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OSU researchers will help NASA create a new GPS-like system for astronauts working on the moon

Researchers from Ohio State University are developing a new navigation system for moon explorers that will mimic the global positioning system (GPS) used on Earth.  OSU researcher Ron Li has been given a $1.2 million contract over the next three years from NASA for the research project.

Li is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at OSU.

The new system will be designed for astronauts who return to the moon and need a way to track their movements while trekking through unexplored parts of the moon.  NASA has ambitious plans to have lunar rovers head to certain parts of the moon that have not been examined well due to poor radio contact with Earth.

In a press release issued by OSU, Li describes past astronaut movements where they were thinking about exploring a crater on the moon but were forced to turn back due to terrain difficult to navigate.  But a GPS-like system will help astronauts plot new routes to their target, and will allow them to find safer routes than predetermined routes chosen by researchers back on Earth.

The use of a custom-made navigation system on the moon also has additional benefits besides getting from one location another.

"We will help with navigation, but also with astronauts' health as well," Li said in a statement published on the OSU web site.  "We want them to avoid the stress of getting lost, or getting frustrated with the equipment.  Lunar navigation isn't just a technology problem, it's also biomedical."

The system will work by combining images taken by satellites in orbit around the moon with images taken by the ground crew on the lunar surface.  The lunar vehicles used by astronauts on the moon, along with the astronauts’ suits will have tracking and motion sensors to help triangulate their exact location.  A computer network will make use of lunar beacons, orbital imaging sensors, and stereo cameras to make up the rest of the system.   

NASA plans to try and return to the moon by 2020, with several other prominent space nations also aiming to launch manned missions to the lunar surface.



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Better Idea
By Grast on 7/24/2008 12:39:14 PM , Rating: 4
I have an idea. Instead of creating a complicated dead reconing system combined with beacons and topilogical recognition, How about we launch a few satellites which would simulate the gps system on the earth. They could be launched before the men arrive.

That is assuming we have the capability of putting a satellite in moon orbit from a earth based launch.

The same system could be deployed by the command module on the first trip.

later.




RE: Better Idea
By kattanna on 7/24/2008 12:51:10 PM , Rating: 2
why not add in comm relay abilites as well?

that way they can drive beyond the horizon and still take to base camp without having to relay to earth and then back.


RE: Better Idea
By kattanna on 7/24/2008 12:51:48 PM , Rating: 2
bah.. still TALK to base camp

not take it.. LOL


RE: Better Idea
By Tryek25 on 7/24/2008 1:18:48 PM , Rating: 2
Putting satellites orbiting the moon is feasible but expensive. In order to escapes the earth's gravity well is pretty hard and requires a bunch of fuel which makes the launch expensive.

I think what should be done is create a system which deploys three or four mini-satellites which do not necessarily have to last a long time. The satellites just have to be in place for the space of the mission/s.

NASA will have to launch satellites to the moon anyways, it all comes down to whether they want to modify their current spec on the upcoming satellite and give it the necessary things to pull this off.


RE: Better Idea
By Basilisk on 7/25/2008 12:00:53 PM , Rating: 2
It certainly -is- more expensive to place "LPS" satellites in orbit than GPS ones. But... doesn't GPS [LPS!] require 4 line-of-sight satellites? Wouldn't that require around 12 satellites (plus some backups) for full coverage? (24 are used for GPS, IIRC.) 'Hard to justify the cost of all that for the modest customer-base on the moon.

The idea of using optical sightings from an orbiting satellite seemed odd until I thought about the precision it offers at reasonable cost. The wanderers' equipment can broadcast fairly accurate dead-reckoning positions and the satellite can update/correct that with great precision... as long as they stay "in the open" -- out of terrain-blocked view of the orbiting monitor.

I'm sure they want GPS-like precision for sample-reporting ("We've found a vein of Dilithium crystals") and surveys. I doubt that radio beacons give adequate precision at a distance, particularly with the moon's greater curvature. LORAN isn't worth much for inland situations, so I'm unsure what use "beacons" can provide unless they're dropped like bread-crumbs to mark the path home.

All in all, there are a lot of nasty problems to address if folks are wandering more than a few miles from a lunar base. Given how little we've accomplished with the space station, this lunar jaunt seems like another expensive sideshow with few benefits clearly to be gained.


RE: Better Idea
By ggordonliddy on 7/24/08, Rating: 0
RE: Better Idea
By Grast on 7/25/2008 11:13:59 AM , Rating: 2
I appologise for my lack of spell check. This is what I trying to convey.

Dead reckoning (DR) is the process of estimating one's current position based upon a previously determined position, or fix, and advancing that position based upon known speed, elapsed time, and course.

Later


RE: Better Idea
By Smartless on 7/24/2008 2:28:48 PM , Rating: 2
Tom Tom.. Find nearest gas station.


Biomedical?
By pauldovi on 7/24/2008 12:04:37 PM , Rating: 2
Thats a stretch.




RE: Biomedical?
By maven81 on 7/24/2008 5:31:49 PM , Rating: 2
That's exactly what I thought. It reeks of a made up reason to justify extra funds. I would imagine that the people who sign up and get sent on such a mission are not a bunch of wussies. They won't have a heart attack and think they are lost if they take a wrong tun somewhere. Heck even most people who get lost on earth refuse to admit it!


Moon to Houston...
By Orbs on 7/24/2008 1:04:23 PM , Rating: 2
"I'm directly under the Moon's sun......... now."




LPS
By Screwballl on 7/24/2008 1:21:29 PM , Rating: 2
so they will get a LPS (Lunar Positioning System) instead of a GPS... figured it would only be a matter of time.




I've an idea..........
By DublinGunner on 7/25/2008 11:13:38 AM , Rating: 2
Take a bloody map.

Problem solved.




What I think the big problem is
By oab on 7/27/2008 6:28:31 AM , Rating: 2
What I think the big problem is creating a map of something, without seeing it first.

Obviously a satellite of some type would need to fly around the moon like the mars orbiters, and after that, based on topographical data you could determine the best place to put radio beacons.

With radio beacons you can tri-angulate where you are (similar to GPS). You would need to place them first, and how do you plan an alternate route when the first one you try doesn't work. At least you would know where you are, where you need to go, and potentially be able to plot a new route on the fly. Location systems would be incomplete until all the beacons were placed (or dropped by orbiting spacecraft at great, great expense) but it could work..




Van Allen Belt
By blowfish on 7/24/08, Rating: -1
RE: Van Allen Belt
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 7/24/2008 1:47:25 PM , Rating: 3
I hope your joking.


RE: Van Allen Belt
By GTVic on 7/24/2008 6:30:47 PM , Rating: 2
He's talking about one of those alternate routes when the terrain gets too difficult :)


RE: Van Allen Belt
By NT78stonewobble on 7/26/2008 7:41:37 AM , Rating: 2
I'm just wondering how everyone believes theres an americas... I KNOW theres a cliff where the flat earth ends...

But what keeps the earth up then? Well it stands on a giant elefant back offcourse which stands on a giant tortoise. Then its just tortoises all the way down...


"The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak." -- Robert Heinlein











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