In the coming decade, a multitude of small, carry-on payloads in the form of miniature rovers, scientific instruments and surface deployed stand-alone systems will provide many new and exciting possibilities for lunar exploration. For these system, the survival of and operation in the extreme cold of the lunar night will be the biggest challenge, as most will be purely battery driven and unable to rely on radioisotope heaters. Maximizing battery lifetime in these conditions requires a trade-off between energy density, low-temperature performance and insulation, but comparable temperature and current dependent discharge capacities of batteries and other energy storage devices are often not reported in datasheets or literature. For this reason, a selection of energy storage devices was chosen and tested to determine their low-temperature performance in a representative environment. Based on this data, the theoretical lifetime per battery weight and optimal operational temperature for varying degrees of insulation was determined. It was shown that the selection of the optimal energy storage device and operational temperature depends on the insulation, emphasizing the need for multi-disciplinary design optimization.

在未来十年中，以微型流动站，科学仪器和地面部署的独立系统形式出现的大量小型随身有效载荷将为登月探索提供许多新的令人兴奋的可能性。对于这些系统，在阴暗的极端寒冷下如何生存和运行将是最大的挑战，因为大多数将完全由电池驱动并且无法依靠放射性同位素加热器。要在这些条件下最大化电池寿命，就需要在能量密度，低温性能和绝缘性之间进行权衡，但是数据表或文献中通常没有报告可比温度和电流相关的电池和其他储能设备的放电容量。为此原因，选择并测试了一系列储能设备，以确定其在典型环境中的低温性能。基于此数据，确定了不同绝缘程度的每电池重量的理论寿命和最佳工作温度。结果表明，最佳储能装置和工作温度的选择取决于绝缘材料，从而强调了对多学科设计进行优化的需要。