First Multi-Constellation Observations of Navigation Satellite Signals in the Lunar Domain by Post-Processing L1/L5 IQ Snapshots
Lorenzo Sciacca, Alex Minetto, Andrea Nardin, Fabio Dovis, Luca Canzian, Mario Musmeci, Claudia Facchinetti, Giancarlo Varacalli

TL;DR
This study demonstrates the first successful multi-constellation GNSS signal detection in lunar space using post-processed IQ snapshots, revealing signals from various systems beyond GPS and Galileo at unprecedented distances.
Contribution
It provides experimental evidence of multi-constellation GNSS signals detectable in lunar space and introduces a hybrid acquisition method to analyze low-rate, quantized IQ data for lunar navigation.
Findings
Signals from RNSS and SBAS are observable at lunar distances.
Including additional constellations increases satellite visibility from 11% to 46%.
Hybrid acquisition effectively extracts useful observables from minimal data.
Abstract
The use of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to increase spacecraft autonomy for orbit determination has gained renewed momentum following the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE), which demonstrated feasible onboard GPS and Galileo signal reception and tracking at lunar distances. This work processes in-phase and quadrature (IQ) snapshots collected by the LuGRE receiver in cis-lunar space and on the lunar surface to assess multi-frequency, multi-constellation signal availability. Signals from additional systems beyond GPS and Galileo, including RNSS and SBAS constellations, are observable and successfully acquired exclusively in the recorded IQ snapshots. These observations provide the first experimental evidence that signals from multiple constellations, including systems not supported by LuGRE realtime operations, are detectable at unprecedented distances from Earth.…
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Taxonomy
TopicsGNSS positioning and interference · Soil Moisture and Remote Sensing · Planetary Science and Exploration
