European Space Thermal Engineering Workshop 2026

Session

Thermal for surface missions

SM

7 Oct 2026, 11:30

Einstein, Newton (ESA/ESTEC)

Conveners

Thermal for surface missions

• Giulio Tonellotto (ESA)

Thermal for surface missions

• Matthew Vaughan (ESA)

36. Surviving the Lunar Night: Passive MLI Shelter Design and Restart-Criterion Assessment for a 5 kg-Class Lunar Micro-Rover

Marc Alexander Wegener (KTH)

07/10/2026, 11:30

Thermal for surface missions

Lunar night survival is a defining constraint on commercial micro-rover missions. Non-polar surface temperatures can fall to approximately 92 K, well below the storage limits of typical rover electronics and batteries, motivating approaches that do not rely on radioisotope heating.

This work evaluates the technical feasibility of a passive multilayer-insulation (MLI) shelter for a 5...

81. Active Thermal Control Mechanisms for Extreme Environments

János Szőke (Admatis), Matthew Oldfield (ESR Technology)

07/10/2026, 12:00

Thermal for surface missions

With increasing interest and plans evolving for a range of lunar surface missions, there are considerable opportunities to deploy lunar payloads along with emerging plans for development of significant infrastructure on the surface of the moon. ESA, having anticipated such needs, have supported the development of new active thermal technologies which are generic in nature. These have included...

75. Adaptive Heat Rejection for Lunar Surface Thermal Control Applications

Kaja Dabrowska (Lunar Outpost EU)

07/10/2026, 12:30

Thermal for surface missions

Future lunar surface missions require thermal control systems capable of operating across the prolonged temperature extremes associated with the lunar day-night cycle. Unlike orbiters characterized by frequent thermal transitions, lunar surface systems must survive up to fourteen days of constant sunlight followed by 14 days of constant darkness while maintaining critical subsystems within...

84. Progress on the capabilities of the thermal simulation environment for moving objects on the lunar surface

Joel Guetzlaff (FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences)

08/10/2026, 14:00

Thermal for surface missions

This contribution presents enhancements and features of the lunar simulation environment for transient thermal analyses of moving ground systems. The basic version of this lunar simulation environment is revisited briefly, whose verification has been presented previously.
Especially for autonomous lunar rovers, an accurate prediction of heat fluxes and temperature evolution along a planned...

7. Thermal Modelling of lunar surface temperature using Systema (Airbus Defence and Space software).

Simona Calarco (CNES)

08/10/2026, 14:30

Thermal for surface missions

In the current context, lunar exploration, particularly with NASA's Artemis program, has become a crucial issue for the space industry. Several agencies are investing in systems able to withstand this extremely hostile environment. This presentation focuses on modelling lunar surface temperature using Systema (Airbus Defence and Space software). The approach involves comparing numerical...