STLN Thermal Control Study (STLN-TC-STUDY)

The purpose of the Thermal Control to Survive the Lunar Night Feasibility Study (STLN-TC-STUDY) is to determine the feasibility and needed technology areas to survive and operate through the lunar night across different mission-types varying in scale and requirements.  Surviving a full lunar night for unmanned systems on the lunar surface requires addressing the extreme temperature fluctuations, which range from 127°C (260°F) at the equator in the daytime to -173°C (-280°F) during the night. These harsh conditions demand specialized thermal control technologies to ensure that systems ranging from small to large, robotic to crewed, and mobile to stationary can survive throughout the Lunar night.Key thermal technologies that will contribute to Lunar night survival include: Thermal Insulation: A key technology for thermal control is advanced insulation, such as multi-layer insulation (MLI). MLI consists of layers of reflective material that trap heat during the lunar day, minimizing heat loss during the cold lunar night. The insulation prevents extreme temperature swings from affecting the internal components of the system, such as electronics and power storage.Heat Storage Systems: During the lunar day, when temperatures are extremely high, heat must be efficiently stored to be used during the lunar night. Phase change materials (PCMs) could be used to absorb excess heat during the day and release it gradually during the night, maintaining a stable internal temperature. These materials change from solid to liquid as they absorb heat and return to solid as they release it.Variable Thermal Control: Because of the wind range of environments from Lunar day to night, the thermal control system must provide variable thermal control, providing heat when the environment is cold, and dissipating heat when the environment is hot. Several technologies fall in to the category such as variable control heat pipes, freeze-tolerant radiators or purged radiators, thermal switches, and others.A combination of these and other technologies will be essential to surviving the Lunar night. This study will inform which technologies are appropriate for which mission types and where further development focus may result in cross-cutting technologies that can apply to many scenarios.

Identifying the thermal requirements of a wide range of lunar surface missions and defining the key thermal performance parameters for each mission type will help determine what thermal control technologies are needed for various missions. Mission evaluations would look at effective emissivity, turn down ratio, thermal capacitance, heat generation/mass, system mass, volume, power, and other metrics. This will provide a valuable reference for mission designers and enable deterministic trade studies that will identify where technology improvement will be most cost effective.  This study will categorize current and in-development thermal technology efforts based on what types of missions they may contribute to supporting Lunar night survival. Different types of missions, such as small science payloads, integrated robotic landers, small to large robotic rovers, mobile crewed rovers, crewed habitats, etc., have different thermal requirements and objectives which impact the type of thermal control that will most effectively ensure the mission's survival through multiple Lunar cycles This categorization is important to understand the scalability and cross-cutting advantages of different technology areas to inform focused planning of current and future technology development areas.Increasing the thermal capability to survive and operate in long duration, thermally extreme and varying environments without the use of costly radioisotopic heaters would benefit many types of missions. The Lunar day is 14.5 Earth days long and so missions are often limited to less than this amount of time for a survival window. Enabling missions to survive the Lunar night, whether hibernating or active would greatly increase the science return.In addition, the study will inform NASA technology development roadmaps to help rank and prioritize thermal components to ensure resources are focused on the most promising technologies.

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.