City Labs BOHR nuclear-powered cubesat reaches orbit

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The BOHR cubesat, built by City Labs, reached orbit July 7 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Transporter-17 rideshare to test the company's NanoTritium betavoltaic micropower source in space. BOHR is a pathfinder demonstration that converts beta particles from tritium decay into electricity via a semiconductor, though the cubesat still relies on solar power for operations. Funded under a Department of Defense contract and greenlit under the FAA nuclear launch approval tied to NSPM-20, the mission establishes a commercial regulatory precedent and could influence future spacecraft that need continuous power in permanently shadowed or non-solar environments.

The first commercial tritium betavoltaic satellite reached orbit.