the US in other ways. Europe now operates its own successful satellite-based alternative to the US Global Positioning System (GPS), called Galileo; it began launching in 2011 and is four times more accurate than its American counterpart. Isar Aerospace, and the companies that follow, might be the first sign that commercial European rockets can break from America in a similar way. We need to secure access to space, says Kranz, and the more options we have in launching into space, the higher the flexibility.

2025-03-20T20:47:13Z Read in app President Donald Trump signs an executive order aimed at eliminating the Department of Education. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin eliminating the Education Department.Trump cannot eliminate a federal agency without Congress.Still, Trump and some GOP lawmakers have called for axing the department and shifting responsibilities to other agencies.President Donald Trump has officially introduced his plan to eliminate the Department of Education. It could disrupt student loans, funding for public schools, and measuring students' achievements in reading and math.On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order directing his new education secretary, Linda McMahon, to begin the process of eliminating the Department of Education.He said that "useful functions," including Pell Grants and Title I funding for low-income districts, will be "fully preserved" but redistributed to other federal agencies."But beyond these core necessities," Trump said, "my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department. We're going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible."Shutting down the agency requires congressional approval; while Trump and McMahon are seeking to reduce the agency's capacity, completely eliminating it would need 60 Senate votes. Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the Senate education committee, said in a statement that he will "support the President's goals by submitting legislation to accomplish this as soon as possible."McMahon said during her confirmation hearing that "Trump understands that we'll be working with Congress" to make changes to the Department of Education."We'd like to do this right," she said. "We'd like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with."Some Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to abolish the department.In November, Sen. Mike Rounds put forth a bill to eliminate the department and "redistribute all critical federal programs under other departments." The bill proposed placing the federal student loans program under the authority of the Treasury Department.The executive order follows the Department of Education's recent move to restructure the agency by cutting its workforce in half. On March 11, the department announced it was firing over 1,300 workers, leaving just over 2,000 employees remaining at the agency.Some advocates have already said they're prepared to take Trump to court over this executive order. Aaron Ament, president of borrower advocacy group Student Defense, said in a statement that "there's no Executive Order the President can sign to legally eliminate the Department of Education.""We're already preparing to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education in court," he said.What shutting down ED would mean for AmericansThe Department of Education primarily facilitates federal funding and research, including billions in funding for the Title I program that provides federal assistance to school districts to help low-income students. It also manages the trillion-dollar student-loan portfolio, along with funding for districts to teach students with disabilities.Another core component of the Education Department is its research arm, which collects data on kids' progress on a range of subjects including reading and math. Education experts previously told BI that the data collection is in jeopardy following Trump's move in February to end $900 million in research contracts.Some Democratic lawmakers said that gutting the department would have a significant impact on the US education system."The staff at the Department provide real services that impact the daily lives of students and their families from enforcing students' civil rights and providing transparent information on how our schools are doing to processing critical aid such as Pell Grants to helping low-income students all over our nation attend college and further their careers," Sen. Patty Murray wrote in a recent letter.The executive order Trump signed delivers on his past statements that the Department of Education should not exist. The president and other Republicans have said that individual states should be in charge of education even as states already have significant control and other agencies can take on some of the department's responsibilities.This executive order also reflects the goals of the DOGE officeElon Musk that aims to slash government waste. Vivek Ramaswamy, who previously co-led DOGE but has since stepped down, called for eliminating the Department of Education in December following results showing kids' low reading scores in the US.Some education policy experts previously told BI there's little indication that getting rid of the department would be effective in addressing certain education issues, such as low reading scores."If it weren't for the Department of Education, we wouldn't know" much about reading scores to begin with, said Nat Malkus, a senior fellow and deputy director of education policy at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute.After getting confirmed, McMahon detailed her plans for a "historic final mission" for the Department of Education, which included goals to center the department's work on parental rights and removing "divisive DEI" programs from curricula."Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make the best educational choices for their children," McMahon said. "An effective transfer of educational oversight to the states will mean more autonomy for local communities. Teachers, too, will benefit from less micromanagement in the classroomenabling them to get back to basics."Have a tip? Contact this reporter via Signal at asheffey.97 or via email at asheffey@businessinsider.com. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

2025-03-20T20:38:44Z Read in app Vice President JD Vance sold his Alexandria, Virginia, home for $1.8 million. Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Jordan Pandy/Business Insider This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Vice President JD Vance sold a Washington, DC-area home for $1.8 million in less than three weeks.He made about $228,000 more than the $1.64 million he paid in 2023.He lives in the vice president's residence but still owns a DC home that he rents out to a tenant.JD Vance quickly sold his home just outside Washington, DC, for $1.87 million, property records show.Vance and his wife, Usha, bought the house in Alexandria, Virginia, a Washington, DC, suburb about eight miles from the nation's capital, in 2023 for $1.64 million.The couple made $228,025 more than they paid, but it's unclear whether they spent any money on renovations or upgrades that would cut into their profit.The five-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom, farmhouse-style home hit the market on February 27 listed at $1.69 million, according to its Redfin listing. The sale officially closed on March 17, just 18 days later. The Alexandria, Virginia home that Vance sold this week. Jordan Pandy/Business Insider Alexandria property records show that Vance, who bought it under an LLC, sold it to 9 EDR LLC, a Nevada domestic limited liability company filed on March 7. The mailing address tied to 9 EDR LLC goes to another home in Washington, DC.Robert Crawford and Tyler Jeffrey of TTR Sotheby's International Realty listed the property, and Justin Tanner of ReMax Allegiance brought the buyer. The real-estate agents did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Vance will spend most of his time in the official home of the vice president, which is on the grounds of the Naval Observatory.Property records show, however, that Vance still owns a home in Washington, DC. In 2014, Vance and his wife purchased a DC townhome for $590,000 in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, within walking distance of the National Mall. According to Redfin, the house was listed for rent in October 2023 for $3,700 a month.In 2024, the Vances' renter at the time told the Washington Post that she planned to stay there for a while and that her landlords were responsive."I love this house. I love this block. I want to be here for a long time," she said. "So I want to be a good tenant. And I have great landlords Usha's great."

Those hoping to finally see Nvidias lower-end graphics cards in-personor at least see a pretty picture next to the dreaded words out of stockmay need to wait several weeks more. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti may not be around this month, as previously expected. The rumor points to further delays from a tech world feeling the impacts of lets just call it geopolitical concerns. According to forum posts first reported by Videocardz, we may not see the RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti until the middle of April at the earliest. The word comes from a post on Board Channelsa forum that encompasses members with connections to the various graphics cards makersNvidia has told all its partner graphics card makers that the 5060 and 5060 Ti were being delayed for one to two months. The message posted to the forum noted that the RTX 5060 Ti at either 16 GB or 8 GB of VRAM will be pushed to mid-April. The cheaper RTX 5060 may not be around until mid-May. Initial rumors supported a March release, but now Nvidia is reportedly telling its add-in card (AIC) partners that it will give them specific timing at a later date. These are relatively loose rumors, but the fact that Nvidia did not offer a peep about its lower-end graphics cards at its GTC 2025 conference supports the RTX 5060 timing for April at the earliest. It means we still dont have an idea about price, but you could bide your time looking at supposed leaked specs. Nvidia is still dealing with overwhelming stock woes that have limited access to the companys new Blackwell series, including the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, the RTX 5070 Ti and lower-end RTX 5070. This week, Nvidia cut some prices for the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 in Europe only. In the U.S., some cards are selling for $100 to $200 above manufacturer suggested price, or MSRP.Nvidias best remedy so far has been what amounts to a raffle called priority access. This can help beat the scalpers by limiting stock to verified members of the official Nvidia forums. It still doesnt help the vast majority of customers who want a card get their hands on one. AMD, with its recent Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT, has similarly faced issues with low stocks and inflated prices. AIC maker Yeston told customers on Tuesday that Radeon stocks would stabilize after April. Nvidia joins the laundry list of companies holding back their big budget releases this week alone. Google dropped the first details of its new mid-range phone, the Pixel 9a, only to pull everything and delay its release citing a component quality issue. On Thursday, Nothing, the makers of the upcoming Nothing 3a Pro, reportedly delayed preorders for its upcoming top-end smartphone. Android Police first reported on emails sent to customers noting that due to demand, there will be a delay and orders are now set to ship April 15.Theres nothing official to say any of these delays are due toor exacerbated bythe ongoing Trump tariffs on imports from China. But weve heard directly from companies how complicated their supply chains have become, just due to President Donald Trumps executive orders. Companies would be better off telling customers how it is, but big tech likely does not want to run afoul of the vindictive grievance machine that currently occupies the White House.

The New Republic is one of the biggest parts ofStar Wars universe after the climax ofReturn of the Jedi. Its a state of power in the galaxy that defines three decades ofStar Wars chronology before its upended in the sequel trilogy, and it touches on so many of the contemporary franchises parts, from upcoming movies to shows like Ahsoka andThe Mandalorian. Its broader rise and fall speaks to the cycle of conflict thatStar Wars has, in ways good and bad, come to be defined by. And yet, the New Republic itself, beyond those broad strokes, remains lightly explored and even more lightly defined. That has, over the years, very slowly changed. After an initial wave of tie-in stories to flesh out the Journey to The Force Awakens in 2015a journey that climaxes with the New Republics own explosive end in that moviethe broader strokes of the New Republics rule, beyond its very early days, have remained relatively untouched. But now, Star Wars has grown into an even broader media empire. AhsokaandThe Mandalorian alike have played in the shadows of the New Republics struggles to address the threat that will one day undo it. Now Marvels comics, between the recent Battle of Jakku comics miniseries and the upcoming relaunch of the main ongoing Star Wars series, are exploring those crucial early years that saw the New Republic coalesce in the face of the victory at Endor. So now, at the very least, we have a somewhat better picture of what the rebirth of the Republic looked like. A New Hope, and the Empire Strikes Back EA Games/Lucasfilm It would take the best part of a year after the battle of Endor to formally establish the New Republic on Chandrila, the Republics newest capital and the site of the reconstituted Galactic Senate. But it existed almost immediately after the Rebellions decisive victory, as Alliance forces and operatives capitalized on the disarray brought about by the Emperors death to petition worlds across the Galactic Core and Inner Rim to support the fledgling reformation effort. Although the Rebellions momentum was defined as much by Imperial disorganization as it was military might, the first months after Endor saw multiple attempts to stymie word of the Rebels victory at Endor. Posthumously Palpatine sent messages to various Imperial commanders to enact Operation Cinder, an interstellar campaign targeting multiple worlds with climate-disruption lasers, regardless of their purported fealty to either the Empire or the Rebellion, in an attempt to divide the focus of the latter and turn public sentiment against the Rebellion. The Anoat sector, a vital Outer Rim territory for fuel production due to worlds like Bespin, was locked down by its Imperial overseer Governer Adelhard, heavily blockading travel in and out of the sector and forcefully crushing any signs of dissent or even acknowledgement of the Emperors death, denying the Rebellion access to a vital series of worlds in the process. Even Coruscant itself, the former capital of the Republic and now the Empires primary seat of power, wouldve proved a symbolic asset for the nascent New Republic to hold, but the world spent months locked in a bitter civil war, as Imperial forces rallied under Palpatines former Grand Vizier, Mas Amedda, to try and crush the pockets of pro-Rebellion sentiment that had surged on the world upon news of Palpatines passing. In order to combat the misinformation and gain galactic leverage as Palpatines death became acceptedwhether through Rebel propaganda or the chaos of the Empires dysfunction as various Moffs and military officials sought to publicly succeed him as Emperoralmost a year after the battle of Endor, the New Republic was made official, electing Alliance leader Mon Mothma as its first (and, at the stressing of Mothma herself, provisional) chancellor to send a message to the galaxy that a new era of order was upon it.The Outer Rim Front Lucasfilm The formal establishment of the New Republic did little to dramatically change the state of power in the galaxy, at first. Battle lines were redrawn, as the New Republic focused on liberating worlds in the Core and Inner Rim, while the various splinter fleets and remnant powers of the Empire consolidated forces in the Outer Rim, already emboldened by Adelhards Iron Blockade locking down Anoat. What saved the New Republic from being swept out of the Core was, in many ways, less about the strength of the organization itself, and more about the lack of a unified front from the Imperial Remnant providing a singular force to coalesce around. That almost changed on the planet Akiva. The formation of the Imperial Future Council by Admiral Rae Sloane, alongside a coterie of other Imperial Naval officers and former advisors to the Emperor, was meant to establish a path forward to transition from Palpatines rule to a new figurehead for the Empire. It established the Outer Rim planet as a potential new hub for the Empire to plan long-term strategies in its battle against the New Republic. However, a combination of internal sabotagein which Imperial admiral Gallius Rax leaked key information to the New Republic military to undermine his potential opponentsand the fomenting of uprising on the world saw the IFC almost completely eradicated through death or capture, save for Sloane. Akiva would become the first world in the Outer Rim to formally join the New Republic, shattering the Empires broader grip on the region.The victoryalongside the development of a rare New Republic military program before Mon Mothma platformed a policy of demilitarization, the Starhawk Project, which used captured Imperial capital ships as the base for a new class of dreadnaughtsaw momentum once again turn in the New Republics favor. After the liberation of Kashyyyk, robbing the Empire of the slave forces it had built out of its occupation of the Wookiees, and almost as crucially Kuat, the home of Kuat Drive Yards shipyards, more and more Outer Rim worlds began rising up and seceding to the New Republic. The successful liberation of Kuat, denying the Empire a key asset in ship production, saw the New Republic Senate approve a path to peace talks between Mon Mothma and now Grand Admiral Rae Sloane. But the talks, coinciding with a celebration for Alliance prisoners liberated as part of the rebellion on Kashyyyk, were thrown into disarray. Forced into violent rages by hidden biochip implants, the liberated prisoners feted on Chandrila turned on gathered Republic leaders, claiming the lives of several officials in the process. The peace talks were called off, and the attacks caused the tides to turn on the New Republic once more. Broadcast all over the holonet, the attack on Chandrila caused a wave of panicworlds petitioning for senatorial representation and Republic membership backed out, while others sought to relocate the Senate away from the world. Other systems proposed the resurgence of independent alliances, rather than a singular unified government that could be threatened by repeat attacks. In a single afternoon, victory in the Galactic Civil War had been snatched awayand replaced with a New Republic on the edge of being broken apart entirely. The Road to Jakku EA Games/Lucasfilm The public relations nightmare that followed the attempted assassinations on Chandrila beset the New Republic with myriad challenges. Internally within the Senate, Mon Mothma found her leadership challenged by rivals seeking to push back on her goals of decentralization and eventual disarmament, while various independent galactic powers, born from mercantile trade, piracy, and other separatist factions, forming their own governmental systems. To guarantee the safety of the Senate, plans were made to move sentatorial duties away from Chandrila, and to new facilities on the Mid Rim world of Nakadia, which would become the first of a rotating series of capitals and senatorial hubs for the Republic.But while the New Republic looked within, so did the Empire. Emboldened by the chaos sown on Chandrila, a new Imperial ruling council rose up under the command of Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax, a rival to Sloane who he thought was killed in the crossfire while she was on Chandrila. Rax, operating on secret contingencies from Palpatine designed to completely destroy the Imperial Remnant while a new order was developed in secret, mustered the remaining Imperial military might to his homeworld, Jakku, seeking to draw the New Republic into an extended pitched battle in the Inner Rim that would culminate in the destruction of the planet, effectively crippling the New Republic and remnant Imperial forces alike. Although New Republic agents discovered the massing of Imperial assets over Jakku, direct military intervention was stymied by the Republic senate, with votes to approve military action defeated and delayed by the process of the Senates transferral to Nakadia. After it was discovered that several senators who had voted against action had been coerced by crime syndicates seeking the extension of the Galactic Civil War (and with it, the growth of an illicit arms trade), military action was finally approved.Imperial forces and the New Republic Defense Fleet engaged on and over Jakku just over a year to the day of the Battle of Endor in what was, initially, the Empires battle to lose. Rax tightened the Imperial Navy around his flagship, the Super Star Destroyer Ravager, creating a defensive grid that the New Republics forces struggled to penetrate, drawing both fleets together as part of his plans to catch them in the crossfire of Jakkus destruction. It wasnt until a sacrificial assault on the Ravager itself by the StarhawkConcordthe first of the class of capital ship to be constructed under the program a few months priorpulling it into a descent to the planets surface with its tractor beam arrays that the tide turned in the Republics favor. As the world below was ravaged with debris from falling ships from both sideswith many Star Destroyers scuttled so they could avoid capture by New Republic boarding teamsthe New Republic eventually routed the scattered Imperial Forces. Peace and Rehabilitation Marvel Comics Defeat at Jakku, as well as the death of Raxkilled by Sloane before he could enact his contingency to detonate Jakkus coresaw the beleaguered Mas Amedda sue for a ceasefire after escaping his confines in the Imperial Palace on Coruscant. Meeting with Mon Mothma, Leia Organa, and other officials on Chandrila, the Galactic Civil War came to an end with the signing of the Galactic Concordance, a treaty that included articles for the Empires total surrender to the New Republic. Coruscant was formally given over to the New Republic and any Imperial claim on the world relinquished, and the Empire was given dedicated space within the core and inner sectors that it was strictly enforced to remain in, while the dissolution of the Imperial Academy system effectively put a limit on the recruitment and development of new armed forces. To further stall attempts at a resurgence by the formal Remnant, the Concordance further stipulated that interstellar corporations were prohibited from working with the Empire under penalty of extensive reparations. Although fighting would continue to rage among Imperial holdouts on Jakku for months following the signing of the Concordance, the terms of the treaty also put the New Republic itself on a path towards demobilizing much of its own defense forces. The introduction of a new Military Disarmament Act in the Republic Senate would finally strip the office of the Chancellor of many of the emergency executive powers granted to it during the outbreak of the Clone War, as well as drastically reduce the scope of the New Republic military in favor of funneling support to local system defense forces. Alongside the demilitarization process, the New Republic also began amnesty programs to recruit former Imperial officers and citizens for rehabilitation into Republic societyeven as it maintained strict punishment of any Imperial forces attempting to act in defiance of the Concordance.It is in this brief period of peace that the New Republic and formal Imperial Remnant remains for several decades, although no doubt in upcoming material like MarvelsStar Wars relaunch, or in the crisis that the New Republic faces with Grand Admiral Thrawn in Ahsoka and Dave Filonis upcoming film, well get to see more insight into these early days. And of course, theres always the threat in the shadows we know is to come years after: while the formal Empire still remained a factor after the conclusion of the war, multiple remnant factions still pursued a chance to overthrow the New Republics hard-earned peace including those forces that fled into the edges of known space and beyond to start building up plans for Palpatines return. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

CR House / LOTE Arquitectura + Ignacio FerreiraSave this picture! Antonia Mardones NallyLos Vilos, ChileArchitects: Ignacio Ferreira, LOTE ArquitecturaAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:155 mManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: European Windows, Ingelam, MK, Milesi, Topwood Lead Architect: Juan Pablo Gutierrez More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. The work is located on the coastal edge of Punta Hueso, Coquimbo region, Chile. It is a site where the coast, rocky formations, and the characteristic medium/low-height vegetation of the northern region prevail. The project is designed based on a grid of nine quadrants composed of eight peripheral wooden quadrants and one central circular concrete quadrant, which rises to serve as the access to the house through what we call a sculptural element, a project in itself like the spiral staircase. The house is elevated to protect the local flora in preservation while enhancing the completely unobstructed 360-degree views of its surroundings.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The main structure of the house is composed of laminated wooden beams, which load onto the central reinforced concrete quadrant. On top of the main beams, smaller secondary beams are placed, and on these, purlins are arranged to form the elevated framework of the main floor.Save this picture!Save this picture!Once we complete the journey through this sculptural element, we arrive at the main access, through which we enter a small distribution hall that, in one direction, is completely linked to the public space of the house composed of the living room, dining room, and kitchen; distributed across three of the eight wooden quadrants. In the other direction, the private area of the house is projected, consisting of a bedroom and en-suite bathroom, distributed across two quadrants.Save this picture!The simplicity of the spatial experience was, from the beginning, a key requirement. Thus, it made sense to allow the evolution of this concept outward, through a balcony that offers, due to the orientation of the block, a privileged view of the Pacific Ocean. Additionally, the balcony arranged in the remaining three quadrants allows for the enjoyment of the gradual sunset over the ocean.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officeLOTE ArquitecturaOfficeIgnacio FerreiraOfficePublished on March 20, 2025Cite: "CR House / LOTE Arquitectura + Ignacio Ferreira" [Casa CR / LOTE Arquitectura + Ignacio Ferreira] 20 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028163/cr-house-lote-arquitectura-plus-ignacio-ferreira&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

You want to know how I transform this beautiful default cube into an even more beautiful kitchen interior? Better check this video! Blender artists know the struggle of turning that iconic cube into something epic! This is the ultimate transformation or is it? Drop a like if you feel the pain of the default cube and let me know your funniest Blender moments!#Blender #Meme #DefaultCube #Shorts #3DModeling #Funny #Rendering #BlenderCommunity

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