Research · October 28, 2026

Kratos × NASA SR-1 Freedom: The Power Converter for America's First Fission Spacecraft

On October 28, 2026, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions announced a $33.6 million contract award to design, build, and deliver the power conversion system for NASA's Space Reactor-1 Freedom (SR-1 Freedom). Kratos will perform the work as a subcontractor to Sierra Lobo, Inc., under Sierra Lobo's NASA SpaceDOC III contract. Targeted for launch in 2028, SR-1 Freedom is designed to travel beyond Earth's orbit to Mars, demonstrate advanced nuclear electric propulsion (NEP), and deliver the SkyFall payload.

The job is the heart of the spacecraft's power train. Kratos will provide a compact, space-qualified, closed Brayton cycle power conversion system — the component that sits between SR-1 Freedom's onboard fission reactor and the spacecraft's power distribution and electric propulsion subsystems. It converts the reactor's thermal energy into the electrical power that drives the propulsion thrusters and sustains all critical spacecraft operations. In the company's description, that conversion is what makes the mission possible: NEP uses a fission-based nuclear power module to generate electricity for highly efficient electric thrusters, which accelerate charged particles to build velocity gradually but relentlessly, operating continuously for months or years. Because an NEP spacecraft can reach Mars using significantly less propellant than a chemically propelled one, the mass it frees up can go to scientific instruments, cargo, and future crew-support equipment.

Why the mission matters, as NASA and Kratos frame it. SR-1 Freedom is positioned as the first spacecraft ever to demonstrate fission power beyond Earth's orbit, and the first U.S. space reactor since 1965. NASA has made the mission a cornerstone of a broader space nuclear initiative, structured to mitigate development risk and build the industrial base for future deep-space operations. It is also meant to clear the path for follow-on concepts like Lunar Reactor-1 (LR-1), envisioned as a sun-independent power source for NASA's upcoming Moon Base efforts. "Being selected to power SR-1 Freedom is a generational honor for Kratos," said Stacey Rock, President of Kratos Turbine Technologies Division, calling SR-1 "the spacecraft that turns space nuclear propulsion from concept into reality" and "the vehicle that will help answer whether America leads the third space race or watches it from the sidelines."

What this is — and what it is not. This is a defined subsystem award, not the mission itself: Kratos supplies the power converter; Sierra Lobo holds the prime SpaceDOC III contract; NASA owns the mission. The $33.6 million is the subcontract's announced value, and this article does not add it to any backlog total or translate it into revenue, margin, or delivery timing — the announcement gives no delivery schedule, and the 2028 date is a launch target, not a completion date for Kratos's hardware. What the award does add to Kratos's record is a flagship reference in space nuclear power, alongside its expanding portfolio of advanced propulsion, power, and hypersonics work — the company's stated strategy of funding internal development to be first to market with cost-effective solutions for mission-critical needs.

For BlitzLab readers, the through-line is the same one that runs through Kratos's scored profile: a company that wins by building the hard, specific thing a bigger mission cannot proceed without. SR-1 Freedom cannot fly on a reactor alone — it needs a converter that survives space, turns heat into usable power, and keeps thrusters firing for years. That is the piece Kratos has now been contracted to deliver.

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