N.A.S.A Plans To Launch G.P.S On Moon.

Global Positioning System or GPS has been one of the most helpful inventions by mankind. Accurate directions to reach from one point on the earth to other has been made easy with the help of GPS. Used in cars, planes, ships, on mobiles apps. GPS is everywhere.And now, NASA hasbigger plansfor GPS, as it preparing to set GPS on moon.

On Earth, GPS on our equipment works using a complex method called ‘trilateration.’ A network of 32 satellites around the Earth has been set for the GPS services, those 32 satellites help pinpoint the location of an object. When you connect your internet and enable your GPS, first satellite relays a signal to your GPS receiver (your phone or car).

When you enter the location of where you want to go, it determines the distance between the sender and the receiver. This forms a sphere with the satellite as the centre and the radius telling us the distance between the two. Similarly, a second satellite determines its distance from the receiver, and the overlapping data helps narrow down the exact location. The third satellite does its magic and the combined information helps pinpoint the location of the receiver as three spheres can intersect only at one point, in a three-dimensional space.

However, this complex infrastructure isn’t really present around the moon. NASA’s have plans that they will like using the same network of satellites to execute the exact same process on the moon thus setting up the GPS on Moon. To improve the accuracy and get good signal strength, NASA is developing a special receiver that can receive the signals of satellite of earth from a much higher distance. NASA has been working on high-altitude navigation as well as increasing the relay distance of the satellites.

We’re using infrastructure that was built for surface navigation on Earth for applications beyond Earth- Jason Mitchell

The moon GPS module will be based on a NavCube model and it will be developed by NASA Goddard’s Internal Research and Development program.

The question comes why NASA is working so hard for bringing GPS on moon? Well, the main function is to reduce the dependency on NASA’s communication networks. When satellites and rovers begin using GPS, the saved bandwidth will be used for advanced transmission purposes. Moreover setting GPS will be a one-time major investment and will help reduce the cost of bandwidth, the saved bandwidth can be further used efficiently in exploring the other parts of the universe.