Latest news with #Moon-orbiting
Engadget
09-05-2025
- Science
- Engadget
Spanish company GMV is bringing GPS to the Moon
If you've ever taken a wrong turn at the Sea of Tranquility and ended up lost in the Ocean of Storms, then you're in luck, because the Moon is getting GPS, sort of. GMV, a Spanish capital business group with extensive experience in the space sector, has announced a navigation system for the Moon akin to GPS. The ambitious project, dubbed LUPIN, aims to help astronauts, industrialists and even future settlers navigate more easily across the lunar surface. In a press release for LUPIN, GMV explains part of the problem with current navigation systems on the Moon. "Existing communications also depend upon direct visibility with the Earth, or on the use of relay satellites in lunar orbit. These factors generate communication shadow zones and lag times, and this makes it harder to make immediate decisions," the company said. GMV is developing LUPIN together with the European Space Agency, a working partnership that goes back to GMV's first government contract in 1984. The technology leverages existing Moon-orbiting satellites and signals similar to GPS to help rovers and astronauts find their real-time exact location on the Moon's surface. "These are satellite signals that will be used in the same way as GPS signals are used on Earth, although in this case the satellites will be in orbit around the Moon. This system will also be adapted to particular areas of interest (for example, the lunar south pole, the far side of the moon, and permanently shadowed regions)," the company adds. In a statement to Reuters , the project's director, Steven Kay, said, "With this software, we bring Europe closer to establishing a presence of humans on the Moon and, potentially, this would be a stepping stone towards Mars exploration or human presence on Mars." Engadget has reached out to GMV with questions about LUPIN's accuracy, underlying technology, and deployment roadmap. We'll update this article when we hear back.
The National
21-02-2025
- Science
- The National
Asteroid alert should drive more space research
In an example of life imitating art, Nasa scientists this week raised the probability of a recently identified asteroid hitting the Earth in the next seven years to about one in 32. Coverage of this 'city killer' threat to humanity is reminiscent of the 2021 satirical Hollywood film Don't Look Up, in which a team of desperate scientists try – and fail – to warn the world's leaders than an extinction-level event is six months away. The possibility – however remote – that an asteroid between 40 to 90 metres wide could strike the planet and cause either an enormous tsunami or leave a crater 10 to 20 kilometres wide should be enough to focus attention on improving our space technology. Speaking to The National this week, Khadijah Ahmed, operations manager at the Dubai Astronomy Group said researchers would continue to refine Asteroid 2024 YR4's orbit. 'We could stop an asteroid like 2024 YR4 if we act early,' he added 'but we need better tracking, more advanced tech and faster decision-making to be fully prepared.' Full preparation requires not just a deference to scientific and technical expertise, but global co-operation, too. Thankfully, even amid growing political division on our planet, many national governments are heavily invested in their space programmes and take advice from their experts seriously. The UAE is one such country. Not only has it successfully put two citizens into space, but it has developed and launched exploration devices such as the Hope probe, which is currently sending back data about Mars's atmosphere, climate and potential habitability. The Emirates also works closely with other space agencies, such as Nasa, on research and development that will inform humanity's next lunar missions. The country is in partnership with Nasa on its plans to build a permanent Moon-orbiting space station called Gateway. The UAE also has its own programme for exploring asteroids. The MBR Explorer, a 2,300kg craft being developed as part of the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, is nearing its critical design review phase. It will eventually embark on a five-billion-kilometre journey to perform flybys of six asteroids and then deploy a lander that will touchdown on the seventh. Given this week's news about a rogue asteroid that may come too close for comfort, the more we can learn about these objects now, the better. Our world faces many acute problems such as the climate emergency, ongoing conflicts, future pandemics and economic uncertainty. It can be a hard choice for countries to devote significant amounts of their national budget and resources to space projects that can appear remote to people's daily struggles. However, well-funded and innovative space programmes not only offer technical solutions to current problems on Earth, they can prepare the next generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians for work at the highest level. Such expertise will be vital in the future – incoming asteroid or not. Scientists say 2024 YR4 is mainly rock – a weaker material than a metal-rich object. This means there is a good chance of it burning up in our atmosphere if it does indeed cross our path in 2032. Fifty years ago, we may not have been able to even detect such an asteroid; now we can conceivably discuss using laser or ion beams to deflect the threat, should it arise. This shows how the continuing work to revisit the Moon, learn what we can from Mars and refine space flight are not expensive luxuries or experiments, they are key to securing humanity's long-term future.
