--- title: Tritium Nuclear Battery Offers Low-Risk Space Energy description: City Labs' BOHR cubesat, launched on SpaceX Transporter 17, is the first commercial satellite to test tritium-based betavoltaic nuclear batteries in space. The... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/tritium-nuclear-battery-offers-low-risk-space-energy-djcaiiwus twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Tritium Nuclear Battery Offers Low-Risk Space Energy | daily.dev og:description: City Labs' BOHR cubesat, launched on SpaceX Transporter 17, is the first commercial satellite to test tritium-based betavoltaic nuclear batteries in space. The... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/tritium-nuclear-battery-offers-low-risk-space-energy-djcaiiwus og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/DJCaIiwUS.png og:image:alt: Tritium Nuclear Battery Offers Low-Risk Space Energy og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Tritium Nuclear Battery Offers Low-Risk Space Energy **[IEEE Spectrum](https://daily.dev/sources/ieeespectrum)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary City Labs' BOHR cubesat, launched on SpaceX Transporter 17, is the first commercial satellite to test tritium-based betavoltaic nuclear batteries in space. The 1U cubesat carries 48 tritium cells producing a combined 5 microwatts to power onboard health sensors. Unlike plutonium RTGs used in Mars rovers, tritium batteries emit lower-risk beta radiation, operate across extreme temperatures (-200°C to 200°C), and can last decades thanks to tritium's 12.3-year half-life. While output is far smaller than plutonium systems (microwatts vs. tens of watts), the technology targets low-power, long-duration applications — such as distributed lunar sensor networks — and could replace the 50–100 kg of chemical batteries currently needed to keep a lander alive through a two-week lunar night with just half a kilogram of tritium metal hydride. City Labs is also exploring pacemaker batteries and lunar rover heating as future applications. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much power do tritium betavoltaic batteries produce compared to plutonium RTGs? Tritium betavoltaic batteries produce far less power than plutonium RTGs. The 48 tritium cells aboard the BOHR cubesat produce a combined 5 microwatts — each cell contributing roughly 100 nanowatts. Plutonium-based systems generate tens to hundreds of watts. Betavoltaics target milliwatt-scale, long-duration applications rather than competing with plutonium for high-power needs. _Engineers evaluating power sources for small space hardware track developments like this on daily.dev._ ### What temperature range can betavoltaic tritium batteries operate in? Betavoltaic tritium batteries operate across an extreme range of -200°C to +200°C. They have been tested under liquid nitrogen and actually perform better at cold temperatures, making them well-suited for environments like permanently shadowed lunar craters where chemical batteries would fail. _Teams designing hardware for lunar or deep-space environments follow edge-case specs like these on daily.dev._ ### How much mass could tritium batteries save compared to chemical batteries for surviving the lunar night? Keeping a lunar lander alive through the two-week lunar night currently requires 50–100 kg of chemical batteries charged by solar panels. The same energy storage need could be met with half a kilogram of tritium metal hydride, representing a dramatic mass reduction critical for lunar mission design. _Lunar mission planners and space hardware engineers tracking mass-budget trade-offs find relevant coverage on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [City Labs launches the first commercial nuclear satellite](https://daily.dev/posts/city-labs-launches-the-first-commercial-nuclear-satellite-y3aga4l89) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [DIY Nuclear Battery With PV Cells And Tritium](https://daily.dev/posts/diy-nuclear-battery-with-pv-cells-and-tritium-vsjp2o4cb) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Nanotip Ion Thruster Promises Power Efficiency Boost](https://daily.dev/posts/nanotip-ion-thruster-promises-power-efficiency-boost-mhckuz7tt) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [MIT researcher proposes a way to detect nuclear weapons in space](https://daily.dev/posts/mit-researcher-proposes-a-way-to-detect-nuclear-weapons-in-space-raaghrtwa) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#space-technology](https://daily.dev/tags/space-technology) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/tritium-nuclear-battery-offers-low-risk-space-energy-djcaiiwus) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Tritium Nuclear Battery Offers Low-Risk Space Energy","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/tritium-nuclear-battery-offers-low-risk-space-energy-djcaiiwus","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/tritium-nuclear-battery-offers-low-risk-space-energy-djcaiiwus"},"datePublished":"2026-08-10T13:29:00.471Z","dateModified":"2026-08-10T13:29:33.393Z","description":"City Labs' BOHR cubesat, launched on SpaceX Transporter 17, is the first commercial satellite to test tritium-based betavoltaic nuclear batteries in space. 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The 48 tritium cells aboard the BOHR cubesat produce a combined 5 microwatts — each cell contributing roughly 100 nanowatts. Plutonium-based systems generate tens to hundreds of watts. Betavoltaics target milliwatt-scale, long-duration applications rather than competing with plutonium for high-power needs. Engineers evaluating power sources for small space hardware track developments like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What temperature range can betavoltaic tritium batteries operate in?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Betavoltaic tritium batteries operate across an extreme range of -200°C to +200°C. They have been tested under liquid nitrogen and actually perform better at cold temperatures, making them well-suited for environments like permanently shadowed lunar craters where chemical batteries would fail. 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