A new breakthrough will give drones the ability to stay in the air for longer amounts of time, improving their efficiency and range of uses. Thermovoltaics are a light weight energy source but up until now haven’t been able to put out the type of power to make them greatly useful. A new breakthrough changes that.

Thermovoltaics are an energy technology that convert heat flow into power which is awesome. What’s not so awesome is their meager output. The output has been stalled for a number of years at just 23 percent but it turns out that adding a mirror takes that up to 29 percent and with a few more tweaks, scientists are sure they can get it all the way to 50 percent. Not bad after so many years in one spot!

The mirror isn’t just something you can pick up from the local home goods store, it’s a highly reflective gold mirror. Although this may not seem like a noteworthy development, after so long in one spot, this marks some real movement with this research.