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By NASA
5 Min Read NASA and Italian Space Agency Test Future Lunar Navigation Technology
The potentially record-breaking Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) payload will be the first known demonstration of GNSS signal reception on and around the lunar surface. Credits: NASA/Dave Ryan As NASA celebrates 55 years since the historic Apollo 11 crewed lunar landing, the agency also is preparing new navigation and positioning technology for the Artemis campaign, the agency’s modern lunar exploration program.
A technology demonstration helping pave the way for these developments is the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) payload, a joint effort between NASA and the Italian Space Agency to demonstrate the viability of using existing GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) signals for positioning, navigation, and timing on the Moon.
During its voyage on an upcoming delivery to the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, LuGRE would demonstrate acquiring and tracking signals from both the U.S. GPS and European Union Galileo GNSS constellations during transit to the Moon, during lunar orbit, and finally for up to two weeks on the lunar surface itself.
The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) will investigate whether signals from two Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) constellations, the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and European Union’s Galileo, can be tracked at the Moon and used for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). The LuGRE payload is one of the first demonstrations of GNSS signal reception and navigation on and around the lunar surface, an important milestone for how lunar missions will access navigation and positioning technology. If successful, LuGRE would demonstrate that spacecraft can use signals from existing GNSS satellites at lunar distances, reducing their reliance on ground-based stations on the Earth for lunar navigation.
Today, GNSS constellations support essential services like navigation, banking, power grid synchronization, cellular networks, and telecommunications. Near-Earth space missions use these signals in flight to determine critical operational information like location, velocity, and time.
NASA and the Italian Space Agency want to expand the boundaries of GNSS use cases. In 2019, the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission broke the world record for farthest GPS signal acquisition 116,300 miles from the Earth’s surface — nearly half of the 238,900 miles between Earth and the Moon. Now, LuGRE could double that distance.
“GPS makes our lives safer and more viable here on Earth,” said Kevin Coggins, NASA deputy associate administrator and SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “As we seek to extend humanity beyond our home planet, LuGRE should confirm that this extraordinary technology can do the same for us on the Moon.”
NASA, Firefly, Qascom, and Italian Space Agency team members examine LuGRE hardware in a clean room.Firefly Aerospace Reliable space communication and navigation systems play a vital role in all NASA missions, providing crucial connections from space to Earth for crewed and uncrewed missions alike. Using a blend of government and commercial assets, NASA’s Near Space and Deep Space Networks support science, technology demonstrations, and human spaceflight missions across the solar system.
“This mission is more than a technological milestone,” said Joel Parker, policy lead for positioning, navigation, and timing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We want to enable more and better missions to the Moon for the benefit of everyone, and we want to do it together with our international partners.”
This mission is more than a technological milestone. We want to enable more and better missions to the Moon for the benefit of everyone…
JOEL PARKER
PNT Policy Lead at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
The data-gathering LuGRE payload combines NASA-led systems engineering and mission management with receiver software and hardware developed by the Italian Space Agency and their industry partner Qascom — the first Italian-built hardware to operate on the lunar surface.
Any data LuGRE collects is intended to open the door for use of GNSS to all lunar missions, not just those by NASA or the Italian Space Agency. Approximately six months after LuGRE completes its operations, the agencies will release its mission data to broaden public and commercial access to lunar GNSS research.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission One lander is carrying 10 NASA science and technology instruments to the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.Firefly Aerospace “A project like LuGRE isn’t about NASA alone,” said NASA Goddard navigation and mission design engineer Lauren Konitzer. “It’s something we’re doing for the benefit of humanity. We’re working to prove that lunar GNSS can work, and we’re sharing our discoveries with the world.”
The LuGRE payload is one of 10 NASA-funded science experiments launching to the lunar surface on this delivery through NASA’s CLPS initiative. Through CLPS, NASA works with American companies to provide delivery and quantity contracts for commercial deliveries to further lunar exploration and the development of a sustainable lunar economy. As of 2024, the agency has 14 private partners on contract for current and future CLPS missions.
Demonstrations like LuGRE could lay the groundwork for GNSS-based navigation systems on the lunar surface. Bridging these existing systems with emerging lunar-specific navigation solutions has the potential to define how all spacecraft navigate lunar terrain in the Artemis era.
Artist’s concept rendering of LuGRE aboard the Blue Ghost lunar lander receiving signals from Earth’s GNSS constellations.NASA/Dave Ryan The payload is a collaborative effort between NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the Italian Space Agency. Funding and oversight for the LuGRE payload comes from the agency’s SCaN Program office. It was chosen by NASA as one of 10 funded research and technology demonstrations for delivery to the lunar surface by Firefly Aerospace Inc, a flight under the agency’s CLPS initiative.
About the Author
Korine Powers
Senior Writer and Education LeadKorine Powers, Ph.D. is a writer for NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office and covers emerging technologies, commercialization efforts, education and outreach, exploration activities, and more.
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Last Updated Jan 09, 2025 EditorGoddard Digital TeamContactKorine Powerskorine.powers@nasa.govLocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Artemis Blue Ghost (lander) Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Communicating and Navigating with Missions Earth's Moon Near Space Network Space Communications & Navigation Program View the full article
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By NASA
Este mapa de la Tierra en 2024 muestra las anomalías de la temperatura global de la superficie, es decir, cuánto más caliente o más fría estuvo cada región del planeta en comparación con el promedio de 1951 a 1980. Las temperaturas normales se muestran en blanco, las superiores a las normales en rojo y naranja, y las inferiores a las normales en azul. Una versión animada de este mapa muestra la evolución de las anomalías de la temperatura global a lo largo del tiempo, desde 1880. Descarga esta visualización del Estudio de Visualización Científica del Centro Goddard de la NASA: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5450.Crédito: Estudio de Visualización Científica de la NASA Read this release in English here.
En el año 2024, la temperatura promedio de la superficie de la Tierra fue la más cálida que se haya registrado, según un análisis liderado por científicos de la NASA.
“Una vez más, se ha batido el récord de temperatura: 2024 fue el año más cálido desde que se empezaron a llevar registros en 1880”, dijo el administrador de la NASA, Bill Nelson. “Entre las temperaturas récord y los incendios forestales que amenazan actualmente nuestros centros y personal en California, nunca ha sido más importante entender nuestro planeta cambiante”.
Las temperaturas globales del 2024 estuvieron 2,30 grados Fahrenheit (1,28 grados Celsius) por encima del promedio para el período de referencia de la NASA (de 1951 a 1980), superando el récord establecido en 2023. El nuevo máximo histórico llega después de 15 meses consecutivos (junio de 2023 a agosto de 2024) de récords de temperaturas mensuales, una racha de calor sin precedentes.
Científicos de la NASA también estiman que en el 2024 la Tierra estuvo alrededor de 2,65 grados Fahrenheit (1,47 grados Celsius) más cálida que el promedio de mediados del siglo XIX (1850-1900). Durante más de la mitad del 2024, las temperaturas promedio superaron en 1,5 grados Celsius el nivel de referencia, y el promedio anual, con incertidumbres matemáticas, podría haber superado el nivel por primera vez.
“El Acuerdo de París sobre el cambio climático establece esfuerzos para mantenerse por debajo del nivel de 1,5 grados a largo plazo. Para poner eso en perspectiva, las temperaturas durante los períodos cálidos en la Tierra hace tres millones de años —cuando el nivel del mar era decenas de metros más alto que hoy— eran solo unos 3 grados Celsius más cálidos que los niveles preindustriales”, dijo Gavin Schmidt, director del Instituto Goddard de Investigaciones Espaciales (GISS, por sus siglas en inglés) de la NASA en Nueva York. “Estamos a medio camino de alcanzar niveles de calor del Plioceno en apenas 150 años”.
Los científicos han concluido que la tendencia al calentamiento de las últimas décadas está siendo impulsada por el dióxido de carbono, el metano y otros gases de efecto invernadero que atrapan el calor. Según un análisis internacional reciente, en 2022 y 2023 la Tierra registró un aumento récord de las emisiones de dióxido de carbono procedentes de combustibles fósiles. La concentración de dióxido de carbono en la atmósfera ha aumentado desde los niveles preindustriales en el siglo XVIII de aproximadamente 278 partes por millón a alrededor de 420 partes por millón en la actualidad.
La NASA y otras agencias federales recopilan regularmente datos sobre las concentraciones y emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Estos datos están disponibles en el Centro de Gases de Efecto Invernadero de Estados Unidos, una iniciativa de múltiples instituciones que consolida la información procedente de observaciones y modelos, con el fin de ofrecer a los responsables de la toma de decisiones un único punto de acceso a datos y análisis.
Tendencias de calor excepcional
Las temperaturas de cada año pueden verse influidas por fluctuaciones climáticas naturales como El Niño y La Niña, que alternativamente calientan y enfrían el océano Pacífico tropical. El fuerte fenómeno de El Niño que comenzó en el otoño boreal de 2023 contribuyó a que las temperaturas mundiales superaran los récords anteriores.
La ola de calor que comenzó en 2023 siguió superando las expectativas en 2024, según Schmidt, a pesar de que El Niño remitió. Los investigadores están trabajando en la identificación de los factores que contribuyen a este fenómeno, incluidos los posibles efectos climáticos de la erupción volcánica de Tonga de enero de 2022 y de las reducciones de la contaminación, que pueden cambiar la cubierta de nubes y la forma en que la energía solar se refleja hacia el espacio.
“No en todos los años se van a batir récords, pero la tendencia a largo plazo es clara”, dijo Schmidt. “Ya estamos viendo el impacto en las precipitaciones extremas, las olas de calor y el aumento del riesgo de inundaciones, que van a seguir empeorando mientras continúen las emisiones”.
Cambios a nivel local
La NASA elabora su registro de temperaturas a partir de los datos de temperatura del aire en superficie recolectados por decenas de miles de estaciones meteorológicas, así como de los datos de temperatura de la superficie del mar adquiridos por instrumentos en barcos y boyas. Para el análisis de estos datos, se emplean métodos que toman en consideración el espaciamiento variado de las estaciones de temperatura a nivel global y los efectos del calentamiento urbano que podrían sesgar los cálculos.
Una nueva evaluación publicada a principios de este año por científicos de la Escuela de Minas de Colorado, la Fundación Nacional para las Ciencias, la Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica (NOAA, por sus siglas en inglés) y la NASA provee aún más confianza en los datos de temperatura global y regional de la agencia.
“Cuando se producen cambios en el clima, primero se ven en la media mundial, luego se ven a nivel continental y después a nivel regional. Ahora lo estamos viendo a nivel local”, dijo Schmidt. “Los cambios que se están produciendo en las experiencias meteorológicas cotidianas de la gente se han hecho muy evidentes”.
Los análisis independientes de la NOAA, Berkeley Earth, el Centro Hadley (parte de la Oficina Meteorológica del Reino Unido, Met Office) y el Servicio de Cambio Climático de Copernicus en Europa también han concluido que las temperaturas de la superficie global para 2024 fueron las más altas desde que comenzaron los registros modernos. Estos científicos utilizan gran parte de los mismos datos de temperatura en sus análisis, pero emplean metodologías y modelos diferentes. Todos muestran la misma tendencia al calentamiento.
El conjunto completo de datos de la NASA sobre las temperaturas de la superficie global, así como los detalles (en inglés) de cómo los científicos de la NASA llevaron a cabo el análisis, están a disposición del público en GISS, un laboratorio de la NASA gestionado por el Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard de la agencia en Greenbelt, Maryland.
Para más información (en inglés) sobre los programas de ciencias de la Tierra de la NASA, visita:
https://www.nasa.gov/earth
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María José Viñas / Liz Vlock
Sede, Washington
240-458-0248 / 202-358-1600
maria-jose.vinasgarcia@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Peter Jacobs
Centro de Vuelo Espacial Goddard, Greenbelt, MD.
301-286-0535
peter.jacobs@nasa.gov
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By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This September 2024 aerial photograph shows the coastal launch range at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Wallops is the agency’s only owned-and-operated launch range.Courtesy Patrick J. Hendrickson; used with permission A suborbital rocket is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during a window extending from Monday, Jan. 13, through Thursday, Jan. 16. This launch supports the Missile Defense Agency, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division’s White Sands Detachment, and other Department of Defense organizations.
No real-time launch status updates will be available. The launch will not be livestreamed, and updates will not be provided during the countdown. The rocket launch may be visible from the Chesapeake Bay region.
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Last Updated Jan 10, 2025 EditorAmy BarraLocationWallops Flight Facility Related Terms
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By NASA
This map of Earth in 2024 shows global surface temperature anomalies, or how much warmer or cooler each region of the planet was compared to the average from 1951 to 1980. Normal temperatures are shown in white, higher-than-normal temperatures in red and orange, and lower-than-normal temperatures in blue. An animated version of this map shows global temperature anomalies changing over time, dating back to 1880. Download this visualization from NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5450. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Earth’s average surface temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record, according to an analysis led by NASA scientists.
Global temperatures in 2024 were 2.30 degrees Fahrenheit (1.28 degrees Celsius) above the agency’s 20th-century baseline (1951-1980), which tops the record set in 2023. The new record comes after 15 consecutive months (June 2023 through August 2024) of monthly temperature records — an unprecedented heat streak.
“Once again, the temperature record has been shattered — 2024 was the hottest year since record keeping began in 1880,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Between record breaking temperatures and wildfires currently threatening our centers and workforce in California, it has never been more important to understand our changing planet.”
NASA scientists further estimate Earth in 2024 was about 2.65 degrees Fahrenheit (1.47 degrees Celsius) warmer than the mid-19th century average (1850-1900). For more than half of 2024, average temperatures were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the baseline, and the annual average, with mathematical uncertainties, may have exceeded the level for the first time.
“The Paris Agreement on climate change sets forth efforts to remain below 1.5 degrees Celsius over the long term. To put that in perspective, temperatures during the warm periods on Earth three million years ago — when sea levels were dozens of feet higher than today — were only around 3 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. “We are halfway to Pliocene-level warmth in just 150 years.”
Scientists have concluded the warming trend of recent decades is driven by heat-trapping carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases. In 2022 and 2023, Earth saw record increases in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, according to a recent international analysis. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from pre-industrial levels in the 18th century of approximately 278 parts per million to about 420 parts per million today.
NASA and other federal agencies regularly collect data on greenhouse gas concentrations and emissions. These data are available at the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center, a multi-agency effort that consolidates information from observations and models, with a goal of providing decision-makers with one location for data and analysis.
Exceptional heat trends
The temperatures of individual years can be influenced by natural climate fluctuations such as El Niño and La Niña, which alternately warm and cool the tropical Pacific Ocean. The strong El Niño that began in fall 2023 helped nudge global temperatures above previous records.
The heat surge that began in 2023 continued to exceed expectations in 2024, Schmidt said, even though El Niño abated. Researchers are working to identify contributing factors, including possible climate impacts of the January 2022 Tonga volcanic eruption and reductions in pollution, which may change cloud cover and how solar energy is reflected back into space.
“Not every year is going to break records, but the long-term trend is clear,” Schmidt said. “We’re already seeing the impact in extreme rainfall, heat waves, and increased flood risk, which are going to keep getting worse as long as emissions continue.”
Seeing changes locally
NASA assembles its temperature record using surface air temperature data collected from tens of thousands of meteorological stations, as well as sea surface temperature data acquired by ship- and buoy-based instruments. This data is analyzed using methods that account for the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and for urban heating effects that could skew the calculations.
A new assessment published earlier this year by scientists at the Colorado School of Mines, National Science Foundation, the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), and NASA further increases confidence in the agency’s global and regional temperature data.
“When changes happen in the climate, you see it first in the global mean, then you see it at the continental scale and then at the regional scale. Now, we’re seeing it at the local level,” Schmidt said. “The changes occurring in people’s everyday weather experiences have become abundantly clear.”
Independent analyses by NOAA, Berkeley Earth, the Hadley Centre (part of the United Kingdom’s weather forecasting Met Office) and Copernicus Climate Services in Europe have also concluded that the global surface temperatures for 2024 were the highest since modern record-keeping began. These scientists use much of the same temperature data in their analyses but use different methodologies and models. Each shows the same ongoing warming trend.
NASA’s full dataset of global surface temperatures, as well as details of how NASA scientists conducted the analysis, are publicly available from GISS, a NASA laboratory managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
For more information about NASA’s Earth science programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/earth
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Liz Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Peter Jacobs
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0535
peter.jacobs@nasa.gov
View the full article
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
LMS instrument aboard the Blue Ghost Lander heading to Mare Crisium in mid-January
As part of its Artemis campaign, NASA is developing a series of increasingly complex lunar deliveries and missions to ultimately build a sustained human presence at the Moon for decades to come. Through the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, commercial provider Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander will head to the Moon’s Mare Crisium for a 14-day lunar lander mission, carrying NASA science and technology that will help understand the lunar subsurface in a previously unexplored location.
From within the Mare Crisium impact basin, the SwRI-led Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) may provide the first geophysical measurements representative of the bulk of the Moon. Most of the Apollo missions landed in the region of linked maria to the west (left image), whose crust was later shown to be compositionally distinct (right image) as exemplified by the concentration of the element thorium. Mare Crisium provides a smooth landing site on the near side of the Moon outside of this anomalous region. NASA Developed by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), NASA’s Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) will probe the interior of the Moon to depths of up to 700 miles, two-thirds of the way to the lunar center. The measurements will shed light on the differentiation and thermal history of our Moon, a cornerstone to understanding the evolution of solid worlds.
Magnetotellurics uses natural variations in surface electric and magnetic fields to calculate how easily electricity flows in subsurface materials, which can reveal their composition and structure.
“For more than 50 years, scientists have used magnetotellurics on Earth for a wide variety of purposes, including to find oil, water, and geothermal and mineral resources, as well as to understand geologic processes such as the growth of continents,” said SwRI’s Dr. Robert Grimm, principal investigator of LMS. “The LMS instrument will be the first extraterrestrial application of magnetotellurics.”
Mare Crisium is an ancient, 350-mile-diameter impact basin that subsequently filled with lava, creating a dark spot visible on the Moon from Earth. Early astronomers who dubbed dark spots on the moon “maria,” Latin for seas, mistook them for actual seas.
Mare Crisium stands apart from the large, connected areas of dark lava to the west where most of the Apollo missions landed. These vast, linked lava plains are now thought to be compositionally and structurally different from the rest of the Moon. From this separate vantage point, LMS may provide the first geophysical measurements representative of most of the Moon.
The Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) will probe the interior of the Moon to depths of up to 700 miles or two-thirds of the lunar radius. The measurements will shed light on the differentiation and thermal history of our Moon, a cornerstone to understanding the evolution of solid worlds.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center The LMS instrument ejects cables with electrodes at 90-degree angles to each other and distances up to 60 feet. The instrument measures voltages across opposite pairs of electrodes, much like the probes of a conventional voltmeter. The magnetometer is deployed via an extendable mast to reduce interference from the lander. The magnetotelluric method reveals a vertical profile of the electrical conductivity, providing insight into the temperature and composition of the penetrated materials in the lunar interior.
“The five individual subsystems of LMS, together with connecting cables, weigh about 14 pounds and consume about 11 Watts of power,” Grimm said. “While stowed, each electrode is surrounded by a ‘yarn ball’ of cable, so the assembly is roughly spherical and the size of a softball.”
The LMS payload was funded and will be delivered to the lunar surface through NASA’s CLPS initiative. Southwest Research Institute based in San Antonio built the central electronics and leads the science investigation. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provided the LMS magnetometer to measure the magnetic fields, and Heliospace Corp. provided the electrodes used to measure the electrical fields.
Under the CLPS model, NASA is investing in commercial delivery services to the Moon to enable industry growth and support long-term lunar exploration. As a primary customer for CLPS deliveries, NASA aims to be one of many customers on future flights. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the development of seven of the 10 CLPS payloads carried on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander.
Media Contact: Rani Gran
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
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Last Updated Jan 10, 2025 EditorRob GarnerContactRani GranLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Earth's Moon Goddard Space Flight Center View the full article
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