Technology Readiness Assessment

Compact nuclear fission reactors producing 1-40 kW of electrical power for lunar and Mars surface operations. NASA Kilopower/KRUSTY test demonstrated full-power Stirling-based system. Selected for Artemis lunar surface power.

Store-and-forward networking protocol suite designed for space environments where continuous connectivity is impossible. Implements Bundle Protocol for interplanetary internet.

Machine learning systems for on-board satellite data processing, autonomous anomaly detection, and mission planning. Planet Labs uses on-board ML for cloud detection and image classification. ESA experimenting with autonomous operations.

Spacecraft autonomously determining position and trajectory using star trackers, terrain-relative navigation, and pulsar-based timing. NASA OSIRIS-REx used autonomous NavCam to navigate to asteroid Bennu. DART mission used autonomous targeting.

Spacecraft designed to rendezvous with and remove orbital debris. Astroscale ADRAS-J mission successfully demonstrated proximity operations with a spent rocket upper stage in 2024, capturing detailed images from close range.