Firefly Aerospace plans to deliver a compact nuclear heating system to the Moon in 2028 to help spacecraft survive the approximately two-week lunar night.

The Survive-the-Night Package, developed by Zeno Power Systems, will be sent to the near side of the Moon as part of one of the future Blue Ghost missions.

The main goal of the experiment is to test the operation of a radioisotope heat source under conditions in which solar energy is unavailable. After the daytime mission operations of Blue Ghost are completed, the Zeno system is expected to operate for approximately 14 Earth days throughout the lunar night while transmitting performance data back to Earth.

During the first Blue Ghost mission in 2025, temperatures on the lunar surface exceeded 110°C during the day and dropped below −170°C after sunset. Such conditions pose a serious challenge to electronics and other spacecraft systems.

The system is based on a 5-watt radioisotope heating element containing americium-241. As the isotope undergoes radioactive decay, it continuously releases energy in the form of heat, meaning that the system does not depend on sunlight.

The heater will be installed on a separate platform together with communication, power-supply, and thermal-control systems.

The device is not designed to provide power for the entire spacecraft. Its purpose is to keep critical components within their operating temperature range during the lunar night, when solar panels cannot generate electricity.

The data obtained could be useful for longer-duration lunar missions and operations in permanently shadowed regions that never receive direct sunlight.

Firefly Aerospace also plans future Blue Ghost missions to the far side of the Moon and to the region of the Gruithuisen Domes.