Nuclear-Powered Drone

Flying electrical drones and quadcopters can be fun but, in all fairness, I get tired having to recharge my batteries. In addition, after some cycles, Lithium-polymer batteries just don't hold on to the full charge as well. If we consider energy?density, we can somewhat solve this issue by moving to a fueled drones (diesel, for example, has 40-times the energy density of lithium-based batteries). Still, we have to refuel the drone from time to time and require a steady supply of fuel.

How about nuclear fuel such as Plutonium? It has an incredibly high energy density so your propeller-based electrical drone will just keep flying for months on end - no need to recharge, no need to refuel. Sounds cool, but let's be real, the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) and NRC (Nuclear Regulation Committee) will never allow something like this to operate in our atmosphere. Moreover, Earth's gravity would make even a small nuclear reactor difficult to lift, even with large electrical propellers.

Looking beyond Earth, there is a practical location for such a drone in our Solar System: Saturn's moon Titan. With a gravity 1/10 of Earth and an atmosphere that is 50% more thick, Titan represents the ideal environment for the nuclear-powered drone.?On this moon, the effective weight of the drone would be much smaller, while the thrust output increases - ideal combination for flight.

For these reasons, NASA along with Johns Hopkins University?is developing the Dragonfly mission. Dragonfly is a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) drone propelled by eight electrical propellers (two in each corner - an octocopter). The drone is powered by a solid-state (no moving parts) nuclear reactor, otherwise known as an RTG (Radio thermal Isotope generator). The RTG contains a special material (Silicium-Germanium) that wraps around a hot nuclear core. This material generates a voltage based on the difference between core temperature and outside temperature. Since the temperature on Titan is very cold - about 100K above absolute zero, the RTG will operate at its maximum efficiency. The heat from the reactor will also help keep the onboard electronics nice and warm in such a frigid environment.

This mission represents a natural step for NASA - the researchers can leverage tons of technology that's been developed over the years. The RTG proposed for the Dragonfly mission is a variation of the flight-proven RTG used on both Curiosity?and Perseverance Mars rovers which are still operational to this day. Autonomous flight technology on extraterrestrial?terrain has already been proven with nearly 70 successful flights of the Mars Ingenuity helicopter. So now that the pieces of the puzzle are in place - it's time to put it all together.?

Generally speaking, I am a strong proponent of jet powered drones, but even more, I believe that every environment has its ideal flying solution - and for the exploration of Titan, nothing beats the nuclear-powered propeller drone. We already have nuclear powered rovers, hopefully they will be joined by nuclear powered drones in the years to come.

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