Fusion energy startup Avalanche Energy has been awarded a USD5.2 million contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Rads to Watts programme to develop next-generation technology for compact, resilient, nuclear batteries.

_74001.jpg)Artist’s concept of a notional spacecraft with a high-power agile plasma thruster powered by novel kilowatt-level radiovoltaics (Image: Alan Clarke / DARPA)

_74001.jpg)Artist’s concept of a notional spacecraft with a high-power agile plasma thruster powered by novel kilowatt-level radiovoltaics (Image: Alan Clarke / DARPA)

"The ultimate vision of Rads to Watts is to enable radiovoltaics that convert high-power nuclear radiation into kilowatts of electrical energy," the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said. "Enabling the operation of radiovoltaics at higher radiation fluences (that is, number of radiation particles crossing a defined area or energy per unit area) will enable long-lived, unattended high-power sources for new operating domains that are power-starved and/or for which a logistics supply chain to replenish power sources does not exist."