THE KENTUCKY RE-ENTRY UNIVERSAL PAYLOAD SYSTEM (KRUPS) IS A SMALL RE-ENTRY CAPSULE DESIGNED AS A TECHNOLOGY TEST-BED BUILT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY. FOR ITS FIRST INCARNATION KRUPS HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO TEST THERMAL PROTECTION SYSTEM (TPS) MATERIAL AND INSTRUMENTATION. TPS ARE USED TO PROTECT SPACECRAFT FROM THE EXTREME CONDITIONS OF PLANETARY ENTRY. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS TO LAUNCH KRUPS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION AND USE THE CAPSULE TO OBTAIN ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY DATA FOR NUMERICAL MODEL VALIDATION. TO REACH THAT STEP A SERIES OF SYSTEM VALIDATION ARE NEEDED TO RAISE THE TRL TO A FLIGHT-READY STATUS. THE PROPOSED PROJECT AIMS AT BRINGING THE TRL FROM LEVEL 5 TO LEVEL 6 BY PERFORMING TWO STRATOSPHERIC DROP TESTS. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR VALIDATION OF THE ON-BOARD ELECTRONICS AND THE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. IT WILL ALSO VALIDATE TWO NEW SUB-SYSTEMS: AN ISM BAND RADIO AND A PARACHUTE. THE FLIGHT VEHICLE CHOSEN FOR THAT TASK IS A STRATOSPHERIC BALLOON PROVIDED BY NEAR SPACE CORPORATION (NSC) WHICH HAS CONDUCTED OVER A DOZEN SUCCESSFUL STRATOSPHERIC BALLOON FLIGHTS.