Lunar LiDAR Demonstration¶
Griffin Mission One · manifested · NASA payload
A hardened scanning lidar on Astrolab's FLIP rover. It times laser pulses reflected from the ground to build high-resolution 3D maps of the terrain around the rover, for navigation, obstacle detection and hazard avoidance without GPS or sunlight.
PI: not in public sources. Marshall's lead for rover lidar in these sources is Michael R. Zanetti: PI of the REALMS and KNaCK lidar projects and NASA's manager of Fibertek's lunar lidar SBIR.
Built by: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. A press summary of an Astrolab post says Marshall hardened the lidar with Fibertek (Herndon, Virginia); that page could not be saved, so the Fibertek role is not confirmed here. (NASA center)
| Technology | surface mapping and navigation lidar (rover perception) |
| Moon Base need | #0805, #0101, DN-014 L (The study's reading. NASA ties the payload to no gap. Its job, perception for rover navigation and hazard avoidance in harsh lighting, is what tech gap #0805 asks for; #0805 traces to a Phase 1 robotics function but is not among the 19 gaps the Moon Base Users Guide cites. It also bears on #0101 (absolute positioning for long traverses, here by lidar mapping without GPS) and, in part, on DN-014 L (sub-meter rocks below orbital resolution), which cm-scale lidar maps could count along the traverse.) |
| Route onto CLPS | other NASA; No open call found. Marshall's lidar work ran through center funds (IRAD, Center Innovation Fund), STMD's Early Career Initiative and an SBIR it managed; Fibertek's SBIR Phase II aimed to deliver a TRL 6 lidar to NASA for 'a near-term 1-6 month lunar surface technical demonstration'. Astrolab named the Lunar LiDAR Demonstration among NASA's FLIP payloads on 18 May 2026. How and when NASA chose it for Griffin-1 is not in public sources.; 2026-05-18 |
| Timeline | first funding 2019 (KNaCK, STMD Early Career Initiative, from 2019-10-01; Marshall IRAD Doppler lidar prototype from 2019-09); first flight test not in public sources; selected not in public sources; first public listing 2026-05-18; launch target late 2026 (NASA, Aug 2026); landing not in public sources |
| On the Moon | not yet flown |
| FO | none |
Flights before the Moon¶
None found in the public sources.
Heritage hardware¶
- commercial instrument (automotive lidar, hardened; the study's reading): NASA describes a time-of-flight lidar. In 2025 Marshall put a commercial scanning time-of-flight automotive lidar through vacuum and temperature extremes in a thermal vacuum chamber, with custom mounts and heat straps, and concluded that space qualification of that architecture 'may be possible'. That this is the flight unit's line is the study's reading; KNaCK, Marshall's earlier lidar, used a different (FMCW) type.
"By measuring the time it takes laser pulses to reflect back from the surface"
— Moon Base Phases - NASA"A COTS scanning ToF (Time of Flight) LiDAR sensor was exposed to vacuum and temperature extremes within a thermal vacuum chamber."
— NTRS 20250009598, LSIC Fall 2025 abstract (King, Hayward, Zanetti, Wilson)"space qualification of LiDAR units of this architecture may be possible"
— NTRS 20250009598, conclusion
- design heritage (Fibertek SBIR lidar): Fibertek's Phase I lidar survived thermal vacuum cycles to -150 C, and its core electronics (lasers, detectors, a custom ASIC) showed no destructive radiation effects. Whether this is the flight lidar is not confirmed by a citable source.
"The lidar operated after thermal vacuum cycles down to -150deg;C and core lidar electronics"
— SBIR.gov award data, award 231769, Phase II abstract
- design heritage (Marshall field prototypes): Marshall's lidar prototypes were tested on the ground only: KNaCK in field tests (JETT-3, Arizona, October 2022) and thermal vacuum (about January 2023); REALMS's brass-board in Marshall's Lunar Regolith Terrain field and in mineshafts with the Nevada National Security Site (May 2025).
"No-light personal navigation test JETT-3, Oct 2022, AZ"
— NTRS 20230000075, KNaCK overview slide"a cross-agency collaboration with the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) in May 2025"
— TechPort project 158124, results
Funding before the lunar flight¶
- Fibertek NASA SBIR Phase I, 'Lunar Lidar Technology for Artemis Human Habitation' (231769 / 80NSSC23PB430), managed by Marshall (Zanetti). Linked to this payload by the study's reading, not by a citable source: the same functions in the same words (cm-scale 3D maps, navigation, obstacle detection, hazard avoidance), rover mounting, Marshall management, and the Phase II goal of a lunar surface demonstration. The award does not name Griffin, FLIP or CLPS. (NASA SBIR (to Fibertek, UEI DX8KTH7JHYC6); 2023-2024): $149,989
"This SBIR will develop an in situ Lunar lidar for the Artemis missions that can be incorporated into a rover"
— SBIR.gov award data, award 231769, Phase I abstract; 80NSSC23PB430, award amount 149989.0"Realtime obstacle detection and hazard avoidance"
— SBIR.gov award data, award 231769, Phase I abstract
- Fibertek NASA SBIR Phase II, same title (231769 / 80NSSC24CA153): housing and power-supply updates, random vibration and radiation tests, and delivery of a TRL 6 unit to NASA. Same linking caveat as Phase I. USAspending shows the same obligation, with the end date moved to 19 Nov 2026. (NASA SBIR (to Fibertek); 2024-2026): $898,934
"Phase II will engineer updates to the housing and power supply electronics, as well as perform random vibration and radiation testing."
— SBIR.gov award data, award 231769, Phase II abstract; 80NSSC24CA153, award amount 898934.0"SBIR PHASE II - LUNAR LIDAR TECHNOLOGY FOR ARTEMIS HUMAN HABITATION"
— USAspending.gov, 80NSSC24CA153, amount 898934.0, 2024-06-20 to 2026-11-19"Deliver a TRL6 tested lidar unit to NASA"
— TechPort project 158715, description
- REALMS, Marshall Center Innovation Fund, FY2025 (TechPort 158124, PI Zanetti): a flight-like rover lidar design study and a brass-board prototype, built around the lunar lidar then in SBIR Phase II. TechPort's text gives $150K; the study takes amounts only from SBIR and USAspending, so the field is left empty. (STMD Center Innovation Fund (MSFC); FY2025): amount not in public sources
"centered around a lunar LiDAR sensor design currently in SBIR-2 development"
— TechPort project 158124, description"Project used $150K from MSFC Center Investment fund for one year"
— TechPort project 158124, description
- Earlier Marshall lidar work: KNaCK, a backpack FMCW lidar for mapping and navigation without GPS (STMD Early Career Initiative, TechPort 154846, 2019-2021, with Torch Technologies), and the CASM integration project that put KNaCK on a rover (MSFC IRAD, TechPort 157923, 2024). No amounts public. (STMD Early Career Initiative; MSFC IRAD; 2019-2024): amount not in public sources
"Design and build a radiation-hard backpack-mountable LIDAR system for centimeter-accurate lunar terrain mapping and navigation"
— TechPort project 154846, benefits (ECI, 2019-10-01 to 2021-09-30)"A LIDAR-based 3D terrain mapping and navigation tool, adapted into the KNaCK Autonomous Rover (KNaCAR)"
— TechPort project 157923, description (MSFC IRAD, 2024)
How it got onto CLPS¶
"The primary technical objective is to deliver a TRL-6 lunar lidar for a near-term 1-6 month lunar surface technical demonstration."
— TechPort project 158715, description (Fibertek SBIR Phase II, managed by MSFC)"NASA payloads aboard FLIP include:"
— Astrolab Announces NASA Payloads for Upcoming Mission to the Moon – Astrolab, 18 May 2026"Five NASA payloads will be mounted on the Astrolab FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) rover"
— NASA Provides Updates on Moon Base Cargo Landers, Tech Demonstrations - NASAFacebook logoInstagra…
On the Moon¶
Manifested on FLIP for Griffin Mission One. NASA frames it as a test of new ways to map and navigate the Moon.
"the instrument will help demonstrate new ways to map and navigate"
— Moon Base Phases - NASA
FO's role¶
Grade: none. No entry in the earlier traceback (the study's earlier traceback lists Griffin Mission One with no NASA payloads). No FO project, flight or report names this lidar, Marshall's lidar team (Zanetti, King) or Fibertek. FO has flown lidars for landing (NASA's NDL, Astrobotic's hazard detection lidar on Xodiac, Blue Origin's landing lidar), but those are descent sensors from other teams; this study does not count them as related. Public sources show only ground and vacuum tests of this line, no flight in a relevant environment (vibration, reduced gravity, dust).
"Astrobotic flight tested an engineering model of its advanced hazard detection lidar"
— Flight Summaries - NASA, a landing lidar, not this payload
Who built it¶
"NASA Marshall Space Flight Center — Lunar LiDAR Demonstration. A hardened LiDAR system adapted for extreme lunar conditions"
— Astrolab Announces NASA Payloads for Upcoming Mission to the Moon – Astrolab, 18 May 2026"The Lunar LiDAR Demonstration, developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center"
— Moon Base Phases - NASA"Michael R Zanetti"
— TechPort project 158124, contacts: Principal Investigator (REALMS, MSFC CIF)"Michael R Zanetti"
— TechPort project 158715, contacts: Project Manager (Fibertek SBIR Phase II)
Moon Base need¶
"will test a laser-based mapping system capable of creating detailed three-dimensional maps of the surrounding landscape"
— Moon Base Phases - NASA"terrain) require advanced perception sensing and new algorithms and control paradigms for"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0805: Autonomous Surface Mobility and Navigation, description"| #0805 Autonomous Surface Mobility and Navigation | 8 (2) | FN-A-201 L (UC-A-201 L) | Robotics | no |"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: What the architecture says the Moon Base needs"crew provide relative position but lack the ability to precisely determine their"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: ESDMD #0101: Positioning, Navigation, and Timing for Lunar Surface Extreme Environments, description"below the resolution of existing imagery (sub-meter scale) at the south pole to better"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: DN-014 L: High resolution lunar rock size distribution and morphology at the lunar south pole, description
Open questions¶
- Which lidar is the flight unit: Fibertek's SBIR lidar, the commercial time-of-flight sensor Marshall tested in 2025, or both (Fibertek hardening a commercial sensor)? Not in a citable public source.
- Who is the payload's PI? NASA names none.
- How and when was the lidar selected for Griffin-1, and by which office? Not in public sources.
- Did the flight lidar have any vibration, parabolic or other flight test before delivery? Not in public sources.
- NASA's cost for the payload: not in public sources beyond the Fibertek SBIR awards, whose link to it is the study's reading.