First commercial nuclear-powered satellite reaches orbit

Overview

Updated Jul 8

For decades, only governments could fly nuclear power in space. BOHR, a cubesat built by Florida company City Labs, launched July 7 on SpaceX's Transporter-17 and is now in orbit, entering commissioning.

The satellite uses solar panels for general operations, but its NanoTritium device powers a demonstration payload continuously, in sunlight or shadow. The goal is a battery that keeps working in permanent darkness, like the shadowed craters at the Moon's poles, where solar panels are useless. City Labs expects first flight data within weeks.

Why it matters

Machines that make their own power in permanent darkness could survive the two-week lunar night and run for years in deep space where solar panels fail.

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Key Indicators

1st

Commercial nuclear satellite

BOHR is the first privately built satellite to carry a nuclear power source to orbit.

Payloads on Transporter-17

SpaceX's rideshare flight carried BOHR alongside dozens of other satellites.

~20 yrs

Tritium half-life horizon

Tritium decays slowly, letting these batteries trickle power for roughly two decades.

2005

Year City Labs founded

The company spent 21 years building tritium batteries before this flight.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

Ever wondered what historical figures would say about today's headlines?

People Involved

Peter Cabauy

Co-founder and CEO, City Labs

BOHR in orbit; City Labs in commissioning phase, awaiting first flight data

Organizations Involved

City Labs

Nuclear battery manufacturer

Builder of the BOHR satellite and its NanoTritium power source

A Homestead, Florida company that makes long-life batteries powered by decaying tritium.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

Federal Agency

Cleared BOHR under the U.S. nuclear space launch approval process

The agency that licenses commercial rocket launches, including, now, nuclear payloads.

Timeline

January 2005 July 2026

4 events Latest: July 7th, 2026 · 2 months ago

Tap a bar to jump to that date

July 2026
BOHR reaches orbit
Latest Launch

SpaceX's Transporter-17 lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base carrying BOHR and 80 other payloads. It is the first commercial nuclear-powered satellite in orbit.
July 7th, 2026 • 3:12 a.m. EDT
September 2025
FAA clears the mission
Regulatory

BOHR becomes the first commercial nuclear payload authorized through the FAA's launch approval pathway.
September 1st, 2025
December 2010
First NRC license and Air Force contract
Milestone

City Labs wins a general license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a nearly $1 million Air Force Research Laboratory contract.
December 1st, 2010
January 2005
City Labs founded
Origin

Peter Cabauy and Denset Serralta start City Labs inside Florida International University's incubator to build tritium batteries.
January 1st, 2005

Scenarios

BOHR battery works in orbit, City Labs reports success

Likely Resolves by Jul 7, 2027

Discussed by: City Labs, Payload, Space.com

The NanoTritium device powers BOHR's sensors continuously through orbital day and night, and City Labs publishes flight data confirming stable output. A clean demonstration would validate the core claim: nuclear power in a cubesat, with no moving parts and no sunlight needed. That result becomes the pitch for lunar heating units and shadowed-crater missions.

Second commercial nuclear payload wins FAA approval

Possible Resolves by Jul 7, 2028

Discussed by: Gizmodo, AIAA SciTech Forum

Another company follows the trail City Labs cut and secures its own FAA nuclear launch authorization. A second approval would show the 2019 policy pathway is repeatable, not a one-off. Radioisotope power startups and lunar-lander firms are the most likely candidates.

City Labs flies a tritium heater on a lunar mission

Uncertain Resolves by Jul 7, 2029

Discussed by: City Labs, Payload

City Labs scales the technology into a radioisotope heating unit for a Commercial Lunar Payload Services delivery, letting a lander or instrument survive the two-week lunar night. Reaching the Moon would move the technology from demonstration to working hardware in the environment it was designed for. This depends on a NASA CLPS manifest slot and further scale-up.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

August–September 1977

Voyager RTGs launch (1977)

NASA launched Voyager 1 and 2, each powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators that turn heat from decaying plutonium-238 into electricity. Solar panels are useless that far from the Sun, so the probes carried their own nuclear heat source.

Then

Both spacecraft powered instruments through flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond.

Now

Nearly 50 years later, their generators still feed a trickle of power in interstellar space, proving nuclear sources can outlast any battery or solar array.

Why this matters now

Voyager showed why deep space needs nuclear power. BOHR tries to bring that capability to small, privately built satellites.

May 2012

SpaceX first commercial resupply flight (2012)

SpaceX's Dragon capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station, a job that had belonged only to national space agencies.

Then

NASA began routing cargo through private companies under fixed-price contracts.

Now

Commercial firms took over launch and resupply work once reserved for governments, cutting costs and multiplying flight rates.

Why this matters now

That shift moved routine spaceflight from governments to companies. BOHR marks the same handoff for space nuclear power, one capability at a time.

November 2017–March 2018

Kilopower reactor test (2018)

NASA and the Department of Energy tested Kilopower, a small fission reactor built to power future Moon and Mars bases. The KRUSTY experiment ran the reactor through a full simulated mission.

Then

The test confirmed a compact reactor could deliver steady kilowatts of electricity.

Now

It kept government interest in space fission alive but stayed a research program, not a product for sale.

Why this matters now

Kilopower is the government, reactor-scale approach. City Labs takes the opposite tack: tiny, decay-powered, and commercial rather than a full reactor.