AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
International space station predecessor9/17/2023 ![]() ![]() “The biggest challenge we have is getting the data,’’ Garner said. Of course, all this valuable Earth reference data and modeling is useless on the moon, which has a more variable terrain and gravity field than the Earth and remains largely unexplored. WGS 84 provides positioning data such as longitude, latitude and altitude and also incorporates timing and models for gravity and magnetic fields - all behind the scenes to guide an estimated five billion human and automated GPS users daily. ![]() Most people don’t even know they are using WGS 84 when they access navigation systems and apps on their cell phones and in their cars. WGS 84, which is maintained and updated by NGA, is the critical infrastructure and internal framework that makes it work. That’s what NGA’s World Geodetic System 1984, commonly referred to as WGS 84, currently provides for GPS here on Earth. The Lunar Reference System is the coordinate framework that will power a GPS-like transmission system being built by NASA and others. Technically, NGA’s role isn’t creating GPS for the moon. Space Command’s vast area of responsibility into the outer reaches of space, the Lunar Reference System is likely to be the first of many celestial body reference systems NGA will be tasked with in the years ahead. Given NASA’s plans for further planetary exploration and the U.S. Space Command and other agencies and universities, NGA is planning for and creating a new and complete Lunar Reference System designed to provide the precision and accuracy necessary for future lunar navigation. “Our purpose is safe navigation on the lunar surface,’’ explained Trevor Garner, Ph.D., senior GEOINT officer for space in NGA’s Office of Geomatics. Just as NGA’s predecessor agencies first mapped the moon ahead of the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s, NGA today is working with NASA to develop a new positioning and navigation system to guide future visitors around the moon’s surface as accurately and safely as the Global Positioning System, or GPS, does on Earth. government and commercial entities are setting their sights again on the moon amid heightened global competition.Īnd, they are turning to another old friend - NGA - to show them the way. Some 50 years since the last astronaut walked on the lunar surface, U.S. A new multinational race to space has rekindled interest in an old friend: the moon. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |