For the first time in history, satellite signals for Earth navigation have been picked up on the Moon. The achievement is thanks to LuGre, a receiver developed in Italy by Qascom with scientific support from the Polytechnic University of Turin, under an agreement between the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA. Arriving on the lunar surface aboard the Firefly Aerospace company's Blue Ghost lander, LuGre managed yesterday to receive signals from both the U.S. GPS system and the European Galileo constellation. The lander's arrival also provided a spectacular image: sunrise on the Moon, with the solar disk rising above the lunar horizon, illuminating the gray dust and craters on the ground. The shot was shared on X by Firefly Aerospace, documenting the start of operations of the mission, designed to last one lunar day (equal to 14 Earth days). Many of the ten instruments on board have already begun operations, and the LuGre receiver set an all-time record, demonstrating the ability to pick up Earth satellite signals even over 380,000 km away.
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