{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"India Tech Report","title":"IonQ to buy Oxford Ionics, NASA science to be ripped in half, Bhashini for railways and Vecmocon’s funding","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":337,"description":"Daily brief on deep tech and climate tech from India and around the world.US scientists alarmed as Trump’s proposed budget slashes NASA science funding by halfUS scientists have condemned President Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal, which seeks to cut NASA’s science funding by 47 percent and reduce its workforce by a third. The plan would cancel 41 missions, including the Mars Sample Return and OSIRIS-APEX, and halt collaborations like the Rosalind Franklin rover.Key Earth and astrophysics projects would also be axed, risking $12 billion in taxpayer investment, in operating missions alone, and undermining climate research. While the proposal faces bipartisan opposition in the US Congress, scientists warn that even temporary enactment could cause lasting damage to US space science and international partnerships.Listen to the podcastIonQ to acquire Oxford Ionics in $1.08 billion deal to boost quantum capabilitiesIonQ, a leading US quantum computing company, yesterday announced an agreement to acquire UK-based Oxford Ionics for $1.08 billion, mostly in stock. The deal aims to combine IonQ’s quantum hardware and software expertise with Oxford Ionics’ quantum chip technology, accelerating advances in the field. The transaction, which includes $10 million in cash, is expected to close in 2025 pending regulatory approvals.Founded in 2015 by physicists Christopher Monroe and Jungsang Kim, IonQ became the first pure-play quantum computing company to go public on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2021. The company is credited with advancing the use of trapped-ion technology, which is said to offer higher stability of qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers, and coherence, which refers to the ability of a quantum system, such as a qubit, to maintain a well-defined phase relationship between its different states.Bhashini to build AI-powered multilingual services for Indian RailwaysIn some news on India’s population-scale AI efforts, the Digital India Bhashini...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/klwtZi6_OVxR1RQx-EUqBBLq9JNmkk2p0xt3ov7-eeg/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9kYjRi/MTNkNDVhMTVlOThm/MDM4ZmVlYjFmZGNl/OGFiNy5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}