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The Big Ideas Lab podcast takes a deep dive on the CODA telescope, developed jointly by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Corning Incorporated. Listen to the episode now available on Apple and Spotify. (Photo: Garry McLeod)

Discover the telescope redefining small-satellite optics in the Big Ideas Lab podcast

CODA, an all-aluminum, compact optics system designed for a new class of low-cost, high-impact missions, launched into orbit for the first time aboard NASA’s Pandora mission in January 2026. Built in partnership with Corning Incorporated, the telescope is an ambitious piece of precision engineering made from a material more commonly found in a hardware store. The latest…

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers (from right) principal investigator Brian Giera, engineer Hamed Ziad Ammar and data scientist Michael Zelinski stand beside the direct ink writing 3D printer used to collect data for a camera-based inspection system that uses AI and machine learning to measure part quality during printing. Photo: Blaise Douros/LLNL.

AI-powered inspection system gives 3D printers ‘a brain behind the eyes’

Scientists and engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a camera-based inspection system that can monitor complex 3D-printed structures layer by layer, using AI and machine learning (ML) to measure tiny variations and potentially identify problems before a part ever leaves the printer. The approach could reduce the time and labor required…

Aditya Mohan

Meet LLNL: Signal and Imaging Engineer K. Aditya Mohan

LLNL signal and imaging engineer Aditya Mohan is driven by a simple but ambitious goal: to view the world through as many different wavelengths as possible. “I have a dream to bring together all the different ways of seeing an object, from X-rays to visible light to microwaves, to learn everything there is to know about its structure and properties,” he said. “A leaf is…

LLNL collaborated with Rocket Lab and the U.S. Space Force to rapidly deploy an advanced optical payload for the VICTUS HAZE mission, demonstrating a new inspection capability for space domain awareness. (Photo: Garry McLeod/LLNL)

LLNL supports successful demonstration of a new space inspection capability

Over the past decade, global space launch cadences have grown dramatically, frequently placing multiple payloads into orbit on a single booster. Robust Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and precise characterization of resident space objects are vital to safeguarding the orbital environment. To confront this emerging national security risk, a team of scientists at Lawrence…

Participants in the Drone Design & Application Teacher Research Academy pose outside the drone pen after flight instruction from Claire Knight, Mechanical Team Lead for the Autonomous Sensors Program, far left. Photo Credit: Randy Wong, LLNL.

Teacher Research Academy connects educators to LLNL science

For nearly 30 years, LLNL has offered Teacher Research Academy (TRA) to middle school, high school and community college teachers looking for unique professional development experiences. At no cost to educators, TRA workshops offer classroom-focused applications of LLNL’s groundbreaking science and technology. Over two weeks this summer, four different TRAs were offered as…

LLNL researchers are scaling up technology that transforms waste carbon into valuable chemicals. (Photo: Garry McLeod/LLNL)

Big Ideas Lab podcast takes on the science of scale-up

Rechargeable lithium batteries trace back to 1972, but they wouldn’t reach consumer products until 1991. Solar photovoltaic cells existed in the 1950s, long before solar panels appeared on rooftops. And the MRI was demonstrated in the 1970s, years before the machines became hospital staples. In each case, the core scientific principles had been proven. The difficult part…

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Collaborative Heavy-lift Aerial unManned Propellor Systems (CHAMPS) team participated in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Lift Challenge held in Dayton, Ohio. CHAMPS team left to right: Claire Knight, James Reimer, Marcus Worsley, Brian Wihl, Giovanna Bucci, Kenneth Entrom and Erika Ramos. Additional team members include Marissa Wood, Afolabi Olayiwola and Victoria Trang. (Photo: Garry McLeod)

LLNL CHAMPS team selected to develop a heavy-lift drone for DARPA competition

A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers pushed the limits of unmanned aerial systems to earn a place at the DARPA Lift Challenge, hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The LLNL Collaborative Heavy-lift Aerial unManned Propellor Systems (CHAMPS) team ranked among the 132 teams selected from more than 480…

Lawrence Livermore staff scientist and polymer chemist Johanna Schwartz leads the team for the SPOC (Studying-Polymers-On a-Chip) platform, one of six R&D 100 awards LLNL won this year. Image credit: Garry McLeod/LLNL.

Lab scientists and engineers win six R&D 100 awards

The FlowVAM system eliminates the need to manually exchange print volume in Tomographic Volumetric Additive Manufacturing and incorporates in situ metrology, yielding a 200-fold improvement in part production rates. Image credit: Hazel Rose Galvan/LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers have earned six R&D 100 Awards, which recognize…

LLNL researchers 3D-printed a transparent ceramic waveguide based on ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet, or Yb:YAG. This approach could be used to greatly increase the power of fiber laser systems. (Image: Osborne et al.)

3D-printed ceramic waveguide lasers could surpass the power of glass fiber lasers by 10 times

At the bottom of the ocean, optical fibers transmit telecommunications and internet data across the world. Waveguides make that feat possible by channeling and amplifying the light — and therefore the data within — over enormous distances. And the technology goes beyond undersea cables. Waveguiding optics are among the most important advances in photonics since the…

LLNL scientists and engineers learned to turn events too fast, too hot and too dense to touch into knowledge.

The Big Ideas Lab takes measure of NIF diagnostics

How do you measure what can’t be seen? In the medical field, this is routine. Thermometers check temperatures and X-rays can show broken bones. But what if you are trying to measure something hotter than the center of the sun that vanishes in 100 trillionths of a second? What if it’s an experiment on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF)…

The Legacy Survey of Space and Time will capture intricate details of distant cosmic structures, unlocking new discoveries to transform our understanding of the universe. (Photo: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory)

A decade of discovery: the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins survey of the sky

The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory marked a major milestone with the beginning of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a 10-year effort to capture the universe in unprecedented detail. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineer and former project manager for the LSST Camera, Vincent Riot reflected on the culmination of the project and the journey…

LLNL interns contribute to mission-focused research while building technical skills and professional connections. (Photos: Garry McLeod/LLNL)

Meet LLNL interns: advancing engineering, national security and artificial intelligence

Each summer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) welcomes students from broad academic backgrounds who bring fresh perspectives and technical expertise to the Lab’s mission. This year, interns are contributing to engineering, national security, high-energy laser research and artificial intelligence. Meet four interns and learn how their LLNL experiences are…

Recent Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Machinist Apprenticeship Program graduates (l-r) Drew Hash, Chris Shaffer and Carin Herzog received their state-certified precision machinists’ certificates at a recent ceremony. (Photo: Manuel Iniguez.)

LLNL celebrates incoming and graduating machinist apprentices

Central to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) prestigious Machinist Apprenticeship Program is a tradition of mentorship and support. That was evident on July 23, when four new apprentices joined the program and three graduating apprentices transitioned to state-certified machinists. “We are so proud of you,” said Manuel Iniguez, Manufacturing Engineering…

A new episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast takes listeners inside STARMOC at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Available now on Apple and Spotify.

Big Ideas Lab podcast explores STARMOC: LLNL’s mission operations center

From off-roading in rural Nevada to commuting during rush hour on the 405 in Los Angeles, the space domain has undergone a rapid transformation over the past five years. What began as a vast landscape with a few high-profile, large-scale missions is now a heavily trafficked orbital freeway, rife with accident debris and security risks. To navigate this new environment,…

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is increasingly looking to AI, robotics and automation to help speed the process of advanced manufacturing. Pictured are (l-r) Robotics and Automation scientists and engineers Tony Qin, Karly Knox, Abhik Sarkar, Aldair Gongora and Michael Troksa. Photo: Blaise Douros/LLNL.

How LLNL is using AI, robotics and automation to accelerate advanced manufacturing

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers, in conjunction with the Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), are increasingly looking to AI, robotics and automation to help accelerate advanced manufacturing, materials discovery and experimental science. The work is part of a broader push to move faster from…

The LLNL-designed tri-optics payload, featuring wide and narrow field-of-view telescopes, enables advanced navigation and high-resolution lunar imaging for the CAPSTONE 02 mission. (Artist rendering: Dan Herchek)

Advanced Space selects LLNL to provide optics system for CAPSTONE 02

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will support the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment 02 (CAPSTONE 02), led by Advanced Space’s mission integration team. Building on the Laboratory’s optics expertise, the tri-optical imaging payload will enable advanced imaging for the mission’s rendezvous and proximity…

Group photo

Signal and image sciences community celebrates record-breaking 30th annual CASIS workshop

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory called and the signal and image sciences community answered: The Center for Advanced Signal and Image Sciences (CASIS) hosted their 30th annual workshop at the University of California Livermore Collaboration Center (UCLCC) on June 24-25, setting new records for attendance and technical contributions in the workshop’s three-decade…

Researchers at LLNL and partners at Oxylus Energy are developing an electrochemical reactor that transforms waste carbon into valuable chemicals. (Photo: Garry McLeod/LLNL)

LLNL, Oxylus Energy capture commercialization grant with reactor that converts carbon waste to methanol

Many industrial processes produce large volumes of carbon as a waste product. New reactor technology from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has the potential to turn that waste into a valuable feedstock for useful chemicals and fuels. The result could bolster domestic manufacturing, diversify supply chains and ensure lasting energy security in the U.S. These …

Genesis Mission graphic

LLNL selected to lead 10 projects under DOE’s Genesis Mission

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers have been selected to lead 10 Phase I projects under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Genesis Mission, applying AI to challenges spanning high-performance computing (HPC), fusion energy, Earth systems science, materials discovery, biology, quantum technologies and fundamental physics. LLNL…

The 220 LRUs delivered to the Nevada National Security Sites will support the Integrated Test Stand in North Las Vegas, where the ASD teams will operate the injector and two accelerator modules in a scaled version of Scorpius. Middleware hardware, shown in the third row from the bottom, provides communication between the hardware and the control systems. Together, these components help evaluate system performance before installation in the underground facility.

Milestone shipments power next phases of Scorpius accelerator project

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has completed delivery of the first 220 line-replaceable units (LRUs) to the Integrated Test Stand (ITS) at Nevada National Security Sites (NNSS), as well as the first 100 LRUs to be used at NNSS’s underground facility, the Principal Underground Laboratory for Subcritical Experimentation (PULSE). The two major hardware delivery…