International scientists have taken a significant step towards making lunar exploration safer, proposing a distress monitoring and rescue system designed for the Moon’s unique and challenging environment.
A project led by the University of South Australia (UniSA) addresses the critical need for an emergency system capable of providing safety alerts, incident reporting, and location-tracking astronauts in distress.
As NASA’s Artemis program aims to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon, astronauts face exposure to high-risk situations in remote areas like the lunar south pole.
Researchers from Adelaide and the US are designing a satellite constellation that prioritises communication and geolocation on the Moon’s surface. Using this system, astronauts can send distress signals to a network of satellites that will relay the information back to Earth or other lunar bases.
The system is based on the COSPAS-SARSAT technology already used for search and rescue on Earth, adapted for lunar conditions.
Dr Mark Rice, a UniSA adjunct researcher and founder of Safety from Space, says the distress system could allow continuous communication with astronauts for up to ten hours, even in the most challenging terrain, such as craters or mountains.
“Our team has also developed a waveform that supports low-power emergency beacons, ensuring that communication remains possible with minimal infrastructure and energy consumption,” he said. “This innovation is a critical advancement for space exploration. As humans venture further into space, the ability to quickly locate and rescue individuals in distress is vital.”
“By creating a robust search and rescue system for the Moon, this research sets the foundation for similar systems on other planets, potentially revolutionising how we approach human safety in space exploration.”
Safety from Space was founded in 2018 with the support of UniSA’s Innovation and Collaboration Centre. The startup has recently been awarded AUD100,000 by the South Australian Government to help drive the Lunar Search and Rescue project. A field trial with NASA is expected in 2025.
Closer to home, the technology, called Beagle, has been described as a game changer for two-way emergency communications when applied to Earth-based search and rescue operations. This would improve emergency response efforts in remote and hazardous locations, potentially saving lives, the researchers say.
The work is supported by the SmartSat CRC and Flinders University and was presented at a recent International Communications and Satellite Systems (ICSSC) conference.
