{"id":1788572,"date":"2020-03-30T12:27:50","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T16:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1788572"},"modified":"2020-03-30T12:27:50","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T16:27:50","slug":"can-gps-be-used-on-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/03\/can-gps-be-used-on-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Can GPS Be Used on the Moon?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>More on the question of <a href=\"https:\/\/nasa.tumblr.com\/post\/185388259129\/gps-coming-to-a-moon-near-you\">whether <abbr title=\"Global Positioning System\">GPS<\/abbr> can be used for navigation on the lunar surface<\/a>\u2014that is to say the existing constellations of Earth-orbiting <abbr title=\"Global Navigation Satellite System\">GNSS<\/abbr> satellites, not a new constellation of satellites around the moon. <a href=\"https:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/tech-talk\/aerospace\/satellites\/can-astronauts-use-gps-to-navigate-on-the-moon-nasa-scientists-say-yes\">A new study suggests that the answer is yes<\/a>: <abbr title=\"Global Positioning System\">GPS<\/abbr> and other navigation systems <em>could<\/em> be used.<\/p>\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/tech-talk\/aerospace\/satellites\/can-astronauts-use-gps-to-navigate-on-the-moon-nasa-scientists-say-yes\"><p>Cheung and Lee plotted the orbits of navigation satellites from the United States\u2019s Global Positioning System and two of its counterparts, Europe\u2019s Galileo and Russia\u2019s GLONASS system\u201481 satellites in all. Most of them have directional antennas transmitting toward Earth\u2019s surface, but their signals also radiate into space. Those signals, say the researchers, are strong enough to be read by spacecraft with fairly compact receivers near the moon. Cheung, Lee and their team calculated that a spacecraft in lunar orbit would be able to \u201csee\u201d between five and 13 satellites\u2019 signals at any given time\u2014enough to accurately determine its position in space to within 200 to 300 meters. In computer simulations, they were able to implement various methods for improving the accuracy substantially from there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A mini-network of relays\u2014a couple of satellites in lunar orbit, say\u2014could improve accuracy further. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.geographyrealm.com\/can-gps-work-on-the-moon\/\"><em>Geography Realm<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>Previously: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/06\/many-moon-maps\/\">Many Moon Maps<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More on the question of whether GPS can be used for navigation on the lunar surface\u2014that is to say the existing constellations of Earth-orbiting GNSS satellites, not a new constellation of satellites around the moon.&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/03\/can-gps-be-used-on-the-moon\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,254],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-1788572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-astronomy","category-gps","tag-moon","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1840665,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/05\/exploring-gps-alternatives\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788572,"position":0},"title":"Exploring GPS Alternatives","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 May 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"In March the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry to explore GPS alternatives, citing increasing threats to the resiliency of the existing GPS network. GPS World worries that the U.S. may limit domestic access to non-U.S. navigation systems (Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS), which many devices support, for security reasons. Breathless coverage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;GPS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1806985,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/04\/spacecraft-will-test-satnav-reception-from-lunar-orbit\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788572,"position":1},"title":"Spacecraft Will Test Satnav Reception from Lunar Orbit","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 April 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"More on the astonishing idea that Earth-orbiting GNSS satellites can be used for navigation at the Moon. The European Space Agency reports that among the instruments carried by the upcoming Lunar Pathfinder commercial mission will be a 1.4 kg satnav receiver that will test its ability to receive GPS and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1810022,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/11\/supergps-promises-ten-centimetre-accuracy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788572,"position":2},"title":"SuperGPS Promises Ten-Centimetre Accuracy","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 November 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"It seems to be steam engine time for GPS alternatives. We\u2019ve already seen two proposals that suggest using constellations of low-flying satellites to provide greater accuracy and more resilience against signal blocking than GPS and other orbital navigation systems can provide. Now a research team in the Netherlands is developing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;GPS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1805543,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/12\/mapping-marine-microplastics\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788572,"position":3},"title":"Mapping Marine Microplastics","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 December 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"NASA Earth Observatory: \u201cResearchers at the University of Michigan (UM) recently developed a new method to map the concentration of ocean microplastics around the world. The researchers used data from eight microsatellites that are part of the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission. Radio signals from GPS satellites reflect\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Environment&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Environment","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Maps of microplastics concentrations","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/microplastics-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1809677,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/11\/esa-considering-low-orbit-satellites-to-improve-galileo-system\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788572,"position":4},"title":"ESA Considering Low-Orbit Satellites to Improve Galileo System","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 November 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"The idea of using low-earth-orbit satellites to provide greater GPS\/GNSS accuracy isn\u2019t limited to commandeering the Starlink constellation. The European Space Agency is exploring the idea of using low-flying satellites to increase Galileo\u2019s accuracy and robustness: make it possible to use indoors, make it more resistant to jamming and interference,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;GPS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1809541,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/10\/starlink-as-gps-alternative\/","url_meta":{"origin":1788572,"position":5},"title":"Starlink as GPS Alternative","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 October 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"The point of SpaceX\u2019s Starlink constellation, consisting of some 3,000 low-orbiting satellites (so far), is to provide broadband internet access. But it could also be used as an alternative to GPS that might be less susceptible to jamming or spoofing. The U.S. Army and a team at the University of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;GPS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1788572"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1788574,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788572\/revisions\/1788574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1788572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1788572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1788572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}