{
  "title": "The Real-World Project Atlas",
  "reviewed": "2026-11-01",
  "version": "1.1",
  "projects": [
    {
      "id": "webb",
      "title": "James Webb Space Telescope",
      "realm": "Exploration",
      "subject": "Space",
      "status": "Operating",
      "location": "Sun–Earth L2",
      "year": 2021,
      "timeline": "2021 launch · science ongoing",
      "cost": "≈ US$10 billion",
      "cost_amount": 10000000000,
      "currency": "USD",
      "cost_basis": "Approximate observatory cost including build, test, launch, commissioning and five years of science; not annual operating cost. [2]",
      "overview": "An infrared observatory unfolds a segmented mirror and layered sunshield far from Earth to study early galaxies, star formation and planetary systems.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Primary mirror",
          "value": "6.5 m",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Sunshield",
          "value": "5 layers",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Observing region",
          "value": "Infrared",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2021-12-25",
          "event": "Launch",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "Ongoing",
          "event": "Science observations",
          "kind": "Operating",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "NASA — Webb",
          "url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/",
          "covers": "Status, overview and technical reference"
        },
        {
          "title": "ESA/Webb — FAQ",
          "url": "https://esawebb.org/about/faq/",
          "covers": "Cost and cost scope"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "The mirror before the voyage: low viewpoint in the real cleanroom during ground testing, with technicians establishing the scale of the gold segments. Alternative: a clearly separated diptych of observatory and a credited scientific image it produced, never a fabricated nebula reflected in the mirror.",
      "caveat": "Illustration must preserve the 18-segment mirror geometry. Cost scope differs from NASA-only budget estimates.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Machines",
        "Moments",
        "People"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "mosaic",
      "title": "MOSAiC / Polarstern Arctic drift",
      "realm": "Exploration",
      "subject": "Sea",
      "status": "Completed",
      "location": "Central Arctic Ocean",
      "year": 2019,
      "timeline": "2019–2020 expedition",
      "cost": "≈ €150 million",
      "cost_amount": 150000000,
      "currency": "EUR",
      "cost_basis": "Total expedition cost reported by AWI after completion. [1]",
      "overview": "Polarstern became a drifting Arctic observatory, embedded in sea ice through the polar year to investigate the coupled atmosphere, ocean and ice system.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Platform",
          "value": "Research icebreaker Polarstern",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Method",
          "value": "Year-round ice drift observatory",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Environment",
          "value": "Central Arctic sea ice",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2019",
          "event": "Expedition begins",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "2020",
          "event": "Expedition completed",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "AWI — Expedition finale",
          "url": "https://www.awi.de/en/about-us/service/press/archive/archive-single-view/finale-einer-jahrhundertexpedition.html",
          "covers": "Completion, expedition method and cost"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "Light in the long night: Polarstern and the ice camp become a small island of warm light within an immense blue Arctic ice field. Foreground pressure ridges and tiny scientists establish scale. No invented mountains.",
      "caveat": "A completed landmark, not a forthcoming expedition. Keep in the archive filter rather than describing it as currently underway.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Moments",
        "Machines",
        "People"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "attenborough",
      "title": "RRS Sir David Attenborough",
      "realm": "Exploration",
      "subject": "Sea",
      "status": "Operating",
      "location": "Polar oceans / UK",
      "year": 2014,
      "timeline": "2014 funding · operating research ship",
      "cost": "£200 million",
      "cost_amount": 200000000,
      "currency": "GBP",
      "cost_basis": "Reported ship construction cost; not the cost of its lifetime expeditions. [2]",
      "overview": "A named polar research ship combines laboratories, icebreaking and underwater-vehicle deployment in one mobile science platform.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Length",
          "value": "129 m",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Beam",
          "value": "24 m",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Laboratory area",
          "value": "More than 750 m²",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Endurance",
          "value": "Up to 60 days",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2014",
          "event": "Funding announced",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 2
        },
        {
          "date": "Ongoing",
          "event": "Polar science operations",
          "kind": "Operating",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "British Antarctic Survey — Vessel",
          "url": "https://www.bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/rrs-sir-david-attenborough/",
          "covers": "Current role and specifications"
        },
        {
          "title": "Royal Museums Greenwich — Ship history",
          "url": "https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/ocean/rrs-sir-david-attenborough",
          "covers": "Funding date and construction cost"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "Its real red hull beside immense ice cliffs, with a small deployed science vehicle as the companion subject.",
      "caveat": "A real replacement candidate for the fictional Fjord Survey vessel. Specific voyages require their own location and date checks.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Machines"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "juice",
      "title": "Juice / Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer",
      "realm": "Exploration",
      "subject": "Space",
      "status": "In transit",
      "location": "En route to Jupiter",
      "year": 2023,
      "timeline": "2023 launch → 2031 arrival target",
      "cost": "Not verified",
      "cost_amount": null,
      "currency": "",
      "cost_basis": "No comparable project-cost figure verified in the selected primary sources.",
      "overview": "ESA’s spacecraft is travelling to Jupiter to investigate the planet and its ocean-bearing moons, then study Ganymede from orbit.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Science instruments",
          "value": "10",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Solar wing area",
          "value": "85 m²",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Planned moon flybys",
          "value": "35",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2023-04-14",
          "event": "Launch",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "2031-07",
          "event": "Jupiter arrival",
          "kind": "Target",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "ESA — Juice mission",
          "url": "https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice",
          "covers": "Mission, schedule and specifications"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "A delicate solar-winged machine against Jupiter and the fractured surface of an icy moon.",
      "caveat": "Future encounter scenes must be captioned as artist impressions; arrival and flyby counts are planned, not completed.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Machines",
        "Futures"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "x59",
      "title": "NASA X-59 / Quesst",
      "realm": "Exploration",
      "subject": "Sky",
      "status": "Testing",
      "location": "California, USA",
      "year": 2018,
      "timeline": "2018 contract · 2026 supersonic tests",
      "cost": "US$247.5 million",
      "cost_amount": 247500000,
      "currency": "USD",
      "cost_basis": "Original 2018 build contract only; not current total Quesst program cost. [2]",
      "overview": "A purpose-built research aircraft tests whether shaping the airframe can soften the sound heard beneath supersonic flight.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Mission design speed",
          "value": "Mach 1.4",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Mission design altitude",
          "value": "About 55,000 ft",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "First supersonic test",
          "value": "5 June 2026",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2018-04",
          "event": "Aircraft construction contract",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 2
        },
        {
          "date": "2025-10-28",
          "event": "First flight",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "2026-06-05",
          "event": "First supersonic flight",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "NASA — First supersonic flight",
          "url": "https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/x-59-first-supersonic-flight/",
          "covers": "Test milestone, flight history and design conditions"
        },
        {
          "title": "NASA — April 2018 contract",
          "url": "https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/week-of-april-5-2018/",
          "covers": "Original contract amount"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "Long needle-like civilian research airframe above a vast desert; focus on geometry and atmospheric science.",
      "caveat": "A research demonstrator, not an approved passenger aircraft. Design conditions are not a claim about every test flight.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Machines",
        "Moments"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "fehmarn",
      "title": "Fehmarnbelt immersed tunnel",
      "realm": "Creation",
      "subject": "Infrastructure",
      "status": "Under construction",
      "location": "Denmark–Germany / Baltic Sea",
      "year": 2020,
      "timeline": "2020 construction start · opening unresolved",
      "cost": "DKK 52.6 billion",
      "cost_amount": 52600000000,
      "currency": "DKK",
      "cost_basis": "Management/reporting construction budget; includes DKK 7.3 billion reserves. Not a verified final outturn. [2]",
      "overview": "An 18-kilometre immersed road-and-rail connection is being assembled beneath the Baltic, linking Lolland and Fehmarn.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Crossing length",
          "value": "18 km",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Method",
          "value": "Immersed tunnel",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Planned rail crossing time",
          "value": "7 minutes",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Planned road crossing time",
          "value": "10 minutes",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2020",
          "event": "Construction begins",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "2026-10",
          "event": "German portal structural works complete",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "Unresolved",
          "event": "Opening schedule requires recheck",
          "kind": "Unconfirmed",
          "source": 3
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "Femern — Project and construction news",
          "url": "https://femern.com/",
          "covers": "Construction, length and planned journey times"
        },
        {
          "title": "Sund & Bælt — Financing",
          "url": "https://sundogbaelt.dk/en/about-us/finance-economics/construction-costs/finance-of-the-fehmarnbelt-link/",
          "covers": "Budget and reserve scope"
        },
        {
          "title": "Danish Parliament — Schedule challenges",
          "url": "https://www.ft.dk/samling/20241/almdel/TRU/bilag/331/3070100/index.htm",
          "covers": "Delays and dependency on German rail works"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "Lowering a world beneath the sea: one immense real tunnel element between pontoons at the documented immersion stage. Tiny support vessels establish scale; any underwater view is a labelled explanatory reconstruction.",
      "caveat": "Opening dates have shifted. Do not reuse the former 2029 target; road and rail readiness may differ.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Megaprojects"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "chuo",
      "title": "Chuo Shinkansen / superconducting maglev",
      "realm": "Creation",
      "subject": "Mobility",
      "status": "Under construction",
      "location": "Shinagawa–Nagoya, Japan",
      "year": 2025,
      "timeline": "Construction underway · opening unconfirmed",
      "cost": "¥11 trillion",
      "cost_amount": 11000000000000,
      "currency": "JPY",
      "cost_basis": "Forecast for Shinagawa–Nagoya section, including rolling stock; excludes prior Yamanashi test-line spending. [2]",
      "overview": "Superconducting magnetic levitation turns a new intercity railway into a 500 km/h transport system, with extensive tunnelling through Japan.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Planned operating speed",
          "value": "500 km/h",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Section length",
          "value": "285.6 km",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Levitation gap",
          "value": "About 10 cm",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2025",
          "event": "Revised cost forecast published",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 2
        },
        {
          "date": "Unconfirmed",
          "event": "Commercial opening date",
          "kind": "Unconfirmed",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "JR Central — Project / Integrated Report 2025",
          "url": "https://global.jr-central.co.jp/en/company/ir/annualreport/_pdf/annualreport2025-12.pdf",
          "covers": "Technical values, construction and opening uncertainty"
        },
        {
          "title": "JR Central — FY2026.3 investor briefing",
          "url": "https://global.jr-central.co.jp/en/company/ir/investor-meeting/2026/_pdf/im_2026_04.pdf",
          "covers": "Revised construction forecast and scope"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "A real maglev nose emerging from a mountain portal; a companion plate explains levitation with sourced exterior geometry.",
      "caveat": "The earlier 2027 opening is no longer viable. Do not present a financial-model assumption as a confirmed opening date.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Megaprojects",
        "Machines"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "asml",
      "title": "ASML TWINSCAN EXE / High-NA EUV",
      "realm": "Creation",
      "subject": "Manufacturing",
      "status": "Deployment",
      "location": "Netherlands / customer fabs",
      "year": 2023,
      "timeline": "2023 first modules · 2025 EXE:5200B shipment",
      "cost": "Not verified",
      "cost_amount": null,
      "currency": "",
      "cost_basis": "No project budget or comparable unit price verified in the selected manufacturer sources.",
      "overview": "A new generation of lithography machines uses extreme ultraviolet light and high numerical-aperture optics to print finer semiconductor patterns.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "EUV wavelength",
          "value": "13.5 nm",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Numerical aperture",
          "value": "0.55",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Stated resolution",
          "value": "8 nm",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Production-oriented model",
          "value": "EXE:5200B",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2023-12",
          "event": "First High-NA modules shipped to Intel",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 2
        },
        {
          "date": "2025-04",
          "event": "First EXE:5200B shipped",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 3
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "ASML — EUV systems",
          "url": "https://www.asml.com/en/products/euv-lithography-systems",
          "covers": "Technical specifications and model roles"
        },
        {
          "title": "ASML — Five things about High NA",
          "url": "https://www.asml.com/en/company/stories/2024/5-things-high-na-euv",
          "covers": "First shipment"
        },
        {
          "title": "ASML — 2025 annual report",
          "url": "https://ourbrand.asml.com/m/6ea363f69344ebd4/original/asml-2025-annual-report-based-on-ifrs.pdf",
          "covers": "EXE:5200B shipment in April 2025"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "Making the invisible: a dramatically receding cleanroom with a carefully referenced High-NA machine and technicians, paired with a separately labelled magnified chip-pattern plate. Never inflate machine dimensions or invent visible beams.",
      "caveat": "8 nm optical resolution is not the same as a marketed process-node name. Adoption and output vary by customer.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Machines",
        "People"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "frontier",
      "title": "Frontier exascale supercomputer",
      "realm": "Creation",
      "subject": "Intelligence",
      "status": "Operating",
      "location": "Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA",
      "year": 2022,
      "timeline": "2022 exascale milestone · operating",
      "cost": "≈ US$600 million",
      "cost_amount": 600000000,
      "currency": "USD",
      "cost_basis": "System cost described by ORNL; not annual electricity or research-program spending. [2]",
      "overview": "A room-scale scientific instrument turns large simulations into a tool for understanding materials, biology and complex physical systems.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Compute nodes",
          "value": "9,856 on current facility page",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Per-node CPU",
          "value": "1 × 64-core AMD EPYC",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Per-node accelerators",
          "value": "4 × AMD MI250X GPUs",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "2022 benchmark milestone",
          "value": "About 1.1 exaflops",
          "source": 2
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2022-05",
          "event": "Exascale milestone",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "Ongoing",
          "event": "Scientific computing service",
          "kind": "Operating",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "ORNL / OLCF — Frontier",
          "url": "https://www.olcf.ornl.gov/olcf-resources/compute-systems/frontier/",
          "covers": "Current system architecture and research role"
        },
        {
          "title": "ORNL — Journey to Frontier",
          "url": "https://www.ornl.gov/file/journey-frontier-pdf-version/display",
          "covers": "Cost and 2022 benchmark"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "The scale of thought: a low, axial view down actual computing aisles with one human figure. Use disciplined repetition and cooling infrastructure, not invented holograms.",
      "caveat": "Historical benchmark, current node count and theoretical peak are different measures; do not combine them into a fabricated performance figure.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Machines",
        "People"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "digit",
      "title": "Digit at GXO / SPANX",
      "realm": "Creation",
      "subject": "Robotics",
      "status": "Deployment",
      "location": "Flowery Branch, Georgia, USA",
      "year": 2023,
      "timeline": "2024 commercial deployment · continuing",
      "cost": "Not disclosed in sources",
      "cost_amount": null,
      "currency": "",
      "cost_basis": "Selected deployment announcements do not disclose a total contract value.",
      "overview": "Agility’s bipedal robot works in a specific logistics workflow, transferring totes between mobile robots, conveyors and other positions.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Form",
          "value": "Bipedal mobile manipulator",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Commercial model",
          "value": "Robots as a Service",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Demonstrated task",
          "value": "Tote handling",
          "source": 2
        },
        {
          "label": "Reported cumulative milestone",
          "value": "More than 100,000 totes",
          "source": 2
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2023",
          "event": "Proof-of-concept pilot",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "2024-06",
          "event": "Commercial deployment agreement",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "Reported; date not shown",
          "event": "100,000-tote milestone",
          "kind": "Operator reported",
          "source": 2
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "Agility — GXO agreement",
          "url": "https://www.agilityrobotics.com/content/gxo-signs-industry-first-multi-year-agreement-with-agility-robotics",
          "covers": "Deployment, model and pilot timeline"
        },
        {
          "title": "Agility — 100,000 totes",
          "url": "https://www.agilityrobotics.com/content/digit-moves-over-100k-totes",
          "covers": "Workflow and cumulative operator-reported milestone"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "The first shift: eye-level encounter with a real deployed Digit handling a tote, repeated warehouse geometry receding behind it. Capture gesture and balance without enlarging the robot or claiming general autonomy.",
      "caveat": "This is a bounded commercial workflow, not proof of unrestricted general-purpose autonomy. Use the deployed model, not a newer promotional model.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Machines"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "sparc",
      "title": "SPARC fusion demonstrator",
      "realm": "Creation",
      "subject": "Energy",
      "status": "Under construction",
      "location": "Devens, Massachusetts, USA",
      "year": 2027,
      "timeline": "2027 Q>1 target",
      "cost": "Not verified",
      "cost_amount": null,
      "currency": "",
      "cost_basis": "No standalone SPARC project budget verified; company financing is not treated as project cost.",
      "overview": "Commonwealth Fusion Systems is building a compact tokamak around high-temperature superconducting magnets to test fusion gain.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Architecture",
          "value": "Tokamak",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Magnet technology",
          "value": "High-temperature superconductors",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "2027 objective",
          "value": "Fusion gain Q > 1",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Role",
          "value": "Experimental precursor to ARC",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2027",
          "event": "Demonstrate Q > 1",
          "kind": "Developer target",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "CFS — SPARC",
          "url": "https://www.cfs.energy/technology/sparc/",
          "covers": "Construction, design and developer target"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "Assembling a star: a documented magnet-lifting or installation moment with workers and rigging for scale. The illustrated construction stage must be checked against references; no glowing plasma in an open machine or claim of grid power.",
      "caveat": "Q > 1 concerns fusion output versus plasma heating, not net electricity delivered to the grid. SPARC is an experiment, not a commercial power station.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Machines",
        "Futures"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "cape",
      "title": "Cape Station enhanced geothermal",
      "realm": "Creation",
      "subject": "Energy",
      "status": "Partly operating",
      "location": "Beaver County, Utah, USA",
      "year": 2026,
      "timeline": "2026 first block → 2028 expansion target",
      "cost": "Not verified",
      "cost_amount": null,
      "currency": "",
      "cost_basis": "Selected operational announcement does not establish full-project capital cost; financing is not substituted.",
      "overview": "A specific enhanced-geothermal development brings engineered underground heat extraction into a modular power-station buildout.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "First GeoBlock output",
          "value": "33 MW net, operator reported",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Phase I design",
          "value": "About 100 MW / 3 blocks",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Phase II planned addition",
          "value": "400 MW",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Technology",
          "value": "Enhanced geothermal system",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2026-09-30",
          "event": "First block commercial operation",
          "kind": "Operator reported",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "2027-01-01",
          "event": "Remaining Phase I blocks COD",
          "kind": "Target",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "2028",
          "event": "Phase II commercial operation",
          "kind": "Target",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "Fervo — Cape Station commercial operation",
          "url": "https://fervoenergy.com/fervo-energy-declares-commercial-operation-at-cape-station-ahead-of-schedule-leading-the-race-for-next-generation-geothermal-energy/",
          "covers": "1 October 2026 announcement: output, phase scope and targets"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "Surface drilling and power equipment above a precisely separated geological section; show heat and depth without inventing borehole dimensions.",
      "caveat": "Include because of its specific enhanced-geothermal technology. First-block operation does not mean the entire planned 500 MW buildout is complete.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Megaprojects",
        "Futures"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "falcon9",
      "title": "Falcon 9 / first-stage recovery",
      "realm": "Exploration",
      "subject": "Space",
      "status": "Operating",
      "location": "Atlantic Ocean / coastal landing zones",
      "year": 2016,
      "timeline": "2016 First successful drone-ship landing",
      "cost": "Not verified",
      "cost_amount": null,
      "currency": "",
      "cost_basis": "No comparable total project budget verified in the selected sources.",
      "overview": "A launch vehicle returns its first stage to a controlled vertical landing. Recovering the booster makes reuse possible; the ocean platform turns the feat into a striking image of precision.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Recovered component",
          "value": "First-stage booster",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Sea recovery",
          "value": "Autonomous drone ship",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Landing approach",
          "value": "Powered vertical descent",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2016-04-08",
          "event": "First successful drone-ship landing",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "NASA — Successful first-stage landing",
          "url": "https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2016/04/08/successful-first-stage-landing/",
          "covers": "CRS-8 recovery milestone and ocean platform"
        },
        {
          "title": "SpaceX — Falcon 9",
          "url": "https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/falcon-9/",
          "covers": "Vehicle and reusability overview"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "The rocket that comes back: a slender first stage descending onto a small platform in a vast ocean. Landing legs and grid fins make the action unmistakable.",
      "caveat": "The first stage returns, not the entire orbital vehicle. The artwork depicts a demonstrated capability, not a particular flight; dawn, sea conditions and platform details are interpretive.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Moments",
        "Machines"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "millau",
      "title": "Millau Viaduct",
      "realm": "Creation",
      "subject": "Infrastructure",
      "status": "Operating",
      "location": "Tarn valley, France",
      "year": 2001,
      "timeline": "2001 Construction begins · 2004 Inauguration",
      "cost": "Not verified",
      "cost_amount": null,
      "currency": "",
      "cost_basis": "No comparable total project budget verified in the selected sources.",
      "overview": "A slender cable-stayed road bridge crosses the Tarn valley on seven concrete piers. Its immense span and delicate silhouette make engineering visible at landscape scale.",
      "specs": [
        {
          "label": "Total length",
          "value": "2,460 m",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Maximum structural height",
          "value": "343 m",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "label": "Concrete piers",
          "value": "7",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "milestones": [
        {
          "date": "2001-12-14",
          "event": "Construction begins",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        },
        {
          "date": "2004-12-14",
          "event": "Inauguration",
          "kind": "Achieved",
          "source": 1
        }
      ],
      "sources": [
        {
          "title": "Eiffage Métal — Millau Viaduct",
          "url": "https://www.eiffagemetal.com/what-we-do/structures/viaduc-millau",
          "covers": "Dimensions, design, construction and inauguration"
        }
      ],
      "art_direction": "A road above the clouds: a long oblique view through valley mist, with tiny vehicles, slender piers and the real Tarn landscape.",
      "caveat": "343 m is maximum structural height, not road clearance. A completed landmark, not a forthcoming project. Weather and viewpoint in the artwork are interpretive.",
      "checked": "2026-11-01",
      "tags": [
        "Megaprojects",
        "People"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "editorial_categories": [
    {
      "name": "Moments",
      "description": "Landings, breakthroughs and first crossings."
    },
    {
      "name": "Machines",
      "description": "Extraordinary objects and how they work."
    },
    {
      "name": "Megaprojects",
      "description": "Engineering at the scale of a landscape."
    },
    {
      "name": "Futures",
      "description": "Clearly labelled visions grounded in real research."
    },
    {
      "name": "People",
      "description": "Builders, teams and collaborators behind the achievement."
    }
  ]
}