Exploring the Moon could soon become as simple as moving around a city using Google Maps or Waze. That is the goal of the Spanish company GMV, which has unveiled an innovative navigation system designed to facilitate travel for both astronauts and rovers on the lunar terrain.
The project, dubbed LUPIN and backed by the European Space Agency, aims to create a prototype capable of providing real-time positioning with high precision, which would allow much more agile and intelligent mobility on the natural satellite.
Emit signals similar to GPS
This initiative comes to life in a context of growing global interest in lunar exploration, for both scientific and commercial purposes. The system is designed to overcome current communication challenges between Earth and the Moon, which make it difficult to control and guide robotic vehicles, landers and human missions.
One of the main obstacles facing space missions is the need for a direct line of sight to Earth or reliance on lunar orbiting satellites to maintain communications. These limitations create coverage gaps and data transmission delays, complicating real-time operational decisions.
Instead of relying on information sent from Earth, the Spanish technology company proposes an autonomous solution for rovers and astronauts to navigate directly on the Moon. Its proposal is to emit GPS-like signals from satellites placed in lunar orbit. By combining these signals with current terrain maps, a navigation system would be achieved that would be able to provide real-time updates on changes to the lunar surface, such as recent impacts or dust displacements, similar to the traffic alerts offered by Google Maps.
This approach would also allow coverage to be extended to regions that have so far remained unconnected, such as the lunar south pole. This area, rich in deposits of frozen water, has become a priority target for various space agencies, and a functional navigation system would be key to exploring it accurately and safely.