Miami-based City Labs achieves a first for commercial nuclear power in space
Miami-based City Labs achieves a first for commercial nuclear power in space
总部位于迈阿密的 City Labs 实现商业太空核能应用的首创
The proliferation of nuclear power in space got a little more real Tuesday with the launch of a small satellite developed by a Florida-based company specializing in nuclear micro-power technology. It’s a long way from launching a bona fide nuclear reactor, a breakthrough that could help power a permanent Moon base and efficiently drive rockets throughout the Solar System. But you have to start somewhere.
随着一家专门从事核微型电源技术的佛罗里达州公司开发的小型卫星于周二发射升空，太空核能的普及变得更加现实。虽然距离发射真正的核反应堆还有很长的路要走——那样的突破将有助于为永久月球基地供电，并高效驱动航天器在太阳系中航行——但凡事总得有个起点。
The satellite from Miami-based City Labs is named BOHR, short for Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability, and it launched on a SpaceX rideshare mission Tuesday alongside 80 other payloads. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket released the BOHR satellite into an orbit between 350 and 400 miles (nearly 600 km) in altitude.
这颗来自迈阿密 City Labs 公司的卫星被命名为 BOHR（Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability，即“贝塔伏特轨道高可靠性”的缩写），它于周二搭乘 SpaceX 的拼车任务发射，随行的还有其他 80 个载荷。SpaceX 的猎鹰 9 号火箭将 BOHR 卫星送入了海拔 350 到 400 英里（近 600 公里）的轨道。
City Labs bills the BOHR mission as “the world’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite and first nuclear CubeSat.” CubeSats are modest in scale, and images released by City Labs suggest BOHR is built on a “1U” CubeSat platform, a cubical design measuring about the same size as a softball. BOHR’s power source is a nuclear betavoltaic battery that generates electricity from the decay of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen.
City Labs 将 BOHR 任务称为“世界上第一颗商业核动力卫星和第一颗核动力立方星”。立方星（CubeSat）规模较小，City Labs 发布的图像显示，BOHR 基于“1U”立方星平台构建，这是一种立方体设计，大小与垒球相当。BOHR 的电源是一种核贝塔伏特电池，通过氢的放射性同位素——氚的衰变来产生电力。
“This is a historic step for commercial nuclear power in space,” said Peter Cabauy, CEO of City Labs, in a statement. “BOHR demonstrates that safe, compact, and regulatory-approved nuclear power systems are ready for routine commercial deployment. This capability enables persistent, always-on payload operations that are not constrained by sunlight or battery life.”
City Labs 首席执行官 Peter Cabauy 在一份声明中表示：“这是商业太空核能的历史性一步。BOHR 证明了安全、紧凑且经监管部门批准的核动力系统已准备好进行常规商业部署。这种能力实现了不受阳光或电池寿命限制的持续、全天候载荷运行。”
City Labs will use its experimental NanoTritium power generator in demonstration mode to supply electricity to a payload onboard the BOHR CubeSat. The spacecraft itself uses conventional solar power for regular operations, the company said.
City Labs 将以演示模式使用其实验性 NanoTritium 电源发生器，为 BOHR 立方星上的载荷供电。该公司表示，航天器本身在常规运行中仍使用传统的太阳能供电。
Betavoltaic batteries are best suited for low-power applications that require a reliable, long-duration source of electricity. These use cases include remote terrestrial sensors—such as in undersea or polar locations—and instrumentation for secure communications. City Labs is also studying the use of its NanoTritium technology to power implantable medical devices.
贝塔伏特电池最适合需要可靠、长效电力来源的低功耗应用。这些应用场景包括远程地面传感器（如海底或极地地区）以及安全通信仪器。City Labs 也在研究利用其 NanoTritium 技术为植入式医疗设备供电。
The space industry is the other near-term market for City Labs. NASA has worked with City Labs to look at using nuclear tritium power sources to support a network of small sensors that could be deployed into permanently shadowed craters on the Moon to scout for resources like water ice. The US Air Force and Space Force have given City Labs several research contracts, funding the development of an experimental tritium AA battery for cryptographic devices and a self-powered wireless autonomous imaging sensor.
太空行业是 City Labs 的另一个近期市场。NASA 已与 City Labs 合作，研究利用核氚电源来支持部署在月球永久阴影坑中的小型传感器网络，以探测水冰等资源。美国空军和太空军已授予 City Labs 多项研究合同，资助开发用于加密设备的实验性氚 AA 电池以及自供电无线自主成像传感器。
City Labs says its betavoltaic systems could also power heaters for microelectronics in harsh environments. It’s important to remember that the company’s betavoltaic power systems are small—in the nanowatt to microwatt range—far short of the electricity required to power a smartphone, much less a large spacecraft or a Moon base.
City Labs 表示，其贝塔伏特系统还可以为恶劣环境下的微电子设备加热器供电。需要注意的是，该公司的贝塔伏特电源系统功率很小（在纳瓦到微瓦范围内），远不足以驱动智能手机，更不用说大型航天器或月球基地了。
Still, the BOHR mission is a step in the right direction for proponents of nuclear power in space. Until now, nuclear-powered spacecraft have been solely owned by government agencies like NASA and the US military. Commercial nuclear-powered space missions face regulatory hurdles, and BOHR was the first commercial nuclear mission to pass through the Federal Aviation Administration’s new nuclear launch approval process. The FAA authorized City Labs to launch the BOHR mission last September.
尽管如此，对于太空核能的支持者来说，BOHR 任务是朝着正确方向迈出的一步。在此之前，核动力航天器仅由 NASA 和美国军方等政府机构拥有。商业核动力太空任务面临监管障碍，而 BOHR 是第一个通过美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）新核发射审批程序的商业核任务。FAA 于去年 9 月批准了 City Labs 发射 BOHR 任务。
It helped that the BOHR satellite carries just a tiny amount of radioactive material, and the tritium isotope decays more quickly than plutonium or uranium. It’s also less toxic than other well-known nuclear fuels. “Tritium emits a weak form of radiation, a low-energy beta particle similar to an electron. The tritium radiation does not travel very far in air and cannot penetrate the skin,” the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says on its website.
BOHR 卫星携带的放射性物质极少，且氚同位素比钚或铀衰变得更快，这在审批中起到了帮助作用。它也比其他众所周知的核燃料毒性更小。美国核管理委员会在其网站上表示：“氚释放出一种微弱的辐射，即类似于电子的低能贝塔粒子。氚辐射在空气中传播距离很短，且无法穿透皮肤。”
Future missions will have to launch with far more nuclear material than City Labs’ BOHR mission, but this week’s launch served as a first step. “The BOHR mission serves as a pathfinder for future nuclear-powered spacecraft supporting both civil and national security missions,” City Labs said in a statement.
未来的任务将不得不携带比 City Labs 的 BOHR 任务多得多的核材料，但本周的发射已迈出了第一步。City Labs 在声明中表示：“BOHR 任务是未来支持民用和国家安全任务的核动力航天器的探路者。”