A future lunar lander bound for the dark side of the moon will carry along a piece of equipment that could make these missions a little bit brighter.
The lander in question is operated by Firefly Aerospace, the first commercial company to successfully land and operate spacecraft on the moon. A LightPort wireless power receiver will be mounted atop the Firefly Blue Ghost lander’s upper deck.Developed by Canadian aerospace startup Volta Space Technologies, the cargo plays a key role in Volta’s ultimate goal: establishing a network of satellites that can wirelessly beam solar power to spacecraft on the lunar surface. Their bet is one of several rapidly emerging efforts to prop up a functioning “power grid” on the moon—an essential step toward conducting longer lunar expeditions and, one-day, creating viable human habitats.
Volta is calling its proposed wireless system LightGrid. They claim it would work by integrating LightPorts (the receivers) into future lunar rovers, landers, and other vehicles. These LightPorts would receive solar power transmitted via lasers from orbiting satellites. If it works, the system could ensure a steady supply of power,even during long, dark lunar nights. A single evening there is the equivalent of about 14 days on Earth.
Firefly plans to launch its lander toward the moon’s South Pole by the end of 2026. Assuming it arrives in one piece, the receiver will attempt to capture a signal from an orbiting satellite to test and validate whether the system actually functions as intended.
“This collaboration allows us to prove our LightPort receiver in a real lunar environment and move one step closer to delivering a fully integrated power grid for the moon,” Volta CEO Justin Zipkin said in a statement. Volta did not immediately respond to Popular Science’s request for comment.
[Related: This giant solar power station could beam energy to lunar bases]
Bringing power to the moon
Developing methods to reliably maintain a power supply roughly 240,000 miles away from Earth is crucial if NASA and its international compatriots want to realize their vision of longer lunar visits. Beyond just keeping the lights on, steady power is needed to heat equipment and prevent it from breaking down during the moon’s chilly nights. In permanently shadowed regions, the frigid lunar surface can rival that of Pluto and reach temperatures of -410 degrees Fahrenheit (-246 degrees Celsius). Solar panels attached to rovers and landers can fill in the gaps temporarily, but prolonged periods without sunlight render them useless.
Volta has already tested its approach in lab settings and in the field, reportedly at distances of up to 2,789 feet (850 meters). There are still many unknowns in terms of expected energy output, but an executive from the company recently told Space News that he believes “full service” power to a customer (mostly likely a rover operator) on the lunar surface would require beaming power from three small satellites operating in low lunar orbit. Scaling LightGrid up to cover a larger area or more vehicles would likely require an entire fleet of moon-adjacent satellites.
[Related: Six weeks, three moon landers: The era of private space exploration is here]
However, LightGrid isn’t the only approach under consideration. Astrobotic, an aerospace startup based in Pittsburgh, has spent years developing its own moon power solution, called LunaGrid. In this case, the company has built several solar-power generating stations connected by transmission cables stretching for several miles across the surface. A fleet of small mobile robots with retractable solar panels would then drive from these stations to recharge larger vehicles. Astrobotic likens these mini rovers to an extraterrestrial extension cord.
There’s also renewed interest from NASA in putting a nuclear reactor on the moon. The idea dates back decades, but was reprioritized earlier this year after NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy issued a directive urgently calling for the development of a 100‑kilowatt fission reactor at the moon’s South Pole by the end of the decade. Energy experts speaking with Wired earlier this year said that the accelerated timeline is ambitious, but not necessarily out of reach. China and Russia, meanwhile, are also racing to build their own lunar nuclear reactors.
A future fully-functioning lunar habitat will likely require some combination of all these approaches in order to create a dependable power grid capable of withstanding the harsh environment. By hitching a ride on Firefly’s lander, Volta gets an early head start. But that advantage may not last long.
The maturation of several private aerospace companies, like Firefly, Intuitive Machines and ispace, means landers are beginning to reach the moon at a staggering clip. NASA alone has 15 commercial lunar delivery contracts expected to touch down by 2030. These deliveries focus not only on supporting exploration and testing power grids, but also on less obvious efforts, such as establishing lunar cell networks and spectrum rollout.
In other words, Earth’s nearest alien neighbor is about to get a lot more crowded. And, possibly, a little shinier.
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