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Firefly adds a Zeno Power radioisotope package to a Blue Ghost mission to test surviving the lunar night
Firefly will carry a Zeno Power radioisotope heater on a near-side Blue Ghost lunar mission launching no earlier than 2028. After about 14 days of solar-powered work for NASA payloads, the lander will try to keep the heater's payload running through the 14-day lunar night, when solar power is gone and temperatures plunge.
- The heater is a 5-watt thermal unit fuelled by americium-241: decay heat keeps hardware warm with no sunlight or batteries.
- Firefly's first Blue Ghost measured over 230°F in lunar day and below -275°F at night; Zeno's payload is designed for below -280°F.
- The payload will send operating data to Earth through the night, showing whether hardware can survive the cold.
- Surviving the night matters because most landers so far stop working at the first sunset, limiting missions to about two weeks.