NASA navigation experiment shows promise for planetary landings

NASA has successfully demonstrated a navigation system called SPLICE, designed to help spacecraft land safely on the moon and other planets. The experiment involved an Alta-X drone that used advanced guidance and navigation technology to map terrain and assess landing areas. The drone completed simulated lunar descent and landing maneuvers near NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on July 15, 2026. The system generated high-resolution digital elevation maps from light-detection and sensor data, and if it deemed a landing area unsafe, it would divert the drone to a safer location.

The SPLICE payload was developed by researchers at NASA's Johnson Space Center and integrated with specialists at NASA Armstrong. The tests verified communications, data handling, and command-and-control performance between the payload and the drone, preparing for a full-scale test at Voyager Technologies in Mojave, California, later this month. Davis Adams, project manager, confirmed that the system is communicating with the drone. The project manager stated that the flight test was the culmination of almost a decade of work and raised the technology readiness level, priming the system for integration into future robotic and crewed lunar flights.

The SPLICE system's validation is applicable to terrestrial, lunar, and Martian descent and landing missions. NASA has collaborated with commercial lunar lander providers to implement SPLICE into their platforms. Some of the landers slated for upcoming Moon Base missions use data collected by NASA through the development of systems like SPLICE. The system is currently planned for release in the NASA software catalog this fall, and some companies are evaluating its navigation capabilities for precision landing applications. The Flight Opportunities project at NASA Armstrong enabled flight testing of the SPLICE project, laying a foundation for its advancement in technology readiness level.

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