Clavius-S: Lunar Surface Sensor Payload for Orbital Object Detection

Astrobotic proposes the development of a lunar lander-based imaging payload to detect and track spacecraft in lunar orbit. Operating from the surface of the Moon brings the sensor closer to targets and below the glare of the lunar surface. We propose Clavius-S, a lunar surface derivate of Astrobotic’s existing low size, weight, and power space situational awareness (SSA) sensor to enable practical detection and tracking of non-transmitting spacecraft and debris in low lunar orbit (LLO). Astrobotic’s high performance space compute combined with heritage SSA software enables real-time detection. Integrated aboard lunar landers under NASA’s CLPS initiative, this instrument would provide affordable access to data required to perform reliable conjunction assessments and safeguard lunar missions. The proposed effort adapts an SSA sensor system developed under AFRL contracts to operate from a lunar lander and survive the extremes of the lunar night. This system already incorporates a low SWaP design, a validated optics and imaging train that exceeds LLO detection requirements, and significant onboard processing to handle inherent downlink limitations. In Phase I, the Astrobotic-led team will: 1. Develop a detailed ConOps capturing system architecture, mission environments, and a reference mission, 2. Assess requirements for obtaining metric observations of LLO spacecraft from the lunar surface, 3. Perform a trade study of lunar night survival approaches and develop a thermal model of the sensor, 4. Generate and deliver a synthetic image dataset and assess algorithmic tuning for the existing SSA pipeline, and 5. Identify technology maturation goals and Phase II plan to develop a lander hosted payload. Following Phase I, the system will be well-positioned to rapidly develop and test a prototype and flight hardware design. Our path-to-flight approach emphasizes our intention to field Clavius-S for operation on the Moon, e.g., on one of Astrobotic’s future lander missions.

The proposed sensor features significant benefits to high-priority NASA and commercial space industry programs. It responds directly to the solicitation’s request for a “novel sensor design that could provide metric observations of LLO non-transmitting spacecraft capable of being deployed to the lunar-surface via the Commercial Lunar Payload program or other similar lunar landers.” Monitoring objects in lunar orbit over time underpins the ability to track and catalog them to protect other spacecraft and enable collision avoidance and removal. Currently, there is no affordable means to reliably detect and track such objects. Polar orbits are expected to become particularly congested as the lunar poles are the target of many missions. The ability to detect and track all spacecraft, but especially those not transmitting data, is critical to orbit determination and conjunction assessments for spacecraft to maneuver to avoid collisions and mitigate the potential of more space debris. This ensures Artemis crew safety and the long-term sustainability of lunar operations and infrastructure. This proposal directly addresses two NASA STMD Civil Space Shortfalls on the need for SSA capabilities (shortfall 1589, rank: 62) and the mitigation of new orbital debris generation (shortfall 1477, rank: 95). Two other top-ranked shortfalls for lunar night survival (shortfall 1618, rank: 1) and PNT on LLO spacecraft (shortfall 1557, rank: 4) will be addressed. Our payload solution is optimized for practical use on small (CLPS or LTV class) landers that are critical to NASA’s lunar objectives. Mass constraints, thermal considerations, need for dust tolerant mechanisms, and lander payload integration inform our design. The proposed work will mature survive-the-night technologies that will enable long-term operations and new payload concepts. The proposed sensor and gimbal can also be used for lunar surface science (panoramas, astronomy) or deep space navigation (rendezvous missions). In addition to the detection of non-transmitting spacecraft in low lunar orbit (LLO), Astrobotic is actively exploring other commercial use cases and science and engineering applications of a precise cislunar SSA sensor. The sensitivity and design heritage of the proposed system would enable data collection within the broader cislunar domain beyond LLO. No such data exists at this time and multiple SSA data aggregators and national security customers have strongly indicated interest in data buys. DOD funding for Astrobotic’s SSA sensor development has been focused on developing a hosted orbital payload for cislunar missions, e.g., AFRL’s Oracle-P mission. There is significant crossover between SSA sensors developed for the lunar surface and those designed to operate in a cislunar orbit. Both regimes require low SWaP and significant onboard processing to cost-effectively operate far beyond Earth orbit. Beyond SSA, the proposed lunar sensor and gimbal system can precisely track rovers or other payloads in the vicinity of a lander, landing site panoramas, characterize phenomena such as electrostatically lofted dust along the terminator, and collect astronomical data with the high-quality telescope (e.g., near Earth asteroid follow-up observations). The high-resolution camera, diffraction limited optics, and onboard computing would be well-suited for deep space navigation, including approach to small bodies, optical navigation in orbits about Lagrange points, and as a long-range relative navigation sensor for early phases of a spacecraft rendezvous mission. Many parts of Astrobotic’s SSA software pipeline can be directly leveraged for these applications. Astrobotic is already working with multiple companies to adapt this sensor for in-space assembly and RPO missions. The company is also working with major cislunar operators including the HLS teams, NASA CLPS providers, and (cis)lunar-focused commercial companies to provide sensors and computing for in-space robotics.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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