Firefly Aerospace Onboards Zeno Power on Blue Ghost Mission to Demonstrate Radioisotope Technologies to Survive the Lunar Night

Firefly Aerospace announced a commercial payload agreement with Zeno Power Systems to deliver its Survive-the-Night Package, including a Radioisotope Heater Unit (RHU), aboard a Firefly lunar mission scheduled for no earlier than 2028. The payload will demonstrate technologies enabling spacecraft and lunar infrastructure to operate through the extreme cold and prolonged darkness of the 14-day lunar night. The mission targets the Moon’s near side as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

Zeno’s payload consists of a 5-watt thermal americium-241 RHU and a dedicated platform with structural, communications, electrical power, command and data handling, and thermal management subsystems. The RHU provides passive thermal energy via radioactive decay, generating continuous heat without solar power. Designed to withstand temperatures below -280°F, the system aims to keep critical components operational during lunar night and in permanently shadowed regions.

The demonstration on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander follows the success of Blue Ghost Mission 1, which achieved the first commercial Moon landing in 2025. The mission will first operate NASA CLPS payloads during the lunar day using solar power, then activate Zeno’s payload during the lunar night to transmit operational data to Earth. This effort supports NASA’s Moon Base Program and the growing lunar economy by addressing a key challenge in sustained lunar operations.

Firefly Aerospace, a space and defense technology company, stated the collaboration aims to advance radioisotope and nuclear-powered technologies for future robotic and human lunar missions. The company highlighted its role in enabling responsive space missions and rapid innovation through vertically integrated facilities in central Texas, with additional lunar missions planned to the far side and Gruithuisen Domes.