How to navigate on the Moon
Start date: 20/04/2023 15:00
End date: 20/04/2023 16:30
Register for the Final Presentation of the NAVISP EL1 023 Project "Earth Moon Navigation / System Study and Development of Highly Sensitive Spaceborne receiver prototype"
The possibility of extending GNSS for missions to the Moon has preliminarily been assessed by ESA via GSP (General Studies Programme). These preliminary studies conclude that navigation to the Moon using GNSS complemented by other instruments could be feasible, provided specific high-sensitivity techniques are implemented in receivers.
The interest of having in the near-future an available Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) service for the Earth-Moon system is currently supported by both institutional and commercial initiatives. On the commercial side, multiple companies are developing business solutions targeting the Moon (e.g. proposing tourism applications or moon mining) and several major European companies are proposing to team up to build a communications network on the Moon compatible with terrestrial standards. In parallel, NASA has announced its plans for a “Return to the Moon” in the next decade and the NASA-ESA Orion space vehicle will enable crewed missions covering the Earth-Moon system. ESA is also participating in multiple future reflections about potential missions to the Moon, such as the potential international Gateway station on Moon orbit or the launch of a Cubesat to the Moon (LUCE mission).
It is therefore of high interest to assess in detail the feasibility and associated achievable performance of a complete PNT system, exploiting current multi-constellation GNSS signals for Earth-Moon missions. Moreover, the scientific interest in the proposed activity has been conveyed through the GNSS Scientific Advisory Committee (GSAC).
The main objectives of the NAVISP EL1 023 activity were therefore twofold:
To perform a dedicated system study on the use of multi-constellation GNSS for Earth-Moon missions complementing previous studies, confirming feasibility, assessing achievable performance and identifying a preliminary architecture with possible enhancements to existing GNSS constellations;
To develop a GNSS spaceborne receiver prototype as a technology risk mitigation for future application in demonstrations missions (e.g. the Cubesat LUCE mission proposal) and in order to gather data and support further system activities.
The project was carried out in the scope of NAVISP Element 1, which is dedicated to technology innovation of the European industry in the wider PNT sector.