As part of the Artemis program, NASA, in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), will test for the first time a new lunar navigation system that uses signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) of Earth, but on the Moon.
Use GPS and Galileo signals
GNSS are a set of components based on a constellation of artificial satellites making it possible to provide a user, via a portable receiver, with his position. The best known of them, GPS, is operated by the US Space Force. Europe also has its own GNSS, Galileo. NASA and the ISA want to exploit the capabilities of these two systems for their mission.
Quantum computing has just taken a significant step
Called LuGRE (Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment), it will attempt to calculate the very first location markers during a trip to the Moon, as well as on the lunar surface. LuGRE will receive signals from GPS and Galileo during its journey to the Moon. The receiver will also conduct navigation experiments at different altitudes and in orbit around the Moon.
After landing on the Moon aboard the Blue Ghost lander developed by Firefly Aerospace, LuGRE will deploy its antenna and begin 12 days of data collection, with the possibility of extending mission operations. NASA and ASI will process and analyze the data transmitted back to Earth, then share the results with the public, explains in a press release the US space agency.
” Push the limits »
” In this case, we are pushing the boundaries of what GNSS was meant to do, i.e. extending the scope of systems built to provide services to land, aeronautical and maritime users to also include the growing space sector. . This will significantly improve the accuracy and resilience of what was available during the Apollo missions, and allow for more flexible equipment and operational scenarios. said JJ Miller, deputy director of policy and strategic communications for NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program.
Indeed, LuGRE is part of ongoing efforts to expand the capabilities of high-altitude GNSS, a system that space missions have long relied on for navigation and timekeeping. In recent years, the system’s range has expanded to include missions at altitudes between approximately 2,896 km and 35,405 km. In 2016, NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission used GPS at a record altitude of 70,000 km above Earth.
The goal with LuGRE is to develop operational lunar GNSS systems for future missions on our satellite. The experiment is also a key step towards building LunaNet, an architecture that will unify cooperative networks into seamless lunar communication and navigation services, says NASA.
Artist’s impression of the future permanent moon base, Lunar Gateway. It will be constantly occupied by astronauts. Image: NASA Johnson/FlickR
A mission of the Artemis program
LuGRE is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The latter consists of transporting scientific instruments, equipment and spacecraft to the surface of the Moon in order to prepare for future human explorations. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission, whose objective is to study the water ice present at the bottom of the craters located in the south pole of the Moon thanks to a rover, is also part of it.
All of these different missions are part of NASA’s vast Artemis program. Its goal is to bring the human being back to the Moon and, this time, to build a permanent base there called Lunar Gateway. Thus, our satellite would allow us to prepare missions in even more distant space, as far as Mars for example. Another essential component of Artemis, NASA’s SLS rocket has experienced some difficulties and will not make its first flight until August.
The Blue Ghost craft, which will carry LuGRE to the Moon, will be powered by a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Its takeoff is, for the moment, planned for 2024 from Cape Canaveral in Florida.