Announcing Our Investment
in Antares

Reliable energy has become a defining bottleneck for many of America’s most critical missions. From Arctic radar chains to future lunar outposts, defense and space operations demand “always-on” power in places the grid doesn’t reach. Today, those missions rely on diesel convoys and fragile supply chains, leaving energy logistics as a major constraint for national security and space exploration—precisely where resilience matters most.

Nuclear is the only realistic answer for these environments, and momentum is finally building to make it viable. Policymakers passed the ADVANCE Act last year with overwhelming bipartisan support, committing billions to secure a domestic HALEU supply chain and accelerating reactor demonstration pathways through the Department of Energy and Department of Defense. After decades of stalled progress, nuclear microreactors are now on a procurement track. The United States is prioritizing advanced nuclear not just as an energy innovation, but as strategic infrastructure capable of powering radar networks, launch control centers, off-grid compute, and space missions that modern methods cannot effectively support.

At the center of this shift, Antares is building a new class of compact, sodium heat-pipe-cooled microreactors designed for applications in the 100 kWe to 1 MWe range, with an architecture scalable from 50 kWe to 3 MWe. These systems are small enough to fit in a shipping container, rugged enough to operate for years without refueling, and simple enough to run with comparatively few moving parts and low maintenance. By using passive heat pipes to conduct heat from the reactor core to a closed N₂ Brayton cycle, they eliminate much of the complex plumbing that introduces fragility into other designs. This architecture allows rapid iteration, tighter vertical integration of critical subsystems, and reliable operation in the field. Co-founders Jordan Bramble (CEO) and Julia DeWahl (President) have assembled a team of nuclear engineering expertise, regulatory understanding, and mission-driven focus required to deliver in one of the hardest sectors.

The clarity of purpose with which Antares is building is already translating into traction. The company has secured more than $12 million in federal contracts across the Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA, the Department of Energy, and the Defense Innovation Unit. They were selected for the DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program, which aims to accelerate licensing and demonstration of advanced systems by targeting a first criticality in 2026—an early milestone in the next generation of American nuclear power. These achievements are not just technical benchmarks; they represent growing recognition among federal stakeholders that compact, resilient reactors are indispensable to future missions.

Antares is positioning itself to deliver one of the earliest demonstrations of a next-generation microreactor in the United States, and from there to transition into the field—where resilient, containerized power will give the Department of Defense new freedom of movement in contested environments and enable NASA to sustain operations beyond Earth. These systems represent more than technological achievement; they mark a fundamental shift in how energy is delivered when it is no longer guaranteed by geography or supply lines.

Antares is in the right place at the right time, with a technology purpose-built for the missions that matter most and a team that has already earned trust at the highest levels of government and research. Nuclear power at the edge will define the next decade of national security and space exploration. Strategic energy is ultimately about freedom of movement, and Antares is making that freedom possible. Industrious is proud to back Antares in their Series B and support the building of the future of resilient power.

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More on this week's news from Axios, TechCrunch, and SpaceNews.

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