Tiny CubeSat, Big Regulatory Leap: First Commercial Nuclear Payload in Orbit
City Labs’ BOHR CubeSat, powered by a tritium betavoltaic battery, became the first commercially built spacecraft cleared to carry a nuclear power source under the FAA’s post-2019 licensing pathway, launching on SpaceX’s Transporter-17 to low Earth orbit. The tiny device generates nanowatts to microwatts for years, enough to power a sensor node, and serves as a proof-of-concept and regulatory template for future commercial nuclear space missions, with flight data expected soon and implications for both civil and national-security applications.
