Automotive giant Honda and lunar startup Astrobotic are working together to explore how regenerative fuel cell systems can help keep the lights up during the long moon nights.
On Monday, the company partnered to investigate whether Honda’s regenerative fuel cells (RFCs) could be integrated into Astrobotic’s Lunagrid, a scalable power service built around solar arrays. The two will conduct “lighting research” at the potential lunar Antarctic landing site to assess system scalability and hardware and software integration.
A key challenge for lunar exploration is that temperatures can go down to Fahrenheit in some regions, but solar panels are idle to survive a two-week lunar night. Honda RFC addresses the problem by storing solar power as hydrogen during the day of the moon, reverting it to electricity at night, and producing water as its sole by-product.
That water is recycled into a high-pressure electrolysis system, producing more hydrogen, forming what Honda calls the “closed-loop energy cycle.”
Astrobotic’s Vertical Solar Array Technology (VSAT) is designed to track the sun for maximum energy capture and is planned to have a capacity of up to 10 kilowatts. The company is also developing the XL version, which produces five times more power.
Together, VSAT collects sunlight during the day to power the water electrolysis system, and RFC converts its stored hydrogen into electricity overnight.
The purpose is a real moonshot: continuous and reliable power on the moon.
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Founded in 2007, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic is best known for its Peregrine Lumpur Lander, which was launched earlier this year but did not complete its mission. The company is also developing electricity and mobility systems as part of its goal of building a monthly economy.
For Honda, the deal represents a prominent step into the space sector. Automakers have long invested in fuel cell research and development, and this is the first public agreement to tackle the technology on the moon.
This collaboration is also consistent with Japan’s wider space ambitions. The country is a founding member of the Artemis Agreement, a framework for geopolitical cooperation in Lunar exploration, and Japanese astronauts routinely conduct research at the International Space Station.
The moon’s Antarctic is the heart of NASA’s Artemis program due to the exposure that the area is roughly in line with sunlight and the potential vast storage of water ice there. Power systems like the Lunargrid, paired with Honda’s RFC, can open doors to more ambitious future missions, and ultimately, human presence could last for the moon.
