WASHINGTON - A Florida startup has launched what it claims is the first commercial demonstration of a nuclear-powered satellite technology, testing a power source that could let future spacecraft and autonomous sensors operate for years without being completely dependent on the sun or conventional batteries. Because why rely on a giant fusion reactor 93 million miles away when you can carry your own tiny radioactive decay?

City Labs announced that its BOHR (Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability) cubesat hitched a ride on SpaceX’s Transporter-17 rideshare mission on July 7, marking the first in-orbit test of the company’s NanoTritium betavoltaic power system. The mission aims to see if the technology can generate electricity in the dark, potentially expanding missions to deep space, permanently shadowed lunar regions, and other places where sunlight is a scarce commodity.

Partially funded by NASA and Pentagon contracts, the demo reflects government interest in alternative space power systems to keep satellites and sensor networks running longer in contested environments. While radioisotope power has been a staple on NASA’s deep-space probes for decades, commercial companies have mostly stayed out due to technical, regulatory, and safety hurdles. But hey, someone had to be the first to jump through those hoops.

City Labs specializes in betavoltaic batteries powered by tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. These devices convert energy from radioactive decay directly into small amounts of electricity - measured in microwatts rather than watts. So it won’t power your entire satellite, but it’s great for low-power electronics that need to keep ticking for years without a recharge.

The BOHR spacecraft itself isn’t entirely nuclear-powered; it relies on conventional solar arrays to run the satellite bus, while the NanoTritium system independently powers the payload under evaluation. The goal is to validate the betavoltaic power source in orbit, not replace the spacecraft’s main electrical system. Baby steps.

City Labs says BOHR is the first commercial nuclear mission to use the FAA’s launch approval process established under National Security Presidential Memorandum-20, which created a regulatory framework for launching spacecraft carrying radioactive materials. Because nothing says “safe and sound” like a government memo.

The company insists its tritium power systems operate at extremely low radiation levels and are engineered for safe handling, transportation, and integration with commercial launch vehicles. We’ll take their word for it.

A company spokesperson said the BOHR mission builds on years of private investment alongside support from the Pentagon’s Operational Energy Innovation Directorate, the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX, NASA, and SpaceWERX. That’s a lot of acronyms for a little battery.

Looking ahead, City Labs plans to launch an in-orbit demonstration of a tritium-powered Radioisotope Heater Unit (RHU) in 2027, before moving toward operational systems for long-duration lunar missions. Unlike BOHR, which converts decay into electricity, an RHU generates heat - useful for keeping spacecraft components from freezing during the two-week lunar night or inside permanently shadowed craters. NASA has long used plutonium-powered RHUs for planetary exploration; City Labs is offering a tritium-based alternative. Because why settle for one radioactive element when you can have another?