NASA Achieves GPS Navigation On The Moon For The First Time

NASA and the Italian Space Agency achieved a historic milestone on March 3 when the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) became the first technology demonstration to successfully acquire and track Earth-based navigation signals on the Moon’s surface. In a

NASA announced on Tuesday the success of the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE), demonstrating that signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), including GPS and Galileo, can be received and tracked on the Moon.

Accurate navigation will be crucial for future astronauts on the Moon, but traditional GPS is ineffective 225,000 miles from Earth. A promising solution is transmitting GNSS data to the lunar surface, allowing spacecraft to autonomously measure time, velocity, and position.

Currently, NASA tracks spacecraft using a combination of onboard sensors and Earth-based signals, often requiring oversight from engineers. By replacing some of these systems with GNSS data, spacecraft could autonomously receive the signals, reducing the need for human operators.

This breakthrough could be crucial for NASA’s Artemis missions and other future lunar and deep-space missions, as it enables spacecraft to autonomously determine their position, velocity, and time with high accuracy.

The development lays the groundwork for advanced navigation systems for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

“On Earth we can use GNSS signals to navigate in everything from smartphones to airplanes,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program.

“Now, LuGRE shows us that we can successfully acquire and track GNSS signals at the Moon. This is a very exciting discovery for lunar navigation, and we hope to leverage this capability for future missions.”

The journey to this achievement began on March 2, when Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander touched down on the Moon, delivering LuGRE along with nine other NASA payloads. Shortly after landing, the team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland initiated the first science operations for the experiment on the lunar surface.

As the LuGRE data streamed in, the team eagerly awaited results. At 2 a.m. EST on March 3, it was confirmed that LuGRE had acquired and tracked signals from both the GPS and Galileo systems, approximately 225,000 miles from Earth, and achieved its first navigation fix.

In addition to this achievement, the mission holds another milestone for the Italian Space Agency, as the LuGRE payload represents the first hardware from the organization to be deployed on the Moon.

Before its arrival on the Moon, LuGRE had already set multiple records, including the highest altitude GNSS signal acquisition at 209,900 miles during its journey.

The payload’s altitude continued to rise as it reached lunar orbit on February 20, at 243,000 miles from Earth. These records suggest that future missions in cislunar space could also rely on GNSS signals for navigation.

LuGRE’s success in autonomous navigation marks a shift from traditional reliance on Earth-based tracking stations. The payload shows that spacecraft could operate more independently, using GNSS signals for navigation even as far as the Moon.