Successful testing GPS technology on the moon

On March 3, the GNSS signal acceptance on the Moon (Lugre) proved that the future astronaut could use the signal of the Global positioning satellite system (GNSS) of the Earth on this heaven. Currently, GNSS includes satellite networks such as GPS, Galileo, Bac Dau … to help provide accurate time, positioning and navigation information.

“On Earth, we can use the GNSS signal to navigate everything, from smartphones to aircraft. Now, LuGre shows that we can also collect and monitor GNSS signal on the Moon. This is an interesting finding for navigation on the Moon and we hope to exploit this ability for future tasks,” Kevin Coggins, Deputy Administration. of NASA, shared.

Lugre technology is cooperated by NASA with the Italian Space Agency. The Blue Ghost amphibious ship of American company Firefly Aerospace brings this technology to the moon.

On the way, Lugre first broke the record for collecting GNSS signals at the maximum height, 337,800 km, on January 21. On February 20, when the Blue Ghost entered the moon orbit, the record was raised to 391,000 km from the Earth. This achievement proves that the GNSS signal can be used effectively to navigate in the space between the Earth and the Moon.

On March 2, the ship landed on the Moon, the group in charge at the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA immediately started Lugre’s first scientific activities on this heavenly surface. 14h on 3/3 (Hanoi time), Lugre successfully collected and monitored signals from two GPS and Galileo satellite networks. Technology shows efficiency when determining the exact location in real time from a record distance of 362,000 km.

With Lugre, the amphibious ship has determined its location with a triangle, processing real -time tracking data from many satellites in the average Earth orbit of the GPS and Galileo network. This is a stepping stone that shows advanced systems and services that can be set out of the earth. The 14 -day mission of the amphibious ship on the Moon will allow two more data to collect data.

Typically, NASA relies on a multi -faceted approach to track spacecraft, combining data from the sensor on the ship with signals that come and go from monitoring stations on Earth. However, this method requires people to support. The integration of GNSS data into the navigation system provides a promising solution for automatic navigation.

This is of great significance to NASA’s Artemis program and the missions to Mars, helping to reduce human intervention. Future tasks can navigate more accurately, more independent by determining the location, speed and time without continuous monitoring from the Earth.