Advanced Space Awarded SBIR Phase II Contract to Develop Space Situational Awareness Capabilities in Low Lunar Orbit for NASA

Automating and coordinating object tracking around the Moon reduces the amount of work that has to be done on Earth.

Westminster, CO, 15 September 2026 – NASA has awarded Advanced Space a follow-on Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to mature Lunar Sentinel, which focuses on close-approach risk assessment of objects at the Moon. The project, managed by NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, focuses on developing algorithms to detect, track, and catalog non-transmitting objects in Low Lunar Orbit (LLO) using a hybrid network of lunar-surface and in-space optical sensors.

As more government and commercial missions go to the Moon, LLO is poised to become a critical operating environment for spacecraft supporting exploration, science, communications, and eventual human return missions. With an increase in the LLO population, the risk of collision with other objects also increases, especially with those that become defunct. Observing objects in that region remains exceptionally difficult. Passive RF methods fail if objects are non-transmitting, and traditional passive optical sensing methods are hindered by the Moon itself, as sunlight reflected from the lunar surface can overwhelm sensors pointed near the lunar limb, a challenge referred to as the lunar exclusion zone or the lunar “Cone of Shame.”

Advanced Space’s work proposes placing optical sensors in situ, including both in orbit around the Moon and on the lunar surface, to observe objects in LLO from vantage points that avoid this exclusion zone. By looking “up” and “sideways” rather than directly across the bright lunar background, such a system could enable meaningful observation of spacecraft and debris in LLO that cannot be observed from the Earth.

“Low Lunar Orbit is a small but strategically vital domain,” said Patrick Miga, SSA Portfolio Lead at Advanced Space. “As lunar operations expand, safety in that region will depend on our ability to detect and maintain custody of objects that cannot be tracked reliably from Earth alone.”

The Phase II project builds upon a successful Phase I study that evaluated the feasibility of using observers in lunar orbit and on the lunar surface to monitor traffic near the Moon. The study demonstrated that a network of in-situ observers could improve visibility of the LLO environment and help maintain awareness of objects that are difficult to track using Earth-based systems alone.

During Phase II, Advanced Space will mature the Lunar Sentinel concept by developing an end-to-end autonomous cataloging and risk assessment capability. Beyond basic observation, the effort advances the full architecture required to turn detections into an operational catalog complete with conjunction risk assessment capabilities. The architecture effort includes detection network design, mission design and optimal placement of nodes, onboard detection algorithms, track association, orbit determination for both targets and observing platforms, timing accuracy, conjunction assessment, and long-term catalog maintenance. The work builds on previous Phase I work that analyzed visibility constraints, revisit rates, and orbital evolution in different LLO regimes to determine the performance needed to maintain a catalog of tracked objects through observation gaps.

The result is a framework for a future distributed lunar orbit cataloging and space traffic management constellation with minimal reliance on Earth. As activity around the Moon increases, Advanced Space believes the need for effective, real-time space traffic management in lunar orbit will become increasingly urgent. A dedicated architecture for LLO space situational awareness could help reduce conjunction risk, support sustainable lunar operations, and improve safety for all missions operating near the Moon.

The project is managed by the Small Spacecraft and Distributed Systems team, part of the NASA RTMD, at NASA Ames Research Center.