- Dozens of moon missions are planned within the next decade.
- But right now, there is no satellite navigation system between the Earth and the moon.
- NASA and ESA are developing ways to help rockets navigate to the moon autonomously.
When NASA's Artemis 1 mission successfully flew around the moon in November, it showed the world that humans are on track to go back.
NASA and the European Space Agency aim to put boots on the moon by 2025 and set up a permanent lunar base orbiting it within the next couple of years. China and Russia are also working together to establish a separate lunar base, with crewed landings set for 2036.
But right now, there is no GPS to get us there. Astronauts can't navigate autonomously in deep space, and every mission relies on expertly trained engineers constantly directing the missions from the ground.
That will quickly become unsustainable with missions shuttling back and forth.
Space agencies are working to put satellite navigation, or satnav, on rockets traveling the 239,000 miles between Earth and the moon. They're also planning to build a whole new navigation network around the moon. Here's how.