Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment
Lunar GNSS navigation experiment
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Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) is a joint NASA and Italian Space Agency (ASI) technology demonstration designed to evaluate the use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals—such as GPS and Galileo—for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) in cislunar space and on the Moon.[1][2][3][4]
It is the first mission to demonstrate acquisition, tracking, and navigation using Earth-based GNSS signals at lunar distance and on the lunar surface.[3][2][5] The experiment provides an in situ demonstration of GNSS-based navigation beyond Earth orbit, extending prior theoretical and high-altitude studies into the lunar environment.
Background
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs), including the United States' GPS and the European Union's Galileo, are primarily designed for terrestrial applications. Their extension into high Earth orbit and cislunar space—and therefore beyond the Space Service Volume—has been studied for decades.[6]
Previous missions such as the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission demonstrated GNSS tracking at high altitudes approaching half the Earth–Moon distance.[7][8]
Analytical and simulation studies have suggested that GNSS-based navigation at the Moon is feasible under weak-signal conditions.[9][10][11]
Mission, instrumentation, and data
Mission overview
LuGRE was flown aboard Blue Ghost Mission 1, a lunar lander developed by Firefly Aerospace under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.[12][13] The mission launched in January 2025 and landed on the Moon in March 2025.[14] The payload was developed through collaboration between NASA, ASI, and industrial and academic partners (Qascom s.r.l. and Politecnico di Torino).[1][3][15]
Instrumentation
The payload included a high-gain antenna, a low-noise amplifier, and a space-qualified multi-constellation GNSS receiver capable of tracking GNSS signals in multiple frequency bands.[16][3]
Collected data
The receiver was capable of tracking GPS and Galileo signals in multiple frequency bands (L1/E1 and L5/E5a) and produced standard GNSS observables such as pseudorange, Doppler, and carrier phase. When sufficient signals were available, the system also generated onboard position, velocity, and time solutions.[3] In addition to GNSS observables, the instrument recorded raw signal samples for post-processing and scientific analysis. These data, together with the GNSS observables, were downlinked to Earth and later publicly released for scientific analysis.[17][18]
Results
LuGRE is reported to have achieved the following milestones:
- First GNSS signal tracking on the Moon[1][3]
- First GNSS-based navigation fix on the lunar surface[3]
- Furthest GNSS signal tracking from Earth[3]
- Furthest GNSS-based navigation fix from Earth[3]
These results demonstrated that GNSS signals can be received and possibly used for navigation at lunar distance, potentially enabling more autonomous spacecraft operations and supporting future lunar navigation systems.[3]
