LaserNav – LiDAR-Based Dark Navigation for Safe and Precise Lunar Landing

Astrobotic proposes an integrated LiDAR-based dark navigation sensor system capable of generating pose estimates over unilluminated lunar terrain to increase the hazard detection and avoidance (HDA) capabilities of future lunar lander missions, including NASA CLPS missions and the Artemis program. This sensor, Astrobotic's LaserNav, will feature dark navigation software enabling robust and accurate poste estimation at landing and flight-qualified and radiation-tested high-performance compute dedicated to processing intensive GNC descent and landing sensor data and running dark navigation algorithms. LaserNav will leverage Astrobotic's current hazard detection LiDAR, which outputs point cloud data for HDA. During this proposed effort the hardware and software components of LaserNav will be developed, tested, integrated as a sensor suite to an Astrobotic lander, and demonstrate illumination-independent LiDAR-based hazard detection on Astrobotic's next lunar mission. Astrobotic's target market for LaserNav is primarily the space planetary landing market, with the suborbital rocket market as a secondary adjacency. As a more capable, flexible, and affordable alternative to existing TRN solutions, LaserNav will enable lander integrators to cost-effectively achieve greater mission assurance.