18-05-2025
New GPS-Like System For The Moon Could Be An Astronaut Version Of Waze
GPS-based navigation apps, like Google Maps and Waze, have essentially rendered every prior form of navigation obsolete. While it's difficult to imagine life without these services, imagine being an astronaut 238,900 miles from the nearest intersection. Spanish tech conglomerate GMV unveiled a GPS-like system for the Moon last week called LUPIN. Unlike during NASA's Apollo missions, the European Space Agency-backed project would provide real-time location information to astronauts and rovers.
Space agencies can't just copy-paste the technologies we use here for our GPS systems on Earth for a similar service on the Moon. First, there isn't a fleet of GPS satellites orbiting the Moon. NASA aims to establish a network of communication relay satellites in conjunction with the Artemis program to assist a permanent human presence on the lunar surface. LUPIN would operate using NASA's Lunar Communication Navigation System. GMV validated its system after an 11-day field testing campaign on Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands.
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Currently, lunar navigation is done using onboard inertial navigation systems, optical cameras and lidar sensors. Vehicles on the surface have to be able to operate independently because their only communications link is with Earth. This isn't ideal because of delays caused by distance and the lack of coverage on the far side of the Moon. LUPIN would free up valuable vehicle computing power for other tasks. Optimistically, the system would be able to provide real-time updates on the lunar terrain to make agencies aware of changing conditions, like moon dust drifts and meteorite impacts.
Despite the current financial and technological perils impacting the Artemis program, NASA is still preparing to send astronauts across the lunar surface in a new rover. The new Lunar Terrain Vehicle will be far more robust than its Apollo-era counterpart. The three companies building new rovers will also be required to drive autonomously, meaning that LUPIN will be a vital aspect of living on the Moon. No mission engineer wants to deal with a rover that rolled over after climbing a boulder that didn't appear on decades-long satellite imagery.
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