Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
PEnns "The goal is to be able to power persistent autonomous operations in remote or difficult-to-access environments like space, underwater, and contested regions – for decades." Are they seriously so dense?? Drones are being shot down left and right by the 1000s and they want the nuclear-powered ones to litter whole areas?? And yes, nuclear waste is still radio active , I had to verify it. From Wikipedia: Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons reprocessing te storage and disposal of radioactive waste is regulated by government agencies in order to protect human health and the environment. Reply
thestryker PEnns said: Are they seriously so dense?? Drones are being shot down left and right by the 1000s and they want the nuclear-powered ones to litter whole areas?? It will depend on how radioactive the power sources actually are. Several militaries use DU ammunition and while it is radioactive the levels are rather low, but there are of course other health concerns related to its use (which is fairly common amongst military munitions). I imagine the use case for nuclear powered drones probably won't be armed which would also minimize effects. None of this is to say it's a great idea or anything just that it's hardly worse than what's already done. Reply
Gururu Most of DARPA money goes into boondoggles. I wouldn't expect to see this tech deployed in my lifetime. Reply
GenericUsername109 Depleted Uranium is called "depleted", because it is the left-over material after getting the fuel grade (radioactive) U235 out of it. There's only residual radioactivity and it's mostly problematic for its "conventional" chemical toxicity. It can't be used to power anything. Anything, which can power a drone for 30 years is a completely different matter. These things falling from the sky into civilian/agricultural areas is like a mini dirty bomb. WTF are they smoking? Reply
usertests GenericUsername109 said: Depleted Uranium is called "depleted", because it is the left-over material after getting the fuel grade (radioactive) U235 out of it. There's only residual radioactivity and it's mostly problematic for its "conventional" chemical toxicity. It can't be used to power anything. Anything, which can power a drone for 30 years is a completely different matter. These things falling from the sky into civilian/agricultural areas is like a mini dirty bomb. WTF are they smoking? The article mentions Strontium-90 and Americium-241 as power sources. I think a chunk of Strontium-90 falling somewhere is not that big of a deal if it remains intact. The big concern I remember about RTGs has been them blowing to bits in the upper atmosphere on a space launch. The goal is to be able to power persistent autonomous operations in remote or difficult-to-access environments like space, underwater, and contested regions – for decades. A Northrop Grumman rep emphasized the potential of a ‘persistent power source’ becoming available for “next-generation defense systems.” Project Omega is also interested in developing “persistent underwater security systems” – sea drones. Slow underwater drones could have very low power requirements. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/drones/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/drones/darpa-plans-30-year-endurance-nuclear-waste-batteries-to-power-next-gen-drones-says-report-project-symphonee-aims-to-harvest-strontium-90-to-power-persistent-military-drones#main
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.