Navigation Doppler Lidar sends laser pulses toward a surface and detects reflected light. NASA says the return signal’s frequency shift measures velocity, while the light’s travel time gives distance. Those separate measurements can help a navigation system distinguish a change in terrain from a change in speed. [S1]
For the planned IM-1 delivery, NASA said the instrument’s data would not be mission-critical to Nova-C’s landing: Intuitive Machines had its own navigation and landing systems. NASA described its payload as a demonstration in the lunar environment. [S1]
The commercial delivery draws on years of work by NASA personnel. At the agency’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, Farzin Amzajerdian proposed the concept in 2004; his team received Langley funding for a proof of concept in 2005 and funding to build and test a prototype in 2007. NASA said four of its space technology programs contributed to the instrument’s development. [S1]
NASA is also working with multiple commercial lunar delivery vendors toward regular trips carrying experiments and technology demonstrations. The agency says a companion Flash Lidar camera developed by the team can survey surrounding terrain in darkness, and that future versions of the navigation instrument may help self-driving cars navigate roads. [S1]
Source documents
- NASA’s Laser Navigation Tech Enables Commercial Lunar Explorationhttps://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/langley/nasas-laser-navigation-tech-enables-commercial-lunar-exploration/