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Lockheed Martin has completed the critical tests of its 20-metre-high lunar-solar array, which it hopes could one day power a human base on the moon.
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The aerospace giant plans for the prototype to form part of a “power grid” to support long-term habitation, alongside nuclear fission and cables made from lunar regolith or moon soil.
Lockheed was one of three companies, alongside Blue Origin and Astrobotic, tasked by NASA to develop ideas for the Lunar Vertical Solar Array Technology (LVSAT) program.
“If we are serious about sustainable lunar exploration, then we need to get serious about infrastructure,” said Christie Iacomini, program manager for LVSAT at Lockheed Martin.
The design, dubbed the “Multi-mission Modular (MM) Solar Array”, is unique because its huge length means it can capture sunlight above the terrain’s shadows, including those casts from craters and boulders.
First developed for commercial vehicles, Lockheed believes the technology can offer 50 per cent more power at 30 per cent less mass compared to older variants.
“When designing solar arrays for the moon, we have to think about cost, mass efficiency and resiliency for surviving the lunar environment,” said Alya Elhawary, Lockheed Martin’s VSAT program manager, in October.
“In addition to rigorous thermal and environmental testing, one specific factor we have to think about is regolith, which can affect VSAT due to the dust’s electrostatic properties.
“We’re applying lessons from other missions that’ve operated in dusty environments such as the InSight Mars Lander.
“The goal is to make this array compatible with technologies like lunar landers and rovers that can transport it around the surface. Integration among lunar tech is crucial to building a lunar economy and power structure.”
NASA has now confirmed all three programs are close to completing testing, with final reports due in early 2025, though LVSAT is not being treated as a competitive selection program.
Australia is a key player in the Artemis program to return humans to the moon, with NASA tasking the Australian Space Agency with creating a rover that will collect lunar regolith. It’s hoped the substance will eventually be able to be turned into oxygen to support a permanent human base.
However, Artemis has been beset with delays from its original schedule.
Earlier this year, for example, NASA announced the Artemis II mission to fly astronauts close to the moon would be pushed back from 2024 to September 2025, while a human return, Artemis III, would now target 2026.
The US space agency blamed several technical issues, including problems with the Orion spacecraft’s life support systems and heat shield.
However, within weeks of the announcement of the revised timetable, a string of senior figures said that even those dates were unrealistic at a key congressional committee.
