Miami-based City Labs achieves a first for commercial nuclear power in space
Summary
Ars Technica reports that City Labs, a Florida-based company, launched BOHR, a small satellite powered by a betavoltaic battery using tritium. Marketed as the world’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite on a 1U CubeSat, BOHR demonstrates a pathfinder capability for compact, regulatory-approved nuclear power in space, primarily for low-power, persistent payloads. The mission, launched on SpaceX, highlights regulatory hurdles and potential future use cases in space infrastructure and cryptographic devices.