Northrop Grumman targets lunar navigation market with Webb-derived guidance system

WASHINGTON — Navigation is emerging as a growing challenge for spacecraft operating beyond Earth orbit, where GPS coverage weakens. Northrop Grumman is adapting technologies developed for the James Webb Space Telescope into a smaller navigation system aimed at mid-size satellites.

The defense contractor said it developed a spacecraft navigation system called LR-450 that allows a vehicle to calculate its position, movement and orientation without relying on external signals such as GPS. 

Northrop describes the LR-450 as a smaller, lower-power commercial derivative of the navigation architecture used in NASA’s Webb telescope, which has operated near the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point since early 2022.

GPS signals were designed primarily for terrestrial and near-Earth use. Although they extend beyond low Earth orbit, the signals weaken significantly deeper into space, creating challenges for lunar missions, military spacecraft and deep-space probes.

“The LR-450 was developed primarily as a commercial-grade inertial measurement unit designed to support precise guidance and control of spacecraft,” Larry Hershman, manager of space programs at Northrop Grumman, said in a statement to SpaceNews.

He said the system could also support applications intended to complement or back up traditional positioning, navigation and timing, or PNT, systems.

At the center of the LR-450 is a miniature hemispherical resonating gyroscope, or mHRG, a sensor that measures rotation and orientation with high precision. Variants of the technology have historically been used in strategic missiles, submarines and high-end spacecraft where stability and reliability are critical.

Northrop said it reduced the size, weight and power requirements enough to package the technology into a smaller modular unit suitable for satellites operating from Earth orbit to deep space. According to the company, the LR-450 weighs less than 10 pounds and consumes less than 15 watts of power.

Hershman said the unit is designed as a modular sensor system that customers can integrate into different spacecraft platforms without requiring redesigns.

While the LR-450 was not specifically developed for alternative PNT constellations, Hershman said it could support complementary navigation architectures intended to reduce dependence on GPS.

The LR-450 name follows Northrop’s internal designation system for guidance products and references the company’s 400-series family of gyro sensors built around milli-Hemispherical Resonating Gyroscope technology.