LuGRE Experiment

Source: Shangguan Yong, Zheng Peng, Zhang Hua, et al. Research on the Current Status and Technology Development of Cislunar Space Navigation[J]. Telemetry and Remote Control, 2026.

Author: Tianjiang Talk

Source: https://cislunarspace.cn

Overview

LuGRE (Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment) is a deep space navigation experiment conducted jointly by NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). In March 2025, LuGRE successfully achieved the first-ever reception of Earth's GPS and European Galileo GNSS signals on the lunar surface, marking a historic breakthrough in deep space navigation.

This achievement validates the feasibility of extending Earth-based navigation systems into cislunar space, providing new navigation capabilities for future crewed lunar missions, surface infrastructure, and deep space exploration.

Technical Implementation

The LuGRE receiver successfully extracted GPS signals from noise at a signal-to-noise ratio of -30 dB, achieving a positioning accuracy of plus or minus 15 meters. The GNSS side-lobe signal strength received on the lunar surface is millions of times weaker than at ground level. This result breaks through the traditional deep space navigation limitation of relying on ground-based tracking stations for two-way communication.

Significance

The LuGRE experiment demonstrates the engineering feasibility of GNSS weak-signal navigation on the lunar surface, providing in-orbit verification data for weak-signal GNSS navigation, one of the four major technology pathways for cislunar space navigation.

References

  • Shangguan Yong, Zheng Peng, Zhang Hua, et al. Research on the Current Status and Technology Development of Cislunar Space Navigation[J]. Telemetry and Remote Control, 2026.
  • Miller J, Valencia, et al. GNSS on the moon: the lunar PNT era begins through blue ghost LuGRE[J]. GPS World, 2025, 36(4): 20-23.