City Labs Launches Small Sat Demonstrator With Nuclear Battery

City Labs has launched a nuclear-battery powered cubesat into orbit from the SpaceX Transporter-17 rideshare mission.

The Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability (BOHR) satellite was deployed successfully from the SpaceX Falcon 9 and is intended to serve as a pathfinder for future nuclear-battery powered spacecraft for civil and national security missions, City Labs said on July 7. The cubesat appears to be 1U in size: 10 cm. x 10 cm x 10 cm.

The BOHR satellite uses City Lab’s NanoTritium betavoltaic technology as a dedicated payload power source, independent of electricity generated from solar panels.

“The mission proves nuclear micropower can operate where solar can't, from lunar-night survival to persistent autonomous sensors, and sets a regulatory precedent that could open the door for [NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services] companies and primes to specify nuclear micropower in future programs,” City Labs says.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that emits beta particles as it decays; energy that the City Labs’ NanoTritium betavoltaic converts to electricity. The tritium has a 12.3-year half-life, allowing for more than 20 years of “predictable power,” the company says.

City Labs says the key advantage of its NanoTritium betavoltaic technology is that it stores tritium in a solid form within metal hydrides, allowing it to be integrated into solid-state materials.

The demonstrator satellite used the FAA pathway for nuclear launch approval as outlined in National Security Presidential Memorandum-20 issued in 2019, City Labs adds.