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NASA NTRS · Conference Paper

Adaptive Situational Awareness for Real-Time Lunar Surface Operations

Published 2025-05-26 From Ames Research Center 3 authors
Read paper (PDF) ↗ View on NASA NTRS ↗

Attribution

This is the abstract and citation. Full text lives at NASA NTRS — we link out rather than host. All credit to the authors and Ames Research Center.

Abstract

Verbatim from NASA NTRS. Not paraphrased, not summarized.

The Lunar South Pole, the site of future space operations for Artemis missions, presents unique operational challenges. The line of sight to the Earth and Sun are both low over the horizon. The lighting and shadow environment is highly dynamic. Surface operations, unlike trajectory-based operations, are non-deterministic, rendering traditional timeline-based mission operations inaccurate. Given the reactive nature of surface operations in the Lunar Polar Environment, providing timely situational awareness to the operations team is critical to both mission success and spacecraft survival. To meet these needs the VIPER Lunar Rover Mission built an adaptable situational awareness system for surface operations at the Lunar South Pole, designed to evolve with mission experience.

Authors

  • Jay Trimble Ames Research Center
  • Loretta Falcone QTS
  • Charles Hacskaylo KBR Wyle

Keywords

  • Space Operations
  • Situational Awareness
  • Lunar Exploration
  • VIPER
  • Lunar Rover

Citation: Jay Trimble, Loretta Falcone, Charles Hacskaylo (2025). Adaptive Situational Awareness for Real-Time Lunar Surface Operations. Ames Research Center. NASA NTRS ID 20250004275. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20250004275 ↗