GMV advances high-speed lunar navigation with new phase of FASTNAV

Building on the success of its groundbreaking FASTNAV (multi-range navigation for fast Moon rovers) initiative, GMV has been awarded a follow-on contract under the European Space Agency’s General Support Technology Program (GSTP), supported by the UK Space Agency (UKSA), to further develop its Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) system for high-speed lunar rovers.

The new project phase aims to enhance and consolidate the FASTNAV GNC system, pushing its Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to 5 over the next 16 months. This development will result in a fully integrated GNC Breadboard, capable of supporting lunar rovers travelling at speeds exceeding 1.0 m/s—an order of magnitude faster than existing autonomous planetary navigation solutions.

The GNC software will undergo substantial upgrades based on the results of FASTNAV’s successful 2024 test campaigns. These enhancements will incorporate new AI-assisted onboard processing techniques to improve terrain awareness and ensure robust, high-speed autonomous navigation in challenging lunar environments.

As part of the maturation process, the project will culminate in a new series of advanced field trials to demonstrate the improved system's performance under realistic conditions.

FASTNAV is designed to enable future lunar rovers to cover more than 20 kilometres within a single lunar day, significantly increasing the scientific yield and efficiency of robotic exploration missions. GMV’s GNC solution blends classical computer vision with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to provide real-time, reliable navigation, a capability with promising potential not only in space but also in terrestrial domains such as mining, rescue operations, and critical infrastructure inspection.

With this new phase, GMV reaffirms its leadership in autonomous navigation technologies and its commitment to supporting Europe’s ambitions in planetary exploration.