There’s a new GPS for the moon

Updated May 12, 2025, 6:25 a.m. | By East Coast Breakfast / Skyye Ndlovu

This groundbreaking GPS system is about to change space travel forever!

Forget Google Maps. Forget Waze. The next big navigation tool isn’t for your daily school run or that weekend road trip. It’s for the Moon.

Spanish tech company GMV has just unveiled something straight out of a sci-fi movie: a lunar navigation system called LUPIN.

While it might sound like the name of a mischievous wizard, this groundbreaking system is all about making future Moon missions as easy to navigate as your drive to the local Spar.

ALSO READ: The robots are here… and they’ve got your lunch order

According to Reuters, LUPIN is part of a project by the European Space Agency (ESA) aimed at testing new ways to pinpoint positions, track movements and keep time on the Moon’s tricky terrain.

Believe it or not, apparently getting around up there is a logistical nightmare.

Think slow data relays, patchy comms, and no real-time updates on shifting dust dunes or fresh meteorite craters.

GMV put this clever tech to the test in Fuerteventura, one of Spain’s Canary Islands.

This island conveniently looks a lot like the lunar surface, and it worked.

LUPIN lets astronauts and rovers know exactly where they are in real time, using signals from satellites orbiting the Moon (just like the ones around Earth).

ALSO READ: China’s giant dam is making your days longer

Why does this matter? Well, Moon travel isn’t just for the movies anymore.

With space agencies and private companies eyeing the Moon for everything from scientific research to mining (and even tourism), having a reliable GPS system up there is essential.

It’s the first step to setting up permanent lunar bases, and maybe, one day, making those big moves to Mars.

As GMV’s project director, Steven Kay told Reuters:

“With this software, we bring Europe closer to establishing a presence of humans on the Moon, and potentially, this would be a stepping stone towards Mars exploration.”

Pretty wild, right?

The future is officially lunar, and now we won’t get lost on the way.