Kelsey D. Atherton

Contributor, Tech

Highlights

Deeply interested observer and reporter on the technologies of future war, with an eye towards the impact on human lives.
Won back-to-back “Best Un-manned Systems Submission” at the 2019 and 2020 Aerospace Media Awards
Past bylines in Aviation Week, Scientific American, Slate, C4ISRNET, and The New York Times

Favorite weird science fact

Project Blue Book, the Air Force’s program to catalog UFO sightings in the 1950s and 1960s, publicly found 90 percent of sightings explainable. Thanks to documents declassified in 1992, half of the remaining unexplained sightings were revealed to be people reporting the flights of secret US spy planes, like the U-2.

About

Kelsey D. Atherton is a military technology journalist who has contributed to Popular Science since 2013. He covers uncrewed robotics and other drones, communications systems, the nuclear enterprise, and the technologies that go into planning, waging, and mitigating war.

Experience

Kelsey started in journalism as a contributor on the defense technology beat at Popular Science in February 2013, with a first week that included both the release of a memo on targeted killing technologies and a North Korean nuclear weapons test. He was a full-time contributor through October 2016, and then a staff writer from October 2016 through September 2017. Today, Kelsey is a regular contributor to Popular Science and Discontents News, where he shares more free-form stories about military tech at Wars of Future Past.

Kelsey has also contributed to a range of other publications, including two years spent as a staff writer at C4ISRNET, which stands for Command Control Communications Cyber Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Networks. At C4ISRNET, he covered defense industry news for an industry audience, and produced the Tomorrow Wars newsletter, which took a more human-focused look into communications, sensors, and military robots.

Education

Kelsey graduated from Tulane University in 2011, with a degree in Political Science and a double major in history.

More from Kelsey D. Atherton

Military

Kelsey D. Atherton

Favorite weird science fact

About

Experience

Education

More from Kelsey D. Atherton

Watch a Japanese research ship fire an electromagnetic railgun Watch a Japanese research ship fire an electromagnetic railgun

The US is developing a new nuclear bomb. Why? The US is developing a new nuclear bomb. Why?

How an underground explosion in Nevada will help the US detect nuclear tests How an underground explosion in Nevada will help the US detect nuclear tests

The Marines used a ‘robotic goat’ to fire a rocket-propelled grenade The Marines used a ‘robotic goat’ to fire a rocket-propelled grenade

This weird-looking British ship will keep an eye out for sabotage beneath the surface This weird-looking British ship will keep an eye out for sabotage beneath the surface

What are carrier strike groups, the ships the US sent near Israel? What are carrier strike groups, the ships the US sent near Israel?

Watch this new Canada-made troop transport pass its explosive tests Watch this new Canada-made troop transport pass its explosive tests

This compact robotic tank is designed to shoot down drones This compact robotic tank is designed to shoot down drones

The F-35 fighter jet is getting a stealthier air-to-surface missile The F-35 fighter jet is getting a stealthier air-to-surface missile

Shipbuilders 3D-printed a part for a nuclear submarine Shipbuilders 3D-printed a part for a nuclear submarine

New B-21 stealth bomber photos reveal tantalizing clues about the aircraft New B-21 stealth bomber photos reveal tantalizing clues about the aircraft

A gigantic Navy drone is ready to surveil the ocean from above A gigantic Navy drone is ready to surveil the ocean from above

This massive armored vehicle has a giant plow for clearing Russian mines This massive armored vehicle has a giant plow for clearing Russian mines

What’s in the US military’s historic lost and found: nukes, jets, and drones What’s in the US military’s historic lost and found: nukes, jets, and drones

Saab says it has solved a modern camouflage conundrum Saab says it has solved a modern camouflage conundrum

A remote Air Force base in Alaska is getting its own nuclear reactor A remote Air Force base in Alaska is getting its own nuclear reactor

Depleted uranium shells for Ukraine are dense, armor-piercing ammunition Depleted uranium shells for Ukraine are dense, armor-piercing ammunition

Lockheed Martin test-fired a missile with twice the range of existing rocket artillery Lockheed Martin test-fired a missile with twice the range of existing rocket artillery

Australia is eyeing uncrewed vessels to patrol the vast Pacific Ocean Australia is eyeing uncrewed vessels to patrol the vast Pacific Ocean

The Cold War backstory of Russia’s supersonic ‘Backfire’ bomber The Cold War backstory of Russia’s supersonic ‘Backfire’ bomber