Seven projects selected for DARPA’s Rads to Watts

[Marlin]

Seven projects selected for DARPA's Rads to Watts

https://www.ans.org/news/2026-07-07/article-8185/seven-projects-selected-for-darpas-rads-to-watts/

[Core Content]

DARPA has selected seven research teams to develop radiovoltaic cells for the Rads to Watts program. These teams are designing unit cells that convert energy from radioactive decay directly into electricity using semiconductor transducers. The project aims to scale these designs for reliable power in remote environments like space and deep sea.

Current nuclear battery technology relies on thermoelectric conversion, which is less efficient than direct energy conversion. By bypassing heat-based generation, these projects seek to increase power density for small electronics and sensors. The research focuses on radiation-hardened materials and innovative source integration to overcome the historical trade-off between device longevity and power output.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected seven teams for its Rads to Watts program, setting off a competition to design radiovoltaic cells capable of providing power in extreme environments such as deep sea and space.

The teams are now working on developing a unit cell, simple demonstrations that their design ideas work. These are expected to be low power but capable of being scaled up into a higher-power array.

With mission applications that offer little to no access to maintenance, high reliability is key.

"I believe the work being done in Rads to Watts could not only create the capability to provide array-scaled radiovoltaics with kilowatts of nuclear power in a transportable form factor, but it could also lead to radiation-hardened capabilities for the broader community to include solar, nuclear, and power beaming," said DARPA Defense Sciences Office program manager Tabitha Dodson.

Read the full article at ans.org:
https://www.ans.org/news/2026-07-07/article-8185/seven-projects-selected-for-darpas-rads-to-watts/