Moon Landing Makes History: GPS Navigation Achieved on Lunar Surface

2025-03-05
Moon Landing Makes History: GPS Navigation Achieved on Lunar Surface

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander successfully touched down on the moon and achieved a groundbreaking feat: using Earth-based GPS signals for navigation on the lunar surface. This joint NASA-Italian Space Agency experiment (LuGRE) aboard Blue Ghost represents a significant leap forward for future Artemis missions. LuGRE set a new record for highest-altitude GNSS signal acquisition during its journey, ultimately achieving a navigational fix at approximately 225,000 miles from Earth. This autonomous navigation capability reduces reliance on human operators and promises to revolutionize future spacecraft navigation.