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First commercial nuclear-powered satellite launched
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Fusion42 · 12 July 2026 · Fusion42 review
City Labs launched BOHR, the first commercial nuclear-powered satellite, aboard SpaceX's Transporter-17 rideshare mission on 10 July 2026. The tritium-based betavoltaic system provides continuous power independent of sunlight, enabling persistent operations in deep space and shadowed lunar regions where solar power fails.
This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Space Tech and Advanced Materials.
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If you're building autonomous sensors, deep-space probes, or lunar systems, you no longer need to live within battery life or sunlight. City Labs just proved a regulatory path exists and a buyer exists - the constraint was always power, and that constraint is gone.
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1 source · 10 Jul 2026
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