&lt;p&gt;The Nuclear Systems Project demonstrates nuclear power technology readiness to support the goals of NASA&amp;rsquo;s Space Technology Mission Directorate. To this end, the project will:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Demonstrate subsystem-level technology readiness in a relevant environment (Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Establish a hardware-based technical foundation for fission power system (FPS) design concepts and reduce risk&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Validate a FPS concept that meets exploration power requirements at reasonable cost with added benefits over competitive options&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Reduce the cost uncertainties for FPS and establish greater credibility for flight system cost estimates&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Generate the key gate products that will allow Agency decision-makers to consider fission power as a viable option to proceed to flight development&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Nuclear Systems Project is aligned with STMD&amp;rsquo;s Roadmap on Space Power and Energy Storage (TA-03) and addresses a key milestone for a non-nuclear subsystem demonstration of a &amp;ldquo;workhorse&amp;rdquo; 10-100 kWe fission system.&amp;nbsp; The National Research Council&amp;rsquo;s review of the STMD Roadmap identifies Fission Power Generation as one of the top 16 NASA technology development priorities.&amp;nbsp; The STMD Roadmap clearly recognizes the importance of the planned non-nuclear demonstration as a crucial step in deploying an initial space fission system and a foundation for follow-on fission power system technology development.&amp;nbsp; While the 10-100 kWe class system is ideally suited for lunar and Mars surface power, the component technologies are readily adaptable to larger megawatt-class systems for Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEP) missions.&amp;nbsp; Further, the analytical tools and non-nuclear testing strategies that will be exercised in this project can be applied to the megawatt systems as well as lower power (kilowatt-class) systems that may be needed for space science missions that exceed current Radioisotope Power System (RPS) capabilities.&lt;/p&gt;