Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE)

Blue Ghost Mission 1 · landed · NASA payload

A weak-signal GPS and Galileo receiver with a high-gain antenna and a low-noise amplifier. It tested whether Earth's navigation satellites can be tracked and used for position, velocity and time on the way to the Moon, in lunar orbit and on the surface.

PI: Joel J. K. Parker (NASA Goddard); ASI co-PI Fabio Dovis (Politecnico di Torino)
Built by: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (lead, systems engineering and mission management) with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), whose industry partner Qascom built the receiver hardware and software; Politecnico di Torino for ASI's science team (NASA center)

Technology	navigation receiver (GNSS at lunar distance)
Moon Base need	#0101 (The study's reading. Gap #0101 asks for absolute positioning and timing on the lunar surface; LuGRE showed Earth's GNSS signals can be tracked and used for navigation fixes there. NASA ties LuGRE to Artemis navigation, not to the gap by number. The knowledge base pairs Earth-GNSS-at-the-Moon demonstrations with lunar PNT, while noting they are not the lunar 'GNSS-like' service the architecture plans.)
Route onto CLPS	other NASA; A SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) payload, not from an SMD call. NASA selected it in July 2020 as the 10th payload of CLPS task order 19D; the task order went to Firefly in February 2021. The team's 2022 paper calls it the only payload on the flight provided by NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. No call is named.; 2020-07
Timeline	first funding 2019-06-01 (SCaN project start, TechPort 157469); first flight test 2019-11-22 (Qascom GARHEO receiver on FO's SpaceLoft 14; QN400 suborbital flights not dated); selected 2020-07 (10th payload of TO 19D); Firefly awarded TO 19D in February 2021; launch 2025-01-15; landing 2025-03-02
On the Moon	operated as planned
FO	tested

Flights before the Moon

• sounding rocket or balloon (not FO): Unnamed sounding rockets carrying Qascom's QN400 receiver, the base of LuGRE's receiver, before 2022 (not given). The QN400 base product in suborbital flight. The source does not name the rockets; it may include FO's 2019 SpaceLoft 14 flight of a Qascom receiver (below). Counted outside FO because the source does not say otherwise, as in the study's earlier feeder-line map. Base product, not LuGRE's custom receiver.

"The heart of the Payload is the Qascom QN400 GNSS Receiver, which has suborbital flight heritage on multiple sounding rocket missions and in LEO on the Bobcat-1 CubeSat mission"
— NTRS 20220002074

"The receiver is a custom development based on the Qascom QN400-Space GNSS receiver."
— NTRS 20220002074

• Earth orbit or deep space: Bobcat-1 CubeSat, low Earth orbit, with a Qascom QN400 receiver, before 2022 (not given in the source). The QN400 base product in orbit. Base product, not LuGRE's custom receiver.

"in LEO on the Bobcat-1 CubeSat mission"
— NTRS 20220002074

• FO: UP Aerospace SpaceLoft 14 sounding rocket, Spaceport America, New Mexico (FO technology T0246, TechPort 106593, Qascom), 2019-11-22. Qascom's GPS/Galileo receiver for NASA's human exploration directorate (GARHEO). Its PI, Oscar Pozzobon of Qascom, later led LuGRE's payload development team. The sources do not say whether it was a QN400 or link it to LuGRE. Before LuGRE was selected (July 2020).

Data: date: November 2019
— FO annual report, FY2020, flights of TechPort project 106593 (p. 7; p. 3 caption gives SpaceLoft 14, 22 Nov 2019)

"T0246: GPS/Galileo Receiver for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (GARHEO)"
— nasa.gov: dr-fop-pub-anr-20-03-fop-accomp-report-online.pdf, FY2020 report flight table

"He leads and oversees the LuGRE payload development team"
— NTRS 20220002074, biographies (Oscar Pozzobon)

• FO: UP Aerospace SL-15 sounding rocket, Spaceport America, New Mexico (FO technology T0264, TechPort 106598), 2024-10-01. Two multi-GNSS receivers on a launch vehicle: ESA's GOOSE, and a multi-frequency (L1/E1 and L5/E5a) GPS-Galileo receiver from ASI and Qascom, the same bands LuGRE uses. FO's project was planned to down-select a receiver for a lunar lander, but it flew 3.5 months before Blue Ghost launched, after LuGRE was built, so it could not shape LuGRE's hardware. FO's flight summary says this ASI/Qascom receiver, a next-generation version of the GARSpace receiver, went to the Moon as LuGRE (second check).

"During this flight campaign Qascom team was able to demonstrate the effective use of a multi constellation (GPS-Galileo) multi-frequency (L1/E1-L5/E5a) GNSS receiver on a launch vehicle."
— TechPort project 106598, description, Summary of Flight Test

"They will fly two different multi-GNSS receivers on a suborbital flight and use the data to down-select one receiver to fly on a lunar lander and/or cislunar spacecraft."
— TechPort project 106598, description

"### Oct. 1, 2024"
— Flight Summaries - NASA, Flight Testing GPS-Galileo Interoperability

"went to the Moon on Firefly’s"
— GPS-Galileo Interoperability, the link text that follows reads 'Blue Ghost Mission 1 as LuGRE'

Heritage hardware

• commercial instrument (base product): Qascom's QN400-Space receiver, customized for weak signals; flown before on sounding rockets and the Bobcat-1 CubeSat (see flights_before). The antenna and amplifier are by Haigh-Farr and dB Microwave. NASA's MMS mission set the earlier record for high-altitude GPS tracking.

"This heritage, combined with the extensive use of commercial and/or pre-qualified components, reduces development and overall mission risk."
— NTRS 20220002074

"Manufactured by Qascom S.r.l."
— NTRS 20260002034, page 6 (QN400-Space receiver)

Funding before the lunar flight

• NASA SCaN program (TechPort 157469, Goddard, 2019-06-01 to 2025-09-30): NASA's share (PI, systems engineering, project management). Amount not public. (SCaN (SOMD; ESDMD at the time of the 2022 paper); 2019-2025): amount not in public sources

"The NASA responsibilities are sponsored by the NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program"
— NTRS 20220002074, Mission Overview

"This project supported the development and flight of the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment receiver."
— TechPort project 157469, description (SCaN, start 2019-06-01)

• Italian Space Agency: the payload hardware and software (built by Qascom) and payload-level testing. Amount not public. (ASI; not in public sources): amount not in public sources

"ASI providing the co-PI, the payload hardware and software, and any payload-level testing and integration"
— NTRS 20220002074, Mission Overview

• Ground support purchase before launch: Spirent LuGRE software (a GNSS simulator vendor). Linked by the award description. Not flight hardware. (NASA purchase order 80NSSC25PA108; 2024-10-28 to 2024-11-11): $16,800

"SPIRENT LUGRE SOFTWARE"
— USAspending.gov, award 80NSSC25PA108, description; amount 16800.0

How it got onto CLPS

"In July 2020, NASA selected the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) as the 10th payload of CLPS Task Order 19D."
— NTRS 20240012279, page 1 (abstract)

"In February 2021, NASA awarded Task Order 19D to Firefly Aerospace."
— NTRS 20240012279, page 2

"Funding and oversight for the LuGRE payload comes from the agency’s SCaN Program office."
— NASA and Italian Space Agency Test Future Lunar Navigation Technology - NASA

"is the only payload provided by NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD)"
— NTRS 20220002074, Mission Overview

On the Moon

LuGRE set the record for the highest-altitude GNSS acquisition on 21 January (209,900 miles), then tracked signals in lunar orbit (243,000 miles), and on 3 March got the first navigation fix on the lunar surface. NASA's project record calls it 100% successful against all criteria. Signal strengths were 7-12 dB below simulation; the team says the cause looks specific to the flight system, not the lunar environment.

"LuGRE acquired and tracked signals on the lunar surface for the first time ever and achieved a navigation fix"
— NASA Successfully Acquires GPS Signals on Moon - NASA, SCaN article, March 2025

"The LuGRE experiment was 100% successful as the receiver met all performance criteria at the minimum, full, and augmented levels"
— TechPort project 157469, description

"Behavior suggests causes related to specific flight system, not inherent to lunar environment."
— NTRS 20260002034, page 11 (May 2026 results)

FO's role

Grade: tested. The first pass graded this related; an independent second check raised it to tested. FO's flight summary of the 1 October 2024 SL-15 flight calls the Qascom payload 'A next-generation version of ASI’s Qascom GARSpace GNSS receiver' and says it went to the Moon on Blue Ghost Mission 1 as LuGRE. That flight came 3.5 months before Blue Ghost launched, after LuGRE was built and after its CLPS selection, so it gave data and confidence, not design changes: FO's FY2025 report says it 'benefitted the LuGRE payload'. An earlier FO flight of a Qascom GPS/Galileo receiver (GARHEO, 22 November 2019) came before LuGRE was selected (July 2020), but no source says GARHEO was a QN400, the receiver that LuGRE's receiver is based on. The team ties are strong: FO project 106598's PI, James J. Miller, was 'the NASA Decision Authority for LuGRE', and its co-investigator Lisa Valencia was a LuGRE systems engineering consultant; GARHEO's PI, Oscar Pozzobon, led LuGRE's payload development at Qascom. A reader who asks for an FO flight before the hardware was built would keep the grade at related.

FO flights: 2. FO bought the SpaceLoft 14 (2019) and SL-15 (2024) flights, each shared with other payloads; the cost per payload is in FO records.

"The flight test also benefitted the LuGRE payload for a Commercial Lunar"
— nasa.gov: fy25-flight-opportunities-accomplishments-report.pdf, FY2025 report p. 4

"the NASA-ASI team was able to demonstrate the effective use of a multi-constellation (GPS-Galileo) multi-frequency GNSS receiver on a launch vehicle"
— From Flight Test to the Moon: A Tale of Three Payloads, LuGRE section

"He is the NASA Decision Authority for LuGRE."
— NTRS 20220002074, biographies (James J. Miller)

Data: name: James J. Miller
— TechPort project 106598, contacts: Principal Investigator

"She is a systems engineering consultant for the NASA LuGRE team."
— NTRS 20220002074, biographies (Lisa Valencia; co-investigator on FO 106598)

"GPS/Galileo Receiver for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (GARHEO)"
— FO annual report, FY2020, T0246 entry, organization Qascom, PI Oscar Pozzobon

"a Global Navigation Satellite System receiver from Qascom"
— FO annual report, FY2020, T0246 note, from page 3 of the report

"SpaceLoft 14, November 22, 2019"
— FO annual report, FY2020, T0246 flight entry (UP Aerospace)

"The heart of the Payload is the Qascom QN400 GNSS Receiver, which has suborbital flight heritage on multiple sounding rocket missions and in LEO on the Bobcat-1 CubeSat mission"
— NTRS 20220002074, payload description

"A next-generation version of ASI’s Qascom GARSpace GNSS receiver, which was developed to operate in a very highly dynamic environment"
— GPS-Galileo Interoperability, the sentence continues: went to the Moon on Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 as LuGRE

"went to the Moon on Firefly’s"
— GPS-Galileo Interoperability, same sentence (the link text that follows reads 'Blue Ghost Mission 1 as LuGRE')

"includes three innovations that were advanced by NASA’s Flight Opportunities program"
— From Flight Test to the Moon: A Tale of Three Payloads, PlanetVac, RadPC and LuGRE

"They will fly two different multi-GNSS receivers on a suborbital flight and use the data to down-select one receiver to fly on a lunar lander and/or cislunar spacecraft."
— TechPort project 106598, description (Multi-GNSS Receiver Payload, NASA HQ, 2020-2024)

Who built it

"Lead Development Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)"
— TO19D Science Payloads - NASA Science

"combines NASA-led systems engineering and mission management with receiver software and hardware developed by the Italian Space Agency and their industry partner Qascom"
— NASA and Italian Space Agency Test Future Lunar Navigation Technology - NASA, LuGRE article

"He is the LuGRE Principal Investigator (PI)."
— NTRS 20220002074, biographies (Joel J. K. Parker)

Moon Base need

"Develop navigation and timing systems that account for the lunar surface"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: Moon Base technology and knowledge challenges, Headline challenge 2, technology challenge

"ESDMD #0101: Positioning, Navigation, and Timing for Lunar Surface Extreme Environments"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0101: Positioning, Navigation, and Timing for Lunar Surface Extreme Environments, title

"The LuGRE payload’s record-breaking success indicates that GNSS signals could complement other navigation methods and be used to support future Artemis missions."
— NASA Science Continues After Firefly’s First Moon Mission Concludes - NASA

Open questions

• Was the receiver flown on SL-15 (Oct 2024) a LuGRE spare, an engineering unit or a later unit of the same line? FO's flight summary says only that it went to the Moon as LuGRE.
• Was Qascom's GARHEO receiver (SpaceLoft 14, Nov 2019) a QN400? Which sounding rockets carried the QN400 before 2022?
• What did SCaN and ASI each spend on LuGRE? Not in public sources.
• What FO paid for the two flights: FO records.