The Kilopower Project was initiated by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate/Game Changing Development Program in fiscal year 2015 to demonstrate subsystem-level technology readiness of small space fission power in a relevant environment (Technology Readiness Level 5) for space science and human exploration power needs. The Kilopower Project centerpiece is the Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) test, which consists of the development and testing of a ground technology demonstrator of a 1 kWe.class fission power system. The technologies to be developed and validated by KRUSTY are extensible to space fission power systems from 1 to 10 kWe, which can enable modular surface fission power systems for human exploration, as well as higher power future potential deep space science missions. The KRUSTY demonstration is cofounded by NASA and the Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security-Administration (NNSA). The KRUSTY demonstration in the National Critical Experiment Research Center's Device Assembly Facility (DAF), is underway and scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2018.
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