Description and Simulation Results for a GNSS Signal-Based Navigation System for a Mission to the Moon

M. Manzano, J. Alegre, A. Pellacani, G. Seco, J. López, E. Guerrero, A. García

Abstract:	If weak-signal GNSS navigation were possible in future lunar exploration missions, this would increase the robustness of the navigation during all mission phases and improve its autonomy. The Moon mission scenario is very challenging for the GNSS signals acquisition. Due to the large propagation distances, the GNSS signal arrives to the spacecraft with low C/N0 values. This way, the main requirements of the GNSS receiver are imposed by the low C/N0 GNSS signals that need to be acquired. In the frame of a European Space Agency (ESA) activity, the objective of the Moon-GNSS study has been to determine the feasibility using weak-signal GNSS (GPS/Galileo) technology in future lunar exploration missions, to improve the navigation performance in terms of accuracy, cost reduction, robustness and autonomy. During the Moon-GNSS activity, the analysis and the identification of the Moon-GNSS navigation receiver requirements for the upcoming lunar exploration missions have been performed. The main objective of the Moon-GNSS analysis has been to characterize the GNSS signals arriving to the spacecraft, especially at the vicinity of the Moon. A Proof-of-Concept (PoC) demonstrator of the weak-signal Moon-GNSS navigation has been designed and implemented, showing the main functional and performance capabilities of the Moon-GNSS receiver. A test campaign representative of a real Moon-GNSS mission has been performed, covering all the mission phases representative of the real mission conditions in terms of dynamics and signal disturbances. This study has carefully analyzed all the test cases that were considered interesting in order to evaluate the standard (that considers only the nominal sensors for a Lunar mission, but not GNSS), the hybrid (nominal sensors and also GNSS), and stand-alone GNSS navigation performances.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 27th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2014) September 8 - 12, 2014 Tampa Convention Center Tampa, Florida
Pages:	1274 - 1285
Cite this article:	Manzano, M., Alegre, J., Pellacani, A., Seco, G., López, J., Guerrero, E., García, A., "Description and Simulation Results for a GNSS Signal-Based Navigation System for a Mission to the Moon," Proceedings of the 27th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2014), Tampa, Florida, September 2014, pp. 1274-1285.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In