Moonlight, a global positioning system (GPS) that will help you live on the moon

Business continues to be able to enjoy an active life on the moon in its worldwide course. In this case, The European Space Agency (ESA) is the one who started developing a future constellation of satellites, Moonlight, that will orbit the moon and that will provide GPS navigation service.

This new project that aims to be completed in the last years of this decade aims to: Serves as a guide for future missions and manned lunar missions, So that astronauts can move around the satellite.

For estimated times, It will be a few years after NASA’s manned Artemis mission lands to the south pole of the moon, So in the event that this artificial constellation is successfully developed It will make life easier or stay there. The European Space Agency expects space activity to focus on the moon in the coming years.

What is the shape of the constellation and what will it bring?

“Having a navigation and communications network that brings to Earth what we learn on the moon is critical to the sustainability of future missions.”ESA’s Director of Communications and Integrated Applications, Elodie Viau, explained at a press conference.

Two European industrial associations have obtained concessions from the agency to participate in the start-up of the project and to provide technical assistance. It will have three or four satellites, which are the satellites that will provide navigation and communication assistance.

Additionally, among its advantages, It would allow to reduce about 40 kilograms in the weight of the subsystems that each lander possesses, which process data and measure the distance to the moon. To ensure a safe landing. With the new system, all you need is a signal receiver and an altimeter. “The disposal of this weight and volume will be used to place additional tools on its lander and transport to the moon.”As explained by the director of navigation, Paul Verhoef.

“Our goal now is that The constellation allows for an accuracy of 100 meters and possibly more: we believe we can achieve an accuracy of up to 30 meters.Verhoef has been added.

Skype is also on the moon?

Fiao also claimed that the technology could help create observatories on the far side of the moon with the ability to communicate. “You can imagine astronomers setting up observatories on the other side of the moon. Since we are all used to virtual meetings now, who knows? We can do Skype on the moon.” I showed.

“The project could start to full capacity in early 2023, to ensure its operations within four or five years.”David Parker, director of human exploration and robotics at the European Space Agency, confirmed.

The key to all of this to work is that all satellites are operational and able to transmit the transmitted signals. “These signals are sent by satellites back to Earth, but they also go beyond Earth and go further into space,” Verhoef said. In addition to this European constellation, The United States has a GPS network and there are three other navigation systems that provide high-precision positioning data. (Galileo from Europe, Glonass from Russia and Beidou from China).