Lockheed Martin has launched a spinoff company called Crescent Space, which is dedicated to lunar infrastructure. Its first project is a Moon-to-Earth satellite network called Parsec, which uses a constellation of small lunar satellites to provide a non-stop connection between astronauts, their equipment, and people back on Earth. The system will also provide navigation assistance. Parsec’s nodes create a lunar equivalent to GPS, giving astronauts their exact positions and directions back to base. Crescent’s first Parsec nodes should be operational by 2025.
If humanity is going to have a long-term presence on the Moon, it’s going to need reliable communications — and Lockheed Martin thinks it can provide that link. The company has created a spinoff devoted to lunar infrastructure, Crescent Space, whose first project is a Moon-to-Earth satellite network. Parsec, as it’s called, uses a constellation of small lunar satellites to provide a non-stop connection between astronauts, their equipment and the people back home. The system will also provide navigation help.
The technology should help explorers keep in touch, and assist with spacecraft course changes. As Lockheed Martin explains, though, it could prove vital to those on lunar soil. Parsec’s nodes create a lunar equivalent to GPS, giving astronauts their exact positions and directions back to base. A rover crew might know how to return home without driving into a dangerous crater, for instance.
Crescent’s first Parsec nodes should be operational by 2025, with Lockheed Martin…
2023-03-28 15:45:07
Article from www.engadget.com