The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is spearheading the development of a new positioning and navigation system designed to support NASA’s lunar exploration missions.
The Lunar Reference System will serve as a framework that will power a transmission system being built by NASA and partners to achieve accurate navigation on the moon similar to the earthbound Global Positioning System, NGA said.
Trevor Garner, senior GEOINT officer for space in NGA’s Office of Geomatics, said the effort aims to enable astronauts to navigate safely on the lunar surface as there is no existing GPS on the moon.
NGA is working with NASA, the U.S. Space Force, the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies and universities on the LRS program.
According to Garner, the team expects to complete the new system within the next decade.