There's a retired astronaut whose entire post-NASA career has been devoted to developing a plasma propulsion engine. Which is kind of (though not exactly) what you're thinking of.
I use Apple Notes since I don’t need a “second brain” model (e.g., Obsidian, Notion, etc.) For my more straightforward needs, Apple Notes works great. As for reminders, I’m a heavy calendar user, so I use Todoist and link it to my main calendar.