First commercial nuclear satellite launched on SpaceX mission

July 8, 2026, 1:32PMNuclear News
Transporter-17 lifts off with BOHR onboard. (Photo: SpaceX)

On July 7, SpaceX launched Transporter-17, a smallsat rideshare mission containing 81 payloads. One of the payloads was the Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability (BOHR) satellite developed by City Labs.

According to the company, BOHR is “the world’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite and first nuclear CubeSat.” The spacecraft also broke new ground in the regulatory process for launch approval for commercial nuclear projects.