Commercial Readiness Criteria
What must be true across all four gates before a commercial burner around 2036 can be committed.
The bar for commercial
Commercial readiness is stricter than test-burner success. It requires not just that the physics works once, but that it works repeatably, at fleet-relevant fuel supply, with characterised availability and lifetime. All four gates must show durable resolution.
Fleet and housing readiness
Commercial also means the same D–3He core can be fielded in both housings — Aegis for fixed defense installations and MetroVolt for data centers — with a manufacturing and supply chain able to build more than one. A single working machine is necessary but not sufficient.
The honest gate
If any gate remains open, the commercial date moves. 2036 is a target contingent on the evidence, and we say so rather than presenting it as fixed.
The commercial bar is stricter than test-burner success because it demands repeatability, fleet-relevant fuel supply, and characterised lifetimes, not a single working run. It also demands a supply chain able to build more than one machine across both the Aegis and MetroVolt housings. If any gate remains open at the decision point, the honest response is to move the date, and we say so.
See staged deployment and the commercial burner.