WEBVTT 00:05.960 --> 00:08.071 Did you know that hydrogen may be the 00:08.071 --> 00:10.016 next major fuel source for our war 00:10.016 --> 00:12.127 fighters . Researchers from the naval 00:12.127 --> 00:14.238 research laboratory are collaborating 00:14.238 --> 00:16.404 with other dod agencies to make that a 00:16.404 --> 00:18.840 reality . Rick Stroman leads a team at 00:18.850 --> 00:21.579 NRL that developed a new hydrogen fuel 00:21.590 --> 00:23.646 cell that is being used to power the 00:23.646 --> 00:25.895 Stalker U A . So a hydrogen fuel cell 00:25.905 --> 00:28.245 is a device that takes hydrogen fuel 00:28.254 --> 00:31.495 and air from the environment combines 00:31.504 --> 00:33.560 the two . And when you do that , you 00:33.560 --> 00:35.615 produce two things , electricity and 00:35.615 --> 00:37.560 water , do it that way rather than 00:37.560 --> 00:39.448 burning , it process is much more 00:39.448 --> 00:41.337 efficient and you get electricity 00:41.337 --> 00:41.145 directly . And so if you're trying to 00:41.154 --> 00:43.210 do something like propel an electric 00:43.210 --> 00:45.543 vehicle , a fuel cell works beautifully . 00:45.590 --> 00:47.689 One of the organizers of this demo 00:47.740 --> 00:49.970 Department of Energy's Ben Gold 00:49.979 --> 00:51.979 explains why the Marine Corps would 00:51.979 --> 00:54.201 want to use hydrogen and drones instead 00:54.201 --> 00:56.959 of traditional fossil fuels . Hydrogen 00:56.970 --> 00:58.970 is awesome . It's a really , really 00:58.970 --> 01:01.081 unique fuel . It's sometimes referred 01:01.081 --> 01:03.414 to as the Swiss Army knife of chemicals . 01:03.414 --> 01:05.692 It can do many , many things . So it's , 01:05.692 --> 01:07.914 you know , higher and you know , it has 01:07.914 --> 01:10.081 better reach and lower signature . And 01:10.081 --> 01:09.680 that's why the Marines are interested 01:09.690 --> 01:11.650 in it . One of the most important 01:11.660 --> 01:13.500 aspects of this demo was the 01:13.510 --> 01:16.019 interagency collaboration . A really 01:16.129 --> 01:18.073 important is , you know , hydrogen 01:18.073 --> 01:20.019 crosses across all fields and all 01:20.029 --> 01:22.029 agencies . So it's going to be very 01:22.029 --> 01:24.196 important for the Department of Energy 01:24.196 --> 01:26.418 and for the Navy and DD for us all work 01:26.418 --> 01:28.640 together , right ? This is an all hands 01:28.640 --> 01:30.473 on deck kind of problem . No one 01:30.473 --> 01:32.473 department can do it by itself . So 01:32.473 --> 01:32.430 it's really important for us to have 01:32.440 --> 01:34.107 events like this where we can 01:34.107 --> 01:35.996 coordinate and like share lessons 01:35.996 --> 01:38.449 learned and talk . This collaboration 01:38.459 --> 01:40.769 allowed NRL to transition their fuel 01:40.779 --> 01:43.080 cell into an actual application in the 01:43.089 --> 01:45.790 stalker U A . So we have an example 01:45.800 --> 01:48.022 here of a hydrogen fuel cell technology 01:48.022 --> 01:49.689 that was developed in NRL and 01:49.689 --> 01:51.522 commercialized through a partner 01:51.522 --> 01:53.750 Northwest UAV . The idea being to move 01:53.760 --> 01:55.816 the hydrogen fuel cell technology we 01:55.816 --> 01:57.927 had developed out of the lab and into 01:57.927 --> 01:59.816 industry where it's available for 01:59.816 --> 02:02.038 applications like this . Soccer on main 02:02.038 --> 02:04.204 aircraft . It was a success , Rick and 02:04.204 --> 02:06.371 his team see a bright future ahead for 02:06.371 --> 02:08.210 hydrogen fuel . We are providing 02:08.220 --> 02:10.387 technology that meets the needs of the 02:10.387 --> 02:12.331 Marine Corps and the Department of 02:12.331 --> 02:14.220 Defense . We are also pushing the 02:14.220 --> 02:16.276 envelope and developing technologies 02:16.276 --> 02:18.498 that have real environmental benefits . 02:18.498 --> 02:20.220 And you know , from a personal 02:20.220 --> 02:22.387 perspective , I think national defense 02:22.387 --> 02:22.149 and reducing our environmental 02:22.160 --> 02:23.759 footprint are both very important to me .