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Publication series 3 — Economics & Market

Half a Billion to Certainty: The G1 Gate Testbed

Before anyone builds a $3B plant, physics gets one decisive, affordable trial.

MetroVolt's roadmap runs through G1: an integrated gate testbed costed at ~$0.5B (deposited breakdown: $582M ±30%) whose sole mission is to adjudicate the pre-registered predictions the design's value hangs on.

The science

G1 exists to retire the named gaps in order of leverage: the confinement requirement (the H98 band), the hot-ion two-fluid balance (P6), and the exhaust/DEC physics chain. Seven predictions (P1–P7) are pre-registered in the series with acceptance criteria fixed before any experiment runs — the same discipline as the deposited Tier-2 decks, applied to hardware.

The cost breakdown is itself deposited (KX24 schedule): machine core, magnets at demonstrated field anchors, diagnostics, and facility, at gate scale rather than power-plant scale — which is what makes decisive physics affordable.

Why it matters

Staged capital against pre-registered milestones is how disciplined investors buy deep-tech risk. G1 converts 'is the physics right?' from an open-ended fear into a scoped, ~$0.5B, criteria-in-advance project — and every downstream billion waits on its verdict.

The numbers

G1 cost~$0.5B ($582M ±30%, deposited breakdown)
Missionadjudicate P1–P7 pre-registered predictions
Highest-leverage gatesH98 band · P6 two-fluid · DEC chain
Criteriafixed before first plasma
Capital disciplineFOAK waits on the verdict
Straight answersG1's own engineering design is programme scope, not part of the deposited plant physics; its budget is a bottom-up estimate carried at ±30%.
Every figure in this paper traces to the openly deposited 81-simulation programme (S01–S81) behind the Kronos MetroVolt four-paper design series — data and code at DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21248916 (CC BY 4.0). Read the series, run the code, check us.
Kronos MetroVolt is a conceptual design study. Quantitative values are simulation-derived and carry the feasibility gates stated in the series; Tier-2 flagship-code confirmations are deposited as runnable decks pending HPC execution. This document is informational and is not an offer of securities. © 2026 Kronos Fusion Energy, Los Angeles.