Performance Analysis of an Extended Lunar Radio Navigation System

Cosimo Stallo, Mattia Carosi, Laura De Leo, Daniele Musacchio, Martina Cappa, Henno Boomkamp

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	In recent years, the number of planned missions to the Moon has increased rapidly, with the ultimate objective of establishing a permanent human outpost on the lunar surface. These initiatives require robust and reliable navigation and communication systems to support lunar exploration and facilitate scientific investigations. Therefore, the development of advanced lunar navigation and communication technologies has become a major research area in the aerospace industry. Within this context, Thales Alenia Space is leading a consortium to define the main concepts for a Lunar Radio Navigation System (LRNS) in terms of Orbit Determination and Time Synchronization (ODTS) as part of an ESA Technology Development Element (TDE) programme. This work focuses on the latest studies performed to analyse in which way an early constellation of four satellites in Elliptical Lunar Frozen Orbits (ELFO) can be extended, in order to guarantee a navigation service to users on the lunar surface.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023) September 11 - 15, 2023 Hyatt Regency Denver Denver, Colorado
Pages:	3698 - 3708
Cite this article:	Stallo, Cosimo, Carosi, Mattia, De Leo, Laura, Musacchio, Daniele, Cappa, Martina, Boomkamp, Henno, "Performance Analysis of an Extended Lunar Radio Navigation System," Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023), Denver, Colorado, September 2023, pp. 3698-3708. https://doi.org/10.33012/2023.19290
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