Thermal Control Technologies

At Lunar Outpost we are developing several thermal control technologies to enable the next step in lunar operations & lunar night survivability. Some of these are:

• ATS: The Active Thermal Switch enables a user-controlled heat path or thermal link from an open state (thermal conductivity almost zero) to a closed state (increased thermal conductance). With LOEU’s ATS, this process is not passively controlled by temperature, unlike with other (passive) switches, but is set on demand by the user. The ATS is a very compact component that is mounted on a heat sink (e.g. a radiator) in nominal use, while the second interface is connected to a heat source via a flexible connection. Two versions of the ATS have been developed as part of our first two Lunar Outpost rover missions with a commercial version in development.

• MLI: Developed initially for high temperature applications (~300degC) for the needs of our LUX-Thermal project, LOEU has gained expertise in developing complex MLI geometries manufactured, integrated and tested in Luxembourg. Those process will be validated in orbit in Q1 of 2026 pushing LOEU's own MLI to TRL 9.

• TCap: The Thermal Capacitor is a novel thermal energy storage using a Phase-Change Material to ensure temperature stability of sensitive hardware (e.g. for scientific detectors with high temperature stability requirements). TCap provides safety measure to protect hardware from overheating and absorbs the high dissipation of hardware reducing the required radiator size in hot case and heater power in cold case (e.g. for units with high dissipation over low duty-cycle).

• Thermal Cover:  The thermal cover offers a low-cost, lower mass alternative to traditional louvers, or similar technologies, aimed at reducing heat rejection from the radiators in the lunar surface reducing battery mass due to lower heat requirements. Once deployed it minimizes exposure to the cold lunar environment preventing excessive temperature drop and improving thermal control efficiency.  It can be activated multiple times and offers active trimming capabilities with partial open/close configurations (unlike other mono- or bi-stable solutions) to adjust to various environments and operational modes.

• TES: The Thermal Energy Storage system is a high-temperature reservoir (up to ~300degC) storing solar flux or other forms of heat in a molten salt as sensible and latent heat. The heat is distributed and spread within the salt by conductive means. To reduce losses, thermal insulation and support structure need to withstand high temperatures far above 110degC, while minimizing the parasitic heat losses of the storage system. Based on the mass-specific performance of different heat input ranges and the relevant temperature ranges, a design based on radiative insulation and heat decoupling technologies can be customised.