Communications and Navigation System Design

This chapter explores the critical role of communications and navigation (comms and nav) infrastructure in enabling sustainable lunar exploration. It examines current needs and challenges—ranging from data rate limitations and latency to coverage and navigation accuracy—and outlines how these constraints affect both robotic and crewed missions. The chapter discusses existing Earth-based systems, space-based relays like China’s Queqiao, and future architectures, including NASA’s LunaNet and ESA’s Moonlight. Emphasizing the importance of orbital infrastructure, the chapter argues for dedicated, high-availability, high-throughput systems to support future lunar bases and commercial activity across the lunar surface.