Zeno Power Books its First Nuclear Mission to the Moon
Zeno Power is ready to pull its first all-nighter. On Wednesday, the nuclear-energy startup announced a commercial payload agreement with Firefly Aerospace ($FLY) to send a radioisotope heating unit (RHU) on a Firefly mission launching to the MoonNET 2028.  The mission—flyin
Zeno Power is ready to pull its first all-nighter.
On Wednesday, the nuclear-energy startup announced a commercial payload agreement with Firefly Aerospace ($FLY) to send a radioisotope heating unit (RHU) on a Firefly mission launching to the MoonNET 2028.
The mission—flying on Firefly’s CS-8 CLPS mission—aims to demonstrate Zeno’s ability to keep a 5W RHU—dubbed, fittingly, the “Survive-the-Night Package”—functioning during the blistering-cold, 14-day lunar night.
How it works: Lunar missions don’t typically last very long. With temperatures dropping below-133°C during the lunar night, payloads quickly freeze to death. To stay safe during periods of darkness, and to explore the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions, lunar tech needs a powerful night-light.
Zeno’s solution uses a radioisotope fuel—Americium-241—which gives off heat as the fuel decays. The idea is to harness this heat to keep payloads up and running, no matter the outside temp.
On its first mission, Zeno’s RHU will be self-contained—warming the unit to keep its comms, power, data handling, and thermal management infrastructure running—while the rest of Firefly’s payloads are frozen into “monument mode.”
If all goes well, however, future lunar missions could incorporate several RHUs to keep multiple payloads, or the entire lunar lander, functioning in the dark.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Firefly Director of Spacecraft Mission Management Farah Zuberi told Payload. “We’re going to have a lot of learnings throughout the \[demo mission\], and then incorporate them into future missions, depending on what we learn.”
Warming to the idea: While the mission has big implications for the commercial future of the Moon—helping Firefly sell longer-duration missions to customers, and gather its own data over longer stretches of time on the surface—it’s been driven by NASA’s broader ambitions for the Moon. Zeno’s demo is a direct result of NASA’s CLPS CS-8 task order, which included a financial incentive for contractors who can demonstrate “survive-the-night” capabilities.
To win this bonus—the value of which Zeno declined to share—the RHU will need to send a signal back to Earth after 120 Earth hours of lunar night, but the system is expected to last a lot longer than that, according to Zeno CEO Tyler Bernstein.
“We are building to meet that requirement of 120 hours. But Americium has a half-life of 440 years,” Bernstein told Payload. “We believe this will prove out the technology that in the future, we’ll be able to demonstrate years of operations on the lunar surface.”
Zeno is also developing a larger Stirling radioisotope generator to one day provide both heat and electricity to lunar payloads, according to Bernstein.
Related Stories
Exclusive: Reflect Orbital Responds to its Critics
The space community is divided over whether Reflect Orbital’s sunlight-reflecting satellites are a bright idea.
NASA Opens Call on Moon Base Health Research
NASA’s Human Research Program is asking researchers what they want to know as the agency transitions to long-term stays at a Moon Base.
Exclusive: Space Kinetic Awarded $50M for Space Maneuverability
Space Kinetic announced a $50M OTA award from the Space Force to develop Whirlwind—its space maneuverability and deployment system.
Astrolight, ATMOS Partner on Laser Comms Reentry Demo
Astrolight will fly a laser comms terminal onboard ATMOS’ PHOENIX 2 reentry vehicle during a 2027 demo mission.
More Stories
The Space Force’s FY27 budget request made headlines earlier this year at a record-breaking $71.3B.
But the topline reflects a shift underway across the whole Pentagon, one the Space Force illustrates more sharply than any other service. Two new breakdowns, one from The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy and one from the American Enterprise Institute, reach overlapping conclusions from different angles.
Aerospace’s Robert Wilson—who called the 120% jump from FY26 the largest percentage increase for any military service in 75 years—found the growth is sharply targeted: more than 75% of it flows to just four capability areas.
Load More
Payload in your inbox
Payload _Our daily flagship newsletter_
Payload Pro _Weekly, curated insights, analysis, and data_
Payload Europe _Our weekly deep dive into EU space news_
Polaris _Our weekly look at policy news_
Marketing & Events _Periodic emails about company news and events_
Sign Up
You are now subscribed to our list.
Be sure to add us to your contacts, so we don’t end up in your spam folder!
!Payload Pro
In-depth research, exclusive data, and expert analysis on the business and policy of space. Get ahead of the competition.
Popular Stories
Aetherflux Rebrands, Pivots Business—and Raises $275M
May 11, 2026May 11, 2026
Exclusive: LEAP Launches its First Rocket
May 13, 2026May 13, 2026
Lt. Gen. Schiess Nominated to Lead Space Force
May 4, 2026May 4, 2026
Anduril Names Its SBI Team For Golden Dome
May 5, 2026May 5, 2026
Business • Equities • Technology
York Space Systems to Acquire Solestial
May 19, 2026May 19, 2026
Upcoming Events
live event
Salt Lake City Happy Hour
Poplar Street Pub, Salt Lake City, UT
25Aug
live event
Payload Space Happy Hour
El Segundo, CA
3Sep
webinar
The Need for Speed: Rethinking Spacecraft Agility in the Small Satellite Era
17Sep
live event
Off World
Houston, TX
23Sep
live event
The Space & Defense Investor Summit
Los Angeles, CA
3Nov
Thanks for signing up
Check your inbox for an email from general@payloadspace.com. Make sure to check your spam folder and add us to your Safe Senders list. Please allow up to 48 hours for the messages to
come through. Still don't see it? Send us a note
×