Catalog of Honest Gates
A single list of the open questions that stand between the present design and a demonstrated capability.
The gates we publish
An honest gate is a specific, falsifiable question whose answer is not yet in hand and which must be answered before a claim can be upgraded. Kronos publishes its gates so that partners can judge the program on evidence rather than narrative. The list below is deliberately conservative and is maintained as questions are opened or retired.
How a gate closes
- A gate closes only with evidence appropriate to its claim: a hardware claim needs hardware, a simulation claim needs reproducible code and benchmarks.
- Closing a gate never opens a stronger claim than the evidence supports — a met simulation gate does not become a hardware result.
- Retired gates stay on record so the program's history is auditable.
The two headline gates
Two gates dominate the technical risk today. First, the breeder must produce net tritium once realistic three-dimensional geometry, ports, and structure are accounted for — the reason TBR is carried as a 1.1 / 1.5 / 1.8 lever rather than a single number. Second, the burner must meet a plasma-density requirement to sustain its plug; without a demonstrated magnetic well at feasible conditions, the burner remains plug-gated. Both are stated openly on their own pages.