Going to the Moon is hard, but staying there is even harder. Once the sun sets, a lunar night lasts for 14 Earth days. Without sunlight for power, spacecraft usually freeze and stop working.

Firefly Aerospace and Zeno Power Systems partnered to test a new way to keep lunar equipment running in the dark. They plan to send Zeno’s “Survive-the-Night Package” to the Moon’s near side. This launch is scheduled for no earlier than 2028.

Beating the Lunar Cold

Closeup of the lunar heater; Photo: Firefly Aerospace

The package will hitch a ride on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander as part of a NASA initiative. Once on the Moon, the lander will spend a full lunar day running NASA payloads on solar power. When the sun goes down, Zeno’s technology will take over to stay warm and send data back to Earth.

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“Firefly is proud to collaborate with innovative companies like Zeno to solve one of the most complex challenges of lunar exploration—surviving the lunar night,” Ray Allensworth, Vice President of Spacecraft at Firefly Aerospace, explained. “Our first Blue Ghost mission gave us firsthand insight into the Moon’s extreme thermal environment, where we measured temperatures ranging from more than 230°F during the lunar day to below -275°F at night. Now we’re looking forward to advancing technologies that can extend missions beyond sunset and support long-duration surface operations required for NASA’s Moon Base initiative and the growing lunar economy.”

Powering the future

Zeno built a 5-watt heater that runs on a radioactive material called americium-241. As the material naturally decays, it creates heat without needing sunlight. This compact system will keep the spacecraft’s communications and power running, even when temperatures drop below -280°F or in craters that never see the sun.

This test follows Firefly’s successful 2025 commercial Moon landing, with more missions already planned for the Moon’s far side and the Gruithuisen Domes.

“Hardware capable of surviving the extreme cold of the lunar night will be essential to enabling sustained operations on the Moon,” Tyler Bernstein, CEO and Co-Founder of Zeno Power, said. “NASA’s Moon Base Program has identified the need for technologies such as radioisotope power systems to support future lunar exploration, and Zeno is proud to answer that call to demonstrate this capability aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost mission. As demand for long-duration lunar infrastructure grows, we are building the production capacity to support future commercial and government missions.”