ENVY - Exploration Navigation System: Using small satellites to enable next generation lunar navigation for future missions

As the space industry grows rapidly, humanity seeks to go back to the Moon to establish a permanent foothold and
use the Moon as a steppingstone on our way to Mars. Current lunar missions mostly rely on observing their relative
position to Earth and the Sun to guide rovers and spacecraft on the Moon. With permanent moonbases and increased
activity, a dedicated lunar navigation satellite system (LNSS) will play a key role in future infrastructure to support
life on the Moon. Therefore, a design study and feasibility analysis for a new satellite-to-satellite system has been
conducted. The proposed system consists of 105 6U CubeSats spread across seven equidistant orbital planes. It offers
uninterrupted connection and ensures high positional accuracy using an optical laser system. The study includes the
design of a transfer vehicle carrying all 105 satellites to the Moon. This vehicle could be launched as payload aboard
a Falcon 9 class rocket and carry all CubeSats into lunar orbit with a single launch. Additionally, after CubeSat
deployment, the transfer vehicle would be used as a relay for telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) operations
between Earth and the constellation. The result of the study is a preliminary mission design, including orbital
mechanics, transfer vehicle, and CubeSat mechanical designs including all subsystems, power and mass budget
calculations, and a thermal analysis of the different mission scenarios. It was found that a comparable mission would
be feasible and highly beneficial to enable more precise and in-situ lunar navigation in the future.