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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
For general inquires:
Frank Hui Phone: (650) 604-5395 E-mail: frank.c.hui@nasa.gov
For questions regarding scheduling of arc jet tests:
Enrique Carballo Phone: (650) 604-0970 Email: enrique.carballo@nasa.gov
For questions regarding scheduling of ballistic range tests:
Charles Cornelison Phone: (650) 604-3443 Email: charles.j.cornelison@nasa.gov
For questions on the Ames Vertical Gun Range (AVGR), contact the AVGR Science Coordinator:
Alex Sehlke Phone: (650) 604-3651 Email: alexander.sehlke@nasa.gov
For questions on the Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST):
Ramon Martinez Phone: (650) 604-3485 Email: ramon.martinez@nasa.gov
For questions regarding the Planetary Aeolian Laboratory:
Haley Cummings Phone: (650) 604-1633 Email: haley.cummings@nasa.gov SHIPPING ADDRESS
For tests in the AHF or TFD, the shipping address is
NASA Ames Research Center Building N234 Room 112 Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 For tests in the PTF or IHF, the shipping address is
NASA Ames Research Center Building N238 Room 103 Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 For tests in the HFFF, the shipping address is
NASA Ames Research Center Building N237 Room 150 Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 For tests in the AVGR, the shipping address is
NASA Ames Research Center Building N204A Room 104 Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 For tests in the EAST, the shipping address is
NASA Ames Research Center Building N229 Room 157 Moffett Field, CA 94035-0001 Or you can mail us at:
NASA Ames Research CenterThermophysics Facilities Branch Mail Stop 229-4 Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
Learn More About The Branch View the full article
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By Space Force
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Operations Command accepted a modernized operating system for Global Positioning System, which is designed to maintain resiliency of the constellation and improve positioning, navigation and timing services to meet user demand now and in the future.
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By Space Force
Another National Security Space Launch mission will deliver a GPS III space vehicle to orbit on a rapid response schedule, demonstrating a continual level of responsiveness by SSC and SpOC.
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By NASA
3 Min Read NASA Successfully Acquires GPS Signals on Moon
An artist's concept of the Blue Ghost lunar lander receiving GNSS signals from Earth. Credits: NASA/Dave Ryan NASA and the Italian Space Agency made history on March 3, when the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) became the first technology demonstration to acquire and track Earth-based navigation signals on the Moon’s surface.
The LuGRE payload’s success in lunar orbit and on the surface indicates that signals from the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) can be received and tracked at the Moon. These results mean NASA’s Artemis missions, or other exploration missions, could benefit from these signals to accurately and autonomously determine their position, velocity, and time. This represents a steppingstone to advanced navigation systems and services for the Moon and Mars.
An artist’s concept of the LuGRE payload on Blue Ghost and its three main records in transit to the Moon, in lunar orbit and on the Moon’s surface.NASA/Dave Ryan “On Earth we can use GNSS signals to navigate in everything from smartphones to airplanes,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program. “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.”
This is a very exciting discovery for lunar navigation, and we hope to leverage this capability for future missions.
Kevin Coggins
Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA SCaN
The road to the historic milestone began on March 2 when the Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander touched down on the Moon and delivered LuGRE, one of 10 NASA payloads intended to advance lunar science. Soon after landing, LuGRE payload operators at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, began conducting their first science operation on the lunar surface.
Members from NASA and Italian Space Agency watching the Blue Ghost lunar lander touch down on the Moon. NASA With the receiver data flowing in, anticipation mounted. Could a Moon-based mission acquire and track signals from two GNSS constellations, GPS and Galileo, and use those signals for navigation on the lunar surface?
Then, at 2 a.m. EST on March 3, it was official: LuGRE acquired and tracked signals on the lunar surface for the first time ever and achieved a navigation fix — approximately 225,000 miles away from Earth.
Now that Blue Ghost is on the Moon, the mission will operate for 14 days providing NASA and the Italian Space Agency the opportunity to collect data in a near-continuous mode, leading to additional GNSS milestones. In addition to this record-setting achievement, LuGRE is the first Italian Space Agency developed hardware on the Moon, a milestone for the organization.
The LuGRE payload also broke GNSS records on its journey to the Moon. On Jan. 21, LuGRE surpassed the highest altitude GNSS signal acquisition ever recorded at 209,900 miles from Earth, a record formerly held by NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission. Its altitude record continued to climb as LuGRE reached lunar orbit on Feb. 20 — 243,000 miles from Earth. This means that missions in cislunar space, the area of space between Earth and the Moon, could also rely on GNSS signals for navigation fixes.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander captured its first sunrise on the Moon, marking the beginning of the lunar day and the start of surface operations in its new home. Firefly Aerospace Traditionally, NASA engineers track spacecraft by using a combination of measurements, including onboard sensors and signals from Earth-based tracking stations. The LuGRE payload demonstrates that using GNSS signals for navigation can reduce reliance on human operators because these signals can be picked up and used autonomously by the spacecraft, even as far away as the Moon.
The LuGRE payload is a collaborative effort between NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and the Italian Space Agency. Funding and oversight for the LuGRE payload comes from NASA’s SCaN Program office. It was chosen by NASA as one of 10 funded research and technology demonstrations for delivery to the lunar surface by Firefly Aerospace Inc., a flight under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
Learn more about LuGRE: https://go.nasa.gov/41qwwQN
The joint NASA and Italian Space Agency LuGRE team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center NASA About the Author
Katherine Schauer
Katherine Schauer is a writer for the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office and covers emerging technologies, commercialization efforts, exploration activities, and more.
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Last Updated Mar 04, 2025 EditorGoddard Digital TeamContactKatherine Schauerkatherine.s.schauer@nasa.govLocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
2023 Entrepreneurs Challenge Winner Skyline Nav AI: Revolutionizing GPS-Independent Navigation with Computer Vision
NASA sponsored Entrepreneurs Challenge events in 2020, 2021, and 2023 to identify innovative ideas and technologies from small business start-ups with the potential to advance the agency’s science goals. To help leverage external funding sources for the development of innovative technologies of interest to NASA, SMD involved the venture capital community in Entrepreneurs Challenge events. Challenge winners were awarded prize money, and in 2023 the total Entrepreneurs Challenge prize value was $1M. Numerous challenge winners have subsequently received funding from both NASA and external sources (e.g., other government agencies or the venture capital community) to further develop their technologies.
Skyline Nav AI, a winner of the 2023 NASA Entrepreneurs Challenge, is pioneering GPS-independent navigation by leveraging cutting-edge computer vision models, artificial intelligence (AI), and edge computing.
Skyline Nav AI’s flagship technology offers precise, real-time geolocation without the need for GPS, Wi-Fi, or cellular networks. The system utilizes machine learning algorithms to analyze terrain and skyline features and match them with preloaded reference datasets, providing up to centimeter-level accuracy in GPS-denied environments. This capability could enable operations in areas where GPS signals are absent, blocked, degraded, spoofed, or jammed, including urban canyons, mountainous regions, and the Moon.
Skyline Nav AI’s flagship technology at work in New York to provide precise location by matching the detected skyline with a reference data set. The red line shows detection by Skyline Nav AI technology, the green line marks the true location in the reference satellite dataset, and the orange line represents the matched location (i.e., the location extracted from the satellite dataset using Skyline Nav AI algorithms). Skyline Nav’s visual navigation technology can deliver accuracy up to five meters, 95% of the time. The AI-powered visual positioning models continuously improve geolocation precision through pixel-level analysis and semantic segmentation of real-time images, offering high reliability without the need for GPS.
In addition to its visual-based AI, Skyline Nav AI’s software is optimized for edge computing, ensuring that all processing occurs locally on the user’s device. This design enables low-latency, real-time decision-making without constant satellite or cloud-based connectivity, making it ideal for disconnected environments such as combat zones or space missions.
Furthermore, Skyline Nav AI’s technology can be integrated with various sensors, including inertial measurement units (IMUs), lidar, and radar, to further enhance positioning accuracy. The combination of visual navigation and sensor fusion can enable centimeter-level accuracy, making the technology potentially useful for autonomous vehicles, drones, and robotics operating in environments where GPS is unreliable.
“Skyline Nav AI aims to provide the world with an accurate, resilient alternative to GPS,” says Kanwar Singh, CEO of Skyline Nav AI. “Our technology empowers users to navigate confidently in even the most challenging environments, and our recent recognition by NASA and other partners demonstrates the value of our innovative approach to autonomous navigation.”
Skyline Nav AI continues to expand its influence through partnerships with organizations such as NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the commercial market. Recent collaborations include projects with MIT, Draper Labs, and AFRL (Air Force Research Laboratory), as well as winning the MOVE America 2024 Pitch competition and being a finalist in SXSW 2024.
Sponsoring Organization: The NASA Science Mission Directorate sponsored the Entrepreneurs Challenge events.
Project Leads: Kanwar Singh, Founder & CEO of Skyline Nav AI
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Last Updated Jan 07, 2025 Related Terms
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