Disappearing Drones: the Future of Covert-Ops

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Researchers have recently developed a new material that can instantly disappear on demand or when sunlight hits it. Researchers from Georgia Tech have developed the material specifically for the United States Department of Defense.

At first thought, a material that destroys itself may seem counterintuitive. However, a sturdy material that can dissolve itself instantly would be a great asset for the CIA or other espionage agencies. 

The material has been specifically developed for the Department of Defense. The DoD plans on integrating the new material into technologies such as drones and sensors in order to develop technologies that can “disappear”, thus leaving no loose ends out in the field.

The material disappears due to concepts called “ceiling temperature” and “steric strain”. If the material stays under its ceiling temperature, it will stay sturdy. However, if the material increases to above the ceiling temperature, electrons in the material will begin to repulse each other until the material dissolves. Steric strain is this form of the repulsion of electrons.

Other teams have worked on similar technologies in the past, however, a common challenge that arose was keeping the material stable at room temperature.

The researchers from Georgia Tech have made the material photosensitive to ultraviolet light, so that when the material was exposed to sunlight it would vaporize to a liquid form. The idea is that a vehicle built of this material would operate in the dark and once the sun would rise, the vehicle will simply disappear. 

Popularmechanics.com mentions that, if needed, the material could also be tuned to disappear under indoor lighting. The team also managed to delay the material’s disappearance when exposed to lighting. If needed, the material would be able to work for up to three hours in the daylight until it would dissolve.

Scientists are currently looking for better ways to hide materials. While the material developed by Georgia Tech is a great start, scientists at the South Korean Pohang University of Science and Technology are working to develop an AI-based invisibility cloak, further advancing the use of disappearing materials.