On March 3, NASA and the Italian Space Agency made a historic leap in space exploration with their Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE). For the first time, this technology demonstrated the ability to acquire and track Earth-based navigation signals on the Moon’s surface.
LuGRE’s groundbreaking success opens the door for future NASA Artemis missions and other space explorations to use GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) signals. This means they can accurately figure out their position, speed, and time without human help. It’s a huge leap forward for navigation systems on the Moon and Mars!
It all started on March 2, when Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander touched down on the Moon, carrying the LuGRE payload. The NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center team was on the edge of their seats, eagerly waiting for the first data to come through.
By 2 a.m. EST on March 3, LuGRE successfully acquired and tracked GNSS signals on the Moon, marking a significant milestone. It achieved a navigation fix — approximately 225,000 miles away from Earth.
Over the next 14 days, Blue Ghost will continue to collect data, allowing NASA and the Italian Space Agency to achieve further GNSS milestones. This mission also marks the first time Italian Space Agency-developed hardware has been deployed on the Moon.
During its journey, LuGRE also set records for the highest altitude GNSS signal acquisition, surpassing previous NASA records and proving that GNSS signals can be used for navigation in the space between Earth and the Moon.
Traditionally, NASA engineers use a combination of onboard sensors and Earth-based tracking signals to track spacecraft. LuGRE’s demonstration shows that GNSS signals can autonomously aid navigation, even at the Moon’s distance.
LuGRE is a collaborative effort involving NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the Italian Space Agency, Qascom, and Politecnico di Torino. This mission was part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program, said, “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.”
On its journey to the Moon, the LuGRE payload broke records for the highest altitude GNSS signal acquisition. On January 21, it surpassed the previous 209,900 miles from Earth, held by NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission. By February 20, it set a new record at 243,000 miles from Earth in lunar orbit. This demonstrates that GNSS signals can be used for navigation in the space between Earth and the Moon.