1
How to build a 50k ton forging press
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, a revolution took place in American military aircraft design.
Brian Potter
Essays about buildings, infrastructure, and industrial technology. Click to read Construction Physics, by Brian Potter, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
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2
Why it's so hard to build a jet engine
Civilization's toughest technical challenges are those that require extraordinary (and constantly improving) performance to be delivered at a low cost.
3
How to build a $20B semiconductor fab
For the last several decades, one avenue of technological progress has towered over nearly everything else: semiconductors.
4
How SpaceX streamlined the Raptor engine
If you’re reading this, there’s a very good chance you’ve seen this famous image of three iterations of SpaceX’s Raptor rocket engine.
5
Why the U.S. can't build icebreaking ships
I want to say thank you to all the people who sent condolences following last week’s post, especially those who shared their own stories of loss.
6
Why is everyone trying to build a solid-state battery?
A battery technology that’s getting a lot of attention is solid-state batteries, lithium-ion batteries that replace the liquid electrolyte with a solid material.
7
The Evolution of Tunnel Boring Machines
Tunneling is an important technology for modern civilization, as a tunnel is often the only reasonable way to create a direct path between two points.
8
How to Train Your Robot
The enormous advance in AI capabilities over the last several years has in large part been driven by the availability of vast amounts of training data.
9
Welding and the automation frontier
The big question about Artificial Intelligence, other than whether it will destroy human civilization, is the effect it will have on employment.