WASHINGTON, July 21 (Xinhua) -- NASA has awarded 1.2 million U.S. dollars to an Ohio State University research team over the next three years to develop a navigation system that will feel a lot like GPS to the astronauts that use it, the university announced on Monday.
When NASA returns to the moon -- the space agency has set a target date of 2020 to do so -- astronauts won't be able to use a global positioning system (GPS) to find their way around, because the moon doesn't have satellites to send GPS signals. So the new system for moon will rely on signals from a set of sensors including lunar beacons, stereo cameras, and orbital imaging sensors, explained the team leader Rongxing Li.
The new grant grew out of Li's ongoing development of software for the U.S. Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Researchers have learned a lot about navigation from exploring the red planet. New technology -- sensors, inertial navigation systems, cameras, computer processors, and image processors -- will make the next trip to the moon easier for astronauts.
Li explained how the system will work: images taken from orbit will combine with images from the surface to create maps of lunar terrain; motion sensors on lunar vehicles and on the astronauts themselves will allow computers to calculate their locations; signals from lunar beacons, the lunar lander, and base stations will give astronauts a picture of their surroundings similar to what drivers see when using a GPS device on Earth.
The researchers have named the entire system the Lunar Astronaut Spatial Orientation and Information System (LASOIS).
Keeping astronauts safe will be a top priority for Li's team, which includes experts in psychology and human-computer interaction as well as engineering.
"We will help with navigation, but also with astronauts' health as well," Li said. "We want them to avoid the stress of getting lost, or getting frustrated with the equipment. Lunar navigation isn't just a technology problem, it's also biomedical."
According to Li's plan, the team will create a prototype navigation system, then travel to the Mojave Desert in California to test and refine it. The third year would possibly be spent testing the system on NASA astronauts.
NASA would then have several years to incorporate the navigation system into its other lunar technologies before 2020.
