Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Services

NASA has well-established networks for communications with spacecraft on missions beyond the Earth, including those operating at the Moon. It is NASA’s intent to improve the communications and navigation capabilities to support the more ambitious lunar activities of the Artemis program with an affordable and sustainable infrastructure that would include communications relays and enhanced navigation services. In this Request for Information (RFI), NASA is seeking information from potential providers of space communications relay and navigation services in support of the Artemis program and its planned missions to the Moon. The information gathered through this request will be used in planning NASA’s strategy for potential solicitations for lunar communications relay and navigation services. The purpose of the communications relay services would be to assist in transporting data between a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon and ground stations on Earth in situations where a direct link between the spacecraft on the Moon and Earth ground stations is not practical or when having the option for a relay link is advantageous. NASA is also interested in position, navigation, and timing services in support of lunar missions. Through this RFI, NASA would like to learn about: (1) The range of potential US and foreign commercial service providers; (2) How rapidly potential service providers could deploy initial relay capabilities; (3) The performance characteristics of initial relay and navigation services and future capabilities; (4) Approximate cost of relay services and approaches for service agreements; and (5) Potential for partnerships and options for financing the development and operations of relay services. In this RFI, NASA is providing the following reference information for responders: (1) Summary of potential NASA user needs, in particular for early missions; (2) Summary of spectrum usage constraints; and (3) Description of the LunaNet interoperability standards and concept of operations. See Attachment "Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Services" for more information on the information requested and instructions for response submittal. In addition, see the Attachments “International Communication System Interoperability Standards (ICSIS)” and “Preliminary Summary of the LunaNet Architecture and Concept of Operationss” for additional information.