The Open Lunar Foundation established a shared database for Moon-mission operators to share information—in a bid to boost transparency as traffic picks up on Earth’s natural satellite.
The Lunar Ledger is intended as a resource for government-backed space missions, as well as private and scientific flights, to let officials share information about their lunar operations.
The goal, according to a press release, is to prevent duplicate missions, avoid interference and collisions in cislunar space, and build trust among an increasing number of actors on the Moon.
What problem are we solving? Lunar spacecraft are already having to watch out for each other, and—if industry’s plans for a thriving lunar economy come to pass—you ain’t seen nothing yet.
The US’ Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, India’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, and South Korea’s Danuri spacecraft are already needing to watch where they and the others are going as they fly around the Moon, according to a May release from the Open Lunar Foundation. In response, space agencies from the three nations agreed to share trajectory data and coordinate maneuvers to avoid collisions.
The coordination among the three nations is great, but it won’t scale as more nations and companies launch operations on and around the Moon, according to the foundation.
Founding flyers: Three commercial companies with their eyes on the Moon—Firefly, ispace, and Astrolab—have signed MoUs with the Open Lunar Foundation, agreeing to share data with the ledger. More companies are expected to sign in the coming weeks, according to a release.
“Sharing information in space is an immense challenge—crossing vast distance, borders, systems, and agendas—but it’s essential,” stated Chris Hadfield, a retired Canadian Space Agency astronaut and chair of the Open Lunar Foundation’s board. “On the International Space Station, our rule of transparency is how we have survived for a quarter-century of long-duration spaceflight. The Lunar Ledger applies the same necessary principle at the Moon.”
