SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “PNT”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2021

Applications and Benefits of GNSS for Lunar Exploration

This paper explores the role of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) in NASA's lunar exploration plans. Robust position, navigation and timing (PNT) at the Moon will rely on a variety of measurement sources, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The best navigation solution will depend on mission type, the phase within each mission, the state of lunar infrastructure development at the time and a host of other considerations. No single method will provide all PNT for all scenarios, but GNSS offers a continuously available, flight-proven source of navigation and timing with unique features that make it a valuable option. As NASA launches a new era of lunar exploration missions in 2021, development of the supporting navigation architecture is underway. This paper describes the role GNSS could or will play in the components of NASA's lunar exploration plans: the Artemis missions designed to return humans to the lunar surface, the Gateway platform orbiting near the Moon that will host astronauts as well as science and technology payloads, and the robotic lander missions administered by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. GNSS-based autonomous navigation has the potential to dramatically expand lunar exploration capabilities. Through the use of GNSS and GNSS-like augmentations, navigation performance could be improved while simultaneously reducing operational complexity relative to conventional, ground-based navigation methods. As NASA begins to implement its lunar exploration plans this year and assemble the enabling communications and navigation infrastructure, GNSS will provide an important part of the diverse measurements required for robust lunar PNT.

Benjamin W Ashman↗

NASA NTRS2015

Combined Global Navigation Satellite Systems in the Space Service Volume

Besides providing position, navigation, and timing (PNT) services to traditional terrestrial and airborne users, GPS is also being increasingly used as a tool to enable precision orbit determination, precise time synchronization, real-time spacecraft navigation, and three-axis attitude control of Earth orbiting satellites. With additional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) constellations being replenished and coming into service (GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo), it will become possible to benefit from greater signal availability and robustness by using evolving multi-constellation receivers. The paper, "GPS in the Space Service Volume," presented at the ION GNSS 19th International Technical Meeting in 2006 (Ref. 1), defined the Space Service Volume, and analyzed the performance of GPS out to seventy thousand kilometers. This paper will report a similar analysis of the signal coverage of GPS in the space domain; however, the analyses will also consider signal coverage from each of the additional GNSS constellations noted earlier to specifically demonstrate the expected benefits to be derived from using GPS in conjunction with other foreign systems. The Space Service Volume is formally defined as the volume of space between three thousand kilometers altitude and geosynchronous altitude circa 36,000 km, as compared with the Terrestrial Service Volume between 3,000 km and the surface of the Earth. In the Terrestrial Service Volume, GNSS performance is the same as on or near the Earth's surface due to satellite vehicle availability and geometry similarities. The core GPS system has thereby established signal requirements for the Space Service Volume as part of technical Capability Development Documentation (CDD) that specifies system performance. Besides the technical discussion, we also present diplomatic efforts to extend the GPS Space Service Volume concept to other PNT service providers in an effort to assure that all space users will benefit from the enhanced interoperability of GNSS services in the space domain. A separate paper presented at the conference covers the individual GNSS performance parameters for respective Space Service Volumes.

navigation satellites↗

NASA NTRS2016

Use and Protection of GPS Sidelobe Signals for Enhanced Navigation Performance in High Earth Orbit

GPS (Global Positioning System) Space Service Volume (SSV) signal environment is from 3,000-36,000 kilometers altitude. Current SSV specifications only capture performance provided by signals transmitted within 23.5(L1) or 26(L2-L5) off-nadir angle. Recent on-orbit data lessons learned show significant PNT (Positioning, Navigation and Timing) performance improvements when the full aggregate signal is used. Numerous military civil operational missions in High Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (HEOGEO) utilize the full signal to enhance vehicle PNT performance

Navigation Satellites↗

NASA NTRS2024

Autonomous Navigation of a Lunar Relay Using GNSS and Other Measurements

NASA’s Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Services (LCRNS) project will establish a relay constellation at the Moon to provide the south pole region with communications and position, navigation, and time (PNT) services. These services will require highly accurate knowledge of position, velocity, and time (PVT) for each relay. This paper explores one approach for performing onboard PVT estimation, the LCRNS PNT Instrument (LPI). This paper considers different configurations of the instrument, specifically different measurement types and clocks, and the resulting navigation performance. Simulation results are first shown for an instrument configuration that uses GPS pseudorange and Doppler measurements with a highly sensitive GPS receiver (i.e., an acquisition and tracking threshold of 23 dB-Hz) and a chip-scale atomic clock (CSAC). The importance of Doppler, clock quality, receiver sensitivity, and optical navigation is examined through comparison of these results to other instrument configurations. Clock quality (i.e., stability) is the strongest determinant of achievable performance, and the inclusion of GPS Doppleralso has a significant effect. Finally, simulation results are compared to two laboratory tests: first a case that includes GPS receiver hardware in the loop, then a case that includes optical navigation and filter flight software in the loop. These agreeclosely with the simulation results and provide evidence the simulation is accurately modeling the instrument under development.

Benjamin W Ashman↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Navigation Performance Analysis and Trades for the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE)

The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) is a joint NASA-Italian Space Agency flight demonstration payload that will fly onboard the Blue Ghost Mission 1 (BGM1) lunar lander to demonstrate multi-GNSS based position, navigation, and timing (PNT) in cislunar space and at the Moon. The LuGRE mission aims to receive GPS and Galileo signals at the Moon to characterize the lunar GNSS signal environment, demonstrate navigation and time estimation, and utilize collected data to support development of GNSS receivers specific to lunar use. Several key factors of the LuGRE design and concept of operations impact how navigation performance may be achieved during the mission, including available measurement observables, limited measurement duration, limited data rates, and use of a lower-quality oscillator. This paper investigates the impacts of these factors and how they may be exploited to inform mission design, and ultimately return the most interesting data possible.

GNSS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Nicotinamide-Loaded Peptoid Nanotubes for Energy Regeneration in Acute Brain Injury

Acute brain injuries such as perinatal asphyxia, stroke, and traumatic brain injury result in ischemia, oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, and inflammation, leading to a depletion of ATP. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is crucial for ATP regeneration and DNA repair during postinjury recovery. However, the therapeutic benefits of NAD+ and its precursors, such as nicotinamide (NAM), are limited by challenges in achieving effective cell-specific intracellular delivery. In this study, we use a nanopeptoid delivery strategy to replenish the cellular redox state and increase energy production in the acutely injured brain. By self-assembling peptoids into tubular structures, we created biocompatible NAM-conjugated peptoid nanotubes (NAM-PNTs) that vary in tubular length. NAM-PNTs demonstrated significant therapeutic benefits by enhancing cell viability and replenishing intracellular ATP levels within 24 h of treatment in oxygen–glucose-deprived (OGD) BV-2 cells. In organotypic brain slices, NAM-PNT treatment promoted glial proliferation, reduced proinflammatory cytokines, and increased anti-inflammatory cytokines after OGD, an ex vivo model of hypoxia-ischemia. The effect of NAM-PNTs is associated with their uptake into microglia via fluid-phase phagocytosis and caveolae-mediated endocytosis. A single systemic dose of NAM-PNTs localized in microglia in the injured hemisphere and reduced brain tissue loss and improved neuropathology after hypoxia-ischemia in term-equivalent rats. These findings highlight the therapeutic potential of NAM-PNTs for cell-specific targeted delivery and energy restoration in the acutely injured neonatal brain. In the neonatal brain injury field, this work demonstrates the development of an innovative nanoparticle platform from first-principles design and synthesis to in vitro screening and then demonstration of efficacy in vivo .

ATP↗

NASA NTRS2013

Navigation Performance of Global Navigation Satellite Systems in the Space Service Volume

This paper extends the results I reported at this year's ION International Technical Meeting on multi-constellation GNSS coverage by showing how the use of multi-constellation GNSS improves Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP). Originally developed to provide position, navigation, and timing for terrestrial users, GPS has found increasing use for in space for precision orbit determination, precise time synchronization, real-time spacecraft navigation, and three-axis attitude control of Earth orbiting satellites. With additional Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) coming into service (GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou) and the development of Satellite Based Augmentation Services, it is possible to obtain improved precision by using evolving multi-constellation receiver. The Space Service Volume formally defined as the volume of space between three thousand kilometers altitude and geosynchronous altitude ((is) approximately 36,500 km), with the volume below three thousand kilometers defined as the Terrestrial Service Volume (TSV). The USA has established signal requirements for the Space Service Volume (SSV) as part of the GPS Capability Development Documentation (CDD). Diplomatic efforts are underway to extend Space service Volume commitments to the other Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) service providers in an effort to assure that all space users will benefit from the enhanced capabilities of interoperating GNSS services in the space domain.

Force, Dale A.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Individual Global Navigation Satellite Systems in the Space Service Volume

Besides providing position, navigation, and timing (PNT) to terrestrial users, GPS is currently used to provide for precision orbit determination, precise time synchronization, real-time spacecraft navigation, and three-axis control of Earth orbiting satellites. With additional Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) coming into service (GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo), it will be possible to provide these services by using other GNSS constellations. The paper, "GPS in the Space Service Volume," presented at the ION GNSS 19th International Technical Meeting in 2006 (Ref. 1), defined the Space Service Volume, and analyzed the performance of GPS out to 70,000 km. This paper will report a similar analysis of the performance of each of the additional GNSS and compare them with GPS alone. The Space Service Volume, defined as the volume between 3,000 km altitude and geosynchronous altitude, as compared with the Terrestrial Service Volume between the surface and 3,000 km. In the Terrestrial Service Volume, GNSS performance will be similar to performance on the Earth's surface. The GPS system has established signal requirements for the Space Service Volume. A separate paper presented at the conference covers the use of multiple GNSS in the Space Service Volume.

Beidou↗

NASA NTRS2016

Enabling Communication and Navigation Technologies for Future Near Earth Science Missions

In 2015, the Earth Regimes Network Evolution Study (ERNESt) Team proposed a fundamentally new architectural concept, with enabling technologies, that defines an evolutionary pathway out to the 2040 timeframe in which an increasing user community comprised of more diverse space science and exploration missions can be supported. The architectural concept evolves the current instantiations of the Near Earth Network and Space Network through implementation of select technologies resulting in a global communication and navigation network that provides communication and navigation services to a wide range of space users in the Near Earth regime, defined as an Earth-centered sphere with radius of 2M Km. The enabling technologies include: High Rate Optical Communications, Optical Multiple Access (OMA), Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN), User Initiated Services (UIS), and advanced Position, Navigation, and Timing technology (PNT). This paper describes this new architecture, the key technologies that enable it and their current technology readiness levels. Examples of science missions that could be enabled by the technologies and the projected operational benefits of the architecture concept to missions are also described.

Networking↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lunar Search & Rescue Applications of Lunar GNSS

Accurate lunar navigation and timing knowledge provides for the development of safety-critical services in the cislunar and lunar surface domain. Currently under development, the Goddard Space Flight Center’s (GSFC) Search and Rescue Mission Office is investigating and integrating search and rescue (SAR) capability into planned and future lunar communication and navigation interfaces. Lunar Search and Rescue (LunaSAR) development has a stated end-goal for assured, reliable, and timely indication of distress events for a wide variety of lunar surface users, including government-sponsored, commercial, and international users. LunaSAR performance requirements are modelled after the current terrestrial Cospas-Sarsat distress notification system, leveraging an internationally robust global navigation satellite system (GNSS) ecosystem as a core element of survivor locating capability. This presentation will discuss NASA’s work to develop user-focused distress messaging capabilities including infusion of example sensor data for triggering of automated distress alerts coupled with location-tagging. Additionally, the presentation will examine overall message structures, rotating fields for use in bi-directional distress messaging, and specific use cases based on NASA’s lunar exploration and lunar communication relay architectures. Modelling and simulation of LunaSAR use by individual lunar explorers will be discussed, based on notional industry and government design reference missions and mission considerations. Results from GSFC-funded Internal Research and Development (IRAD) efforts will be detailed, including successful distress message formulation simulating the ingestion of example legacy space suit telemetry fields. Hardware-in-the-loop testing using high-reliability software defined radio (SDR) modules serve as an example of IRAD successes and the framework for technical requirements. Architectural development and technical evolution from 2020 to 2021 included alignment of LunaSAR distress waveforms with ongoing NASA LunaNet interoperability development, as well as engagement with NASA Lunar Spectrum authorities for allocation of UHF-band distress frequencies on the lunar surface. S-Band and UHF-band transmission characteristics will be detailed, along with band-specific applications of each emission type. Additionally, examples of ingestion and formatting of GNSS signals (using historical terrestrial National Marine Electronics Association-formatted GNSS data) will be detailed, underscoring lunar user needs for a common lunar GNSS receiver output message framework. Maturity and ability to support evolving lunar exploration goals has been demonstrated and will be detailed, with maturity gaps such as position, navigation, and timing (PNT) and lunar reference frames identified within the context of distress message generation. Provision of LunaSAR services for lunar surface users represents a new era of ensured safety for lunar explorers and builds off of forty years of the Cospas-Sarsat program, underscoring the importance of lunar GNSS for safety-critical applications and growing interest in safe, reliable lunar surface operations. Enabled by new GNSS systems being developed by government and industry partners, NASA will continue to evolve and integrate lunar GNSS types into distress message generation, with a focus on compact and efficient message transmission over various lunar communication links. When fielded, LunaSAR will be the first dedicated search and rescue notification system employed on another celestial body. Robust lunar navigation and timing services form the core of LunaSAR capabilities, allowing for system syncing with time-dominant sensors, and high-accuracy location of those in distress while engaged in lunar surface activities.

Search and Rescue↗

NASA NTRS2022

Astrodynamics Convention and Modeling Reference for Lunar, Cislunar, and Libration Point Orbits

The purpose and direction of this document is to provide U.S. government agencies, specifically National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Department of Defense (DoD) space related centers, with a foundational summary of astrodynamics concepts for trajectory design, navigation, and operations in the cislunar, lunar, and libration point regions. This document is provided in response to an Interagency Agreement (IAA) between NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). With applications to these regions of the Earth-Moon system, this document summarizes: the definitions of standard and unique coordinate systems for Positioning, Navigation, Timing and targeting (PNT), transformations between those coordinate frames, definitions of common time systems, a description of numerical integration, description of a widely-used and approximate dynamical model of a three-body system for preliminary analysis and nomenclature definition, description of higher-fidelity models of cislunar space, and the application of these concepts to sample scenarios with a focus on common steps in trajectory and maneuver design for a spacecraft in cislunar space. This information is critical to mission design and navigation far above the geosynchronous orbit region, where lunar perturbations are required to be modeled accurately and consistently but render trajectory design and analysis a complex procedure. Software tools such as the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) open source General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) is used as a reference, along with a wide variety of resources constructed by NASA and other government agencies, academia, and industry, for mathematical specifications and practical considerations. This document has been prepared by and under the auspices of NASA. The GSFC Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis (MESA) Division (Code 590) and the Navigation and Mission Design Branch (Code 595) are part of NASA. Their engineers and scientists have expertise in lunar, cislunar, and libration point region trajectory guidance and navigation and timing. NASA GSFC has supported many successful lunar and cislunar missions over the past several decades. These missions include the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the two Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) spacecraft, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), Lunar Prospector, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), Clementine, and several Sun-Earth libration point missions such as WIND and Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), dating back four decades. NASA GSFC also supports the upcoming Gateway lunar mission, the Artemis Lunar Program and Human Landing Systems, and leads both the Lunar IceCube low thrust mission and concept design for the Lunar Communication Relay and Navigation System (LCRNS).

Lunar, CisLunar, Libration, trajectory dynamics, p↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Artemis Navigation Architecture: Early Capabilities and Long Term Evolvability and Evolution

With the awarding of multiple contracts within the Artemis program and building on the success of Artemis I, NASA is investing in and demonstrating the vehicle capabilities necessary for a return to human crewed Lunar Missions. To support activities on the lunar surface, NASA is also assessing architecture options and approaches to enable high precision in-situ navigation within the lunar sphere of influence. These capabilities build on decades of research and advancements within the field, building and evolving the techniques used during Apollo. To support inter-operability and broad application within its elements, NASA conducted a trade on Orbital and Surface Lunar Architecture for PNT. Time-defined mission requirements were captured across elements to inform a phased approach and deployment of needed capability. The architecture must also address unique aspects of the South Pole lunar environments, specifically in terms of harsh lighting and hazardous terrain. To inform the study, documentation of primary users, operational concepts of operations, driving scenarios, and mission needs were used to define performance constraints and phasing. Multiple technologies were assessed in terms of maturity, applicability, and performance to meet the primary user needs forecast. The results of this study support the utilization of in-situ orbital infrastructure to provide a back-bone for navigation and emphasize the need for a common Lunar Reference System and Lunar Time Reference. This deployment can ensure compatibility and enable a high-accuracy in-situ capability. This provides further justification for the capabilities being invested in and deployed by NASA and other international agencies. In addition to including advancements in terrestrial surface navigation, NASA is also applying lessons learned and innovation in the contractual approach to the individual elements by means of a services-based contract mechanism. This impacts the navigation architecture heavily in terms of government and provider roles, in terms of levels of implementation, interoperability, and verification. These distinctions in roles provide constraints to the architecture approach in terms of implementation and integration and will be discussed. The development, use, and mandate of interoperability standards are being deployed to support cross-element compatibility. This paper will provide a summary of the NASA Lunar Navigation needs across its various elements and the proposed deployment of an integrated navigation architecture to support early mission needs with inherent extensibility towards the future.

Evan Anzalone↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Early Artemis Surface Navigation: Challenges, Approaches, and Opportunities

The early Artemis missions represent the return of humanity to the surface of the Moon and provide opportunities for meeting early science and exploration goals. Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) capabilities are a fundamental element and inform operational design, flight rules, and the ability to meet these. This paper provides an overview of the needs, potential implementations, challenges, and concepts of operations in the initial human surface missions, Artemis III and IV. These early excursions are a crucial learning opportunity to gain more experience in the actual operational environment for Artemis V and beyond where exploration objectives and complexity increases. As part of the study, the team defined a threshold performance navigation requirement (including position and orientation) to meet crew safe return and assessed a breadth of navigation approaches that could be deployed to augment the crew’s baseline navigation capability. Data was collected in terms of size, mass, power, operational constraints, environment constraints, interface, and performance to define the technical metrics. Given these, the trade team conducted polling among the various Artemis Campaign elements to capture preference, integration challenges, and operational impacts. These were used to develop weightings and inform a ranked order of solutions across each of the early missions. The results of the study recommended augmenting the initial orientation capability with additional navigation sensors to provide coarse position and heading information to the crew to enable a safe contingency walk-back when out of video range. The team identified opportunities for embedding this hardware in future scenarios to provide an integrated solution. With the deployment of the LunaNet’s Lunar Augmented Navigation System, the crew will be able to maintain accurate real-time navigation knowledge with minimal physical impacts. Discussion of future testing and continued analysis is included in this paper. These forward plans and long-term architecture systems will enable a powerful navigation approach for orbiting and surface users, enabling a high level of scientific return and crew safety.

Evan Anzalone↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Early Artemis Surface Navigation: Challenges, Approaches, and Opportunities

Evan Anzalone↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Deeper Dive Into the Meaning and Implications of Interoperability for LunaNet Communications and Navigation Services

As part of planning efforts for cislunar exploration and science missions, space agencies have been collaborating with each other to enable communications, networking, Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems to exchange information and provide services to spacecraft and space systems in transit, in orbit, and on the surface, thus helping each other to achieve their common goals. To achieve commonality and lower cost for mutual benefit, the strategy of interoperability is being adopted to help all the pieces fit together and function smoothly. Interoperability gives cislunar users the ability to operate in a collaborative environment similar to the terrestrial Internet, allowing them to share information, navigate safely despite increasing radio frequency congestion, and follow common processes and procedures for effective joint operations. Unlike prior government-dominated efforts, this ecosystem is expected to include commercial for-profit businesses, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions. Ultimately, the goal is to enable a cislunar ecosystem of service providers and users to contribute and/or utilize infrastructure and capabilities to accomplish mission objectives spanning the full range of human endeavours while supporting a variety of business models. This paper reports on the results of an effort to assist in efforts to frame the development of the international LunaNet architecture by providing a canonical definition of interoperability broad enough to meet these needs, examine architectural and operational implications of the definition, and explore interoperability strategies and tactics for deploying and evolving these services. It describes key systems-of-systems (SoS) (Network-of-Networks) interoperability concepts in the context of sustainment of the ecosystem over time as systems evolve in technologies, standards and Standards Development Organizations, component and subsystem upgrades, and user applications

LunaNet↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Photonic Clockwork for Deployed Timing and Radar

We present an environmentally robust photonic RF/microwave clockwork with low size, weight, and power (SWaP) for next-generation, field-deployable timing and radar applications. Compared to microwave references, optical local oscillators offer superior fractional frequency stability and phase-noise performance. When transferred with high fidelity into the RF/microwave domain, this “optical advantage” promises unparalleled performance across both private-industry and government (e.g., defense and space-agency) applications including very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI), alternative positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), multi-static synthetic aperture radar (MSAR), and geodetic sensing. However, this potential has yet to be fully realized outside the metrology lab primarily due to the high-SWaP and excessive environmental susceptibility of both the optical reference itself as well as the optical frequency comb (OFC) required to transfer the optical stability into the RF/microwave domain. Here, we present two demonstrations of a low-SWaP, environmentally robust photonic clockwork used to make a high-fidelity optical-microwave link with the stability and phase-noise performance relevant to the applications described above. Additionally, operational-testing results of the OFC subsystem under application-relevant environmental conditions will be presented to show pathway to field deployment of this critical subsystem.

Guangning Yang↗

NASA NTRS2024

Deeper Dive into Interoperability and Its Implications for LunaNet Communications and Navigation Services

The Artemis program being developed by United States’ (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing the capabilities to return humans to the Moon and establish an initial base camp and associated infrastructure with extensive contributions from international and commercial partners. In planning for cislunar exploration and science missions, space agencies are collaborating to enable communications, networking, and Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems—called LunaNet—to exchange information and provide services to cislunar spacecraft and space systems, thus helping each other to achieve their shared goals. To achieve commonality and lower cost for mutual benefit, the strategy of interoperability is being adopted to help fit all the pieces together and function smoothly. Facilitating interoperability should benefit lunar missions by providing the ability to operate in a collaborative environment similar to the terrestrial Internet. Interoperability allows them to share information, navigate safely despite increasing radio frequency congestion, and follow common processes and procedures for effective joint operations. Unlike prior government-dominated efforts, this ecosystem is expected to include and benefit for-profit (commercial) businesses, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions as active stakeholders. Ultimately, the goal is to enable a cislunar ecosystem of service providers and users to contribute to and/or utilize infrastructure and capabilities to achieve mission objectives that span the full range of human endeavors while supporting a variety of business models. This approach enables a Systems of Systems (SoS), such as a Network-of-Networks, to be sustainable in the context of the LunaNet ecosystem as systems evolve over time in technologies, standards, components, and user applications. This paper reports on the results of an effort to help frame the development of the international LunaNet architecture by providing a canonical definition of interoperability broad enough to meet these needs, examining architectural and operational implications of the definition, and exploring interoperability strategies and tactics to deploy and evolve the services proposed for cislunar exploration and science missions.

interoperability↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lunar Communications and Navigation: Lunar Communications, Position, Navigation, and Time (CPNT) Architecture

The NASA Moon-to-Mars (M2M) Architecture will enable the return of humans to the Moon, establish a long-term presence there, and open more of the lunar surface to exploration than ever before. This growth of lunar activity requires robust and resilient communications, position, navigation, and time capabilities for crew safety, the command and control of spacecraft, the return of science data, and the precise telerobotic maneuvering of assets both in space and on the lunar surface. Within the M2M Architecture, the sub-architecture for Communications, Position, Navigation, and Time (CPNT) details the specific CPNT systems and infrastructure required to meet the M2M objectives. Two objectives most fundamental to the CPNT sub-architecture are: (1) develop a lunar surface, orbital, and Moon-to-Earth communications architecture that scales to support long term science, exploration, and industrial needs and (2) develop a lunar position, navigation, and timing (PNT) architecture that also scales to support long term needs. The subject presentation provides an overview of the M2M Architecture, planned mission activities, and infrastructure development underway by NASA. The presentation provides overview of the surface wireless network and the challenges associated with operating on the lunar surface.

architecture↗