Overview
- City Labs’ BOHR, which launched on Tuesday, July 7, rode SpaceX’s Transporter-17 Falcon 9 rideshare and achieved insertion into low Earth orbit.
- The satellite carries the company’s NanoTritium betavoltaic device that converts beta particles from tritium decay into low-level continuous electricity using a semiconductor.
- BOHR’s NanoTritium is powering a demonstration payload while the cubesat’s main bus continues to rely on solar arrays, so the flight tests payload-level power rather than whole-spacecraft operation.
- The mission cleared the FAA’s nuclear payload authorization under NSPM-20 on Sept. 30, 2025 and underwent independent safety review by Sandia National Laboratories, with Department of Defense funding backing development.
- While government probes have long used radioisotope power, BOHR is a regulatory and technical pathfinder whose in-orbit test results, longevity, and ability to scale for lunar or deep-space infrastructure remain to be demonstrated.