Kratos Receives $33.6 Million Contract to Provide Power Conversion System for NASA’s Historic SR-1 Freedom Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft
Key Highlights
- ➤Kratos (KTOS) receives $33.6 million contract for NASA’s SR-1 Freedom power conversion system
- ➤SR-1 Freedom targets a 2028 launch to Mars with nuclear electric propulsion
- ➤Kratos will deliver a compact, space-qualified closed Brayton cycle system
- ➤SR-1 Freedom aims to demonstrate fission power beyond Earth’s orbit
Expert Statements
Stacey Rock, President of Kratos Turbine Technologies Division
“Being selected to power SR-1 Freedom is a generational honor for Kratos”
Stacey Rock, President of Kratos Turbine Technologies Division
“SR-1 is the spacecraft that turns space nuclear propulsion from concept into reality; it is the vehicle that will help answer whether America leads the third space race or watches it from the sidelines.”
Stacey Rock, President of Kratos Turbine Technologies Division
“By delivering the power conversion heart of SR-1 Freedom, Kratos is helping NASA give birth to the ‘Nuclear NASA’ that will open the outer solar system, shorten the path to Mars, and strengthen our national security in space.”
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a leading technology company in the defense, national security, and space domains, today announced a $33.6 million contract award to design, build, and deliver the power conversion system for NASA’s Space Reactor-1 Freedom. Kratos will be executing this work as a subcontractor to Sierra Lobo, Inc., under their NASA SpaceDOC III contract. Targeted for launch in 2028, SR-1 Freedom will be the first nuclear fission reactor-powered interplanetary spacecraft, designed to travel beyond Earth’s orbit to Mars, demonstrate advanced nuclear electric propulsion (NEP), and successfully deliver the SkyFall payload.
Space Reactor-1 Freedom will be the first spacecraft ever to demonstrate fission power beyond Earth’s orbit, traveling to Mars to deliver a sciece payload called SkyFall. Photo Credit: NASA/Alberto Bertolin
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