JAXA awards ArkEdge Space two lunar navigation projects
JAXA has tapped ArkEdge Space for a LANS rover receiver study and a receiver for Japan's lunar navigation demo satellite.
JAXA has chosen Japanese startup ArkEdge Space for two projects to improve navigation on the Moon. The awards build on existing work for the agency, including the design of a constellation of small satellites around the Moon to enable navigation.
The first project, MoonQuest, is a study on fitting a Lunar Augmented Navigation Service (LANS) receiver to the pressurised crew rover JAXA is developing for the US-led Artemis program. ArkEdge will design the receiver to fit the rover and set a timeline for testing and integration. It will also determine the mass, power and heat-dissipation requirements, and identify where technology needs to improve to support the system.
Under the second project, ArkEdge will develop a receiver to detect signals from Japan's Lunar Navigation Satellite System demonstration satellite, which ArkEdge also built. The company is building the demonstration satellite so it can receive signals from NASA and ESA satellites as well.
Toshihiro Shibukawa, manager of ArkEdge's PNT department, said in a statement that both the satellites that transmit navigation signals and the receivers that use them are essential to lunar navigation services.
Sourcepayloadspace.com