Advanced Navigation, in partnership with quantum technology company Q+CTRL, will create a quantum-enhanced inertial navigation solution for space launch vehicles, satellites and landers. The design of this inertial navigation technology for long-endurance space missions will be pivotal to NASA’s space exploration initiative, the Artemis Lunar Exploration Program.
The work will be done under a Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement grant by the Australian federal government.
The quantum-enhanced navigation system will enable NASA and its partners in the international space exploration community to execute deep space, lunar and planetary missions that were previously not possible.
Artemis is NASA’s human lunar exploration plan, with the program aiming to send the first woman and next man to the surface of the Moon by 2024. Scientists have long acknowledged the Moon as a rich source of information regarding Earth and the Solar System. Using the findings from the Moon. NASA will then prepare to launch missions to Mars.
To meet NASA’s space exploration initiatives, high-end, highly accurate inertial navigation technology is vital to the mission’s success. The groundbreaking inertial navigation systems developed by Advanced Navigation have been recognised by the international aerospace community as a superior technology to help pioneer a new age of space exploration and discovery for humanity.
For Advanced Navigation, this is just the beginning. “In the long-term view of this critical initiative, team activities following this project will establish an ongoing manufacturing opportunity and capacity that is central to the emerging Australian space industry,” said Chris Shaw, co-CEO of Advanced Navigation.
Advanced Navigation was founded in Sydney in 2012 by engineers Xavier Orr and Chris Shaw to commercialize thesis research into AI neural network-based inertial navigation. The first product met the market with great success and the company expanded rapidly adding a portfolio of navigation offerings and moving into a diverse range of deep tech fields such as underwater acoustics, GPS, radio frequency systems, sensors and robotics.
Today Advanced Navigation is a supplier to companies including Airbus, Boeing, Tesla, Google, Apple and General Motors. Advanced Navigation is headquartered in Sydney with a large research facility in Perth and sales offices around the world.
Feature image: NASA