{"id":34340,"date":"2026-07-09T18:57:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T10:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/city-labs-launches-commercial-nuclear-powered-cubesat-on-spacex-rideshare-mission\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T12:45:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T04:45:44","slug":"city-labs-launches-commercial-nuclear-powered-cubesat-on-spacex-rideshare-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/city-labs-launches-commercial-nuclear-powered-cubesat-on-spacex-rideshare-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"City Labs Launches Commercial Nuclear-Powered CubeSat on SpaceX Rideshare Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>City Labs has launched what it describes as the world\u2019s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite, marking a milestone in the development of alternative power systems for spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s BOHR (Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability) spacecraft was launched aboard SpaceX\u2019s Transporter-17 rideshare mission. According to City Labs, it is also the first CubeSat to carry a commercial nuclear power system.<\/p>\n<h2>Demonstrating Betavoltaic Power in Orbit<\/h2>\n<p>The mission is intended to demonstrate City Labs\u2019 NanoTritium betavoltaic technology as a dedicated power source for onboard payloads.<\/p>\n<p><script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>While the spacecraft\u2019s primary systems continue to rely on conventional solar arrays, the nuclear-powered payload is designed to validate continuous electrical power generation independent of sunlight.<\/p>\n<p>City Labs said the technology could support future missions operating in environments where solar power is limited, including deep-space exploration, permanently shadowed regions of the Moon, and long-duration autonomous sensing missions.<\/p>\n<p>Peter Cabauy, chief executive officer of City Labs, described the launch as an important step for commercial nuclear technology in space.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis is a historic step for commercial nuclear power in space.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He added:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cBOHR demonstrates that safe, compact and regulatory-approved nuclear power systems are ready for routine commercial deployment. This capability enables persistent, always-on payload operations that are not constrained by sunlight or battery life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Regulatory Milestone for Commercial Spaceflight<\/h2>\n<p>According to City Labs, BOHR also became the first commercial spacecraft carrying a nuclear-powered payload to complete the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s launch authorization process established under National Security Presidential Memorandum-20.<\/p>\n<p>The company received payload authorization from the FAA on September 30, 2025, following a launch safety review that included independent technical evaluation by Sandia National Laboratories.<\/p>\n<p>City Labs said its tritium-powered NanoTritium system operates at very low radiation levels and was designed for safe handling, transportation, and integration with commercial launch vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>The company said the mission is intended to support future civil, scientific, and national security spacecraft that require long-life, maintenance-free electrical power systems.<\/p>\n<p>Headquartered in Florida, City Labs develops tritium-based nuclear micropower technologies for aerospace, industrial, and medical applications. The BOHR program has also received support through research initiatives involving the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX, NASA, SpaceWERX, and the Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>City Labs has launched what it describes as the world\u2019s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite, marking a milestone in the development of alternative power systems for spacecraft. The company\u2019s BOHR (Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability) spacecraft was launched aboard SpaceX\u2019s Transporter-17 rideshare mission. According to City Labs, it is also the first CubeSat to carry a commercial nuclear [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[595,8831,8832,8833,249,8834,190,4442,8835,5739,316,8836],"class_list":["post-34340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-artemis-program","tag-betavoltaic","tag-bohr","tag-city-labs","tag-cubesat","tag-nanotritium","tag-nasa","tag-nuclear-power","tag-peter-cabauy","tag-space-technology","tag-spacex","tag-transporter-17"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34350,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34340\/revisions\/34350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}