Status of the KATRIN Experiment and Prospects to Search for keV-mass Sterile Neutrinos in Tritium β-decay

In this contribution the current status and future perspectives of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) Experiment are presented. The prime goal of this single β-decay experiment is to probe the absolute neutrino mass scale with a sensitivity of 200 meV (90% CL). We discuss first results of the recent main spectrometer commissioning measurements, successfully verifying the spectrometer's basic vacuum, transmission and background properties. We also discuss the prospects of making use of the KATRIN tritium source, to search for sterile neutrinos in the multi-keV mass range constituting a classical candidate for Warm Dark Matter. Due to the very high source luminosity, a statistical sensitivity down to active-sterile mixing angles of sin2θ < 1 . 10-7 (90% CL) could be reached.