They literally turn the tide of battles and with the valuable intelligence and images they provide to command centres, have saved many soldiers, be it in the Middle East, Afghanistan or Eastern Europe.

Reconnaissance saves lives and in modern day war, going into an engagement without the intelligence from UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) drones, which are armed with sophisticated electronics for imagery and sensing, is like walking in blindfolded.

UAV drones and its impact would have taken on another dimension if the feasibility study done by Sandia National Laboratories and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation hadn’t been ended. Their project summary, which was obtained and published by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), indicates that scientists are checking out the possibility of nuclear-powered drones which will increase the operating time of drones by months.   Sandia however has since made the following statement: “Sandia is often asked to look at a wide range of solutions to the toughest technical challenges. The research on this topic was highly theoretical and very conceptual. The work only resulted in a preliminary feasibility study and no hardware was ever built or tested. The project has ended.”

Being a touchy area, the word “nuclear” was not mentioned in the project summary published by FAS.  But there are clear indications in the research summary that the researchers are working on power sources other than derived from petroleum products and that the primary source under investigation is nuclear.

The FAS points out at words used in the report such as “safeguards,” “decommissioning and disposal,” suggesting that the technology being considered is nuclear. Besides, Dr Steven B Dron, the lead investigator for the project at Sandia, is a nuclear propulsion expert, says FAS. Sandia hasn’t flatly denied FAS’s assumptions either.

The question was that in the quest for more surveillance time, is the army willing to take the nuclear risk, as there are possibilities of it becoming a “dirty bomb” if it happens to crash or be shot down over a rural area.

Then there is the possibility of the technology falling into the wrong hands. There have been instances when opposing forces have gotten their hands on drones and imagine if that drone happens to be one powered by nuclear technology. The consequences of such a technology falling into the hands of a rogue state could be disastrous.

The project would also likely to face opposition, both philosophical and political. So the likelihood of a nuclear-powered eye flying, rather permanently, over our heads will not happen in the near future.

Till thenThis project has ended, however others could surface, until then, the drones have to make pit-stops before going back to their peeping-tom duties.

The post Nuclear-Powered UAV Drones Not Happening Anytime Soon appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The Pocket Geiger is an accessory for the iPhone and it works in tandem with the accompanying app. You connect it to your iDevice, load the app, and let it use its eight photodiode sensors to detect nearby radiation. This way, you can know whether or not you’re in the safe zone.

As an added public precaution, the app is designed to upload your readings to a central database. The readings are then aggregated by Radiation Watch and collectively displayed on a map. Again, this makes it easier for you to know where it’s safe and where it’s not. Sadly, the map is only visible to the over 10,000 members. This really should be public knowledge.

The entry-level Pocket Geiger costs $46. The Pokega Type2–which runs off the iPhone’s power rather than relying on its own dedicated battery–sells for $65.

The post Radiation Watch $46 Pocket Geiger Counter for iPhone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Although people around the world are concerned about nuclear technology after the Fukushima disaster, many countries are still seeing nuclear power as part of their future. That is where nuclear technology firm TerraPower, which has got the backing from Bill Gates, comes in with their next generation nuclear power technology.

Last week, Gates revealed that his nuclear power startup is in talks with the government officials in China regarding their fourth-generation nuclear power technology.

The Bellevue, Washington-based firm’s next-gen reactors will have a traveling wave reactor design which is supposed to introduce a new age of cost-effective nuclear energy that promises zero radioactive waste and won’t be as vulnerable as older reactors.

In a traveling wave reactor, a small amount of enriched uranium is used to start up and then depleted uranium, a waste product from today’s nuclear power plants, is utilized to produce electricity.

As you might know, today’s nuclear power plants split an enriched form of uranium in a sustained chain reaction to produce heat. This heat is utilized to produce steam which is used for electricity generation.

TerraPower’s traveling wave reactor will convert the depleted uranium into a heavier, less stable form that can be used in a chain reaction. Check out the image below.

The reactors generate their own fuel as they operate, and can run on waste uranium for centuries without refueling or waste removal.

TerraPower have been in discussions with experts in the US, France, India, Japan, Korea, and Russia. Although no deals have been made so far, the company believes that a number of countries are already interested.

According to a statement by TerraPower last week, “Demand is high for nuclear energy technology that converts low-level waste into fuel without reprocessing and sustainably meets global electricity needs. So our conversations continue with many countries that have active nuclear programs. All these nations have some form of advanced fast reactor research facilities and programs“.

The firm is planning to start constructing their first plant in 2015 and have it operating in 2020.

The post Gates-Backed TerraPower Working Towards Next-Gen Nuclear Power Reactors appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster earlier this year, the world has been much more on edge about radiation levels and other related risks. Wouldn’t it be useful if you could measure radiation without some super expensive industrial equipment? Scosche thinks so and that’s why it has announced the RDTX portable radiation detector.

This radiation detector effectively works like a dongle with your iPod or iPhone and it works in tandem with the related radTEST iOS app. You can use it to detect radiation levels in the nearby area and it accurately detects gamma radiation above 120keV within +/- 10% accuracy. That’s not quite as good as the more expensive pro version, but that’s still pretty darn accurate.

Just like how you would with Speedtest, you can use the radTEST app to share your radiation results with friends via Facebook, Twitter, and Google Maps. You can see how this would be very useful in disaster situations, as up to the moment data can be posted by all the iUsers in the area who have a RDTX device.

For now, the Scosche RDTX is a Japan-only product and it sells for ¥21,000.

The post Scosche RDTX portable radiation detector for iPod and iPhone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.