Development of a Thermal Control System to Survive the Lunar Night

This proposal serves to enable near-term robotic exploration of permanently shadowed regions and lunar night survival by maturing and combining existing technologies, of varying TRLs, such as loop heat pipes (LHPs), variable conductance heat pipes (VCHPs), embedded heat pipe plates (EHPPs), phase change materials (PCMs), thermal electric coolers (TECs), and thermal switches to develop an adaptable vehicle thermal control system (TCS) for landers of the 50-500 kilogram payload class. This will enable new science goals to be met and close several Strategic Knowledge Gaps currently open for Lunar exploration.

Create a comprehensive heat and power management system to allow a payload to survive the Lunar night.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.