Milestones and Decision Gates

The program advances through decision gates, not calendar dates alone; each date is a target contingent on evidence from the milestone before it.

Dates are conditional on gates

Every date on the roadmap is preceded by a decision gate. Breeder FOAK (~2030) gates the test burner (~2032), which gates the commercial burner (~2036). A gate that does not pass moves the date; the calendar does not override the evidence.

What each decision gate asks

• Before test burner: is there a survivable plug and a fuel supply?
• Before commercial: did the test burner close the four gates?
• Before fleet: does NOAK availability and fuel supply hold at scale?

Why gates beat schedules

Schedule-driven programs ship unproven hardware. Gate-driven programs ship when the evidence supports it. Presenting the dates as contingent — rather than promised — is consistent with the design-and-simulation stage we are honestly in today.

A gate-driven program ships when evidence supports it; a schedule-driven one ships unproven hardware to hit a date. We choose the former and present every date as contingent on the milestone before it. Breeder FOAK gates the test burner, which gates the commercial machine, and a gate that does not pass moves the date rather than being waved through to protect a calendar.

See the milestone map and commercial criteria.