The European Space Agency (ESA) selected SpacePNT of Neuchatel, Switzerland to develop an advanced spaceborne GPS/Galileo receiver for agency’s the Lunar Pathfinder Spacecraft in orbit around the Moon. The receiver is intended to demonstrate, for the first time, the use of terrestrial GNSS signals for real-time and autonomous orbit determination and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). The contract includes the development, qualification, and delivery of one proto-flight model (PFM) and two engineering models of the NAVIMOON receiver, SpacePNT’s very high-sensitivity version of its NAVILEO high-performance GNSS spaceborne receiver.
The NAVIMOON receiver implements very high-sensitivity algorithms able to receive and process signals extremely attenuated coming from the spillover around the Earth of the signals transmitted by GNSSs. It will combine these signals’ measurements with advanced on-board orbital forces filters to achieve directly onboard the spacecraft and in real time an unprecedented target orbit determination accuracy of 100 m rms at Moon altitude. This is is well below the typical accuracy that can be achieved today with terrestrial radio ranging that involves the use of costly deep space station ground infrastructures.