SpaceNukes lands DARPA award for a kilopower reactor ground test
From the Energy digest for Oct 26, 2026
What happened: The Space Nuclear Power Corporation (SpaceNukes) says it received an other transaction agreement from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to design, build, and conduct a nuclear ground test of a kilopower reactor in collaboration with Los Alamos National Laboratory (American Nuclear Society Newswire, Oct 26, 2026, ~4:13 PM ET).
What's genuinely new: A federal agreement committing the kilopower concept — compact reactor hardware — to an actual ground test, in the military lane that already holds the Army's installation-power leases, the Antares space-reactor demo award, and the Navy's microreactor siting at Crane.
Watch: Test timing and site, contract value, and whether the DARPA work ties to space or national-security missions.
Sources ANS Newswire