From Earth to the Moon: Precision in Motion
Ommatidia powers lunar navigation using advanced LiDAR systems built for accuracy and speed. We’re proud to share that our technology has been featured in the latest SPIE publication, presented at ICSO 2024.
This exciting project shows how Ommatidia’s photonics technology can help spacecraft land safely on the Moon. It combines real-time 3D imaging with reliable, fast data processing—crucial for safe navigation during landing.
Lunar Surface Point Cloud
🛰️ How Ommatidia Powers Lunar Navigation
The project uses Ommatidia’s compact FMCW LiDAR to capture the surrounding 3D geometry for lunar navigation.
What We Delivered:
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Multi-beam scanning for wide, real-time coverage
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High-speed 3D imaging, even during descent
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Lightweight, compact hardware for space missions
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A flexible design that grows with mission needs
As a result, the LiDAR unit was integrated into a test platform that simulates landing and docking. This test proved that our solution is both precise and reliable in harsh space conditions.
🌍 From Lunar Landings to Industrial Applications
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Ommatidia’s success in this project isn’t limited to space. In fact, it highlights how our systems can support many industries here on Earth.
For example, the same technology that helps spacecraft land can also:
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Improve structural monitoring of bridges and buildings
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Guide robots inside smart factories
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Help autonomous vehicles sense their environment
🔗 Discover our Photonics Roadmap
In short, Ommatidia powers lunar navigation while also offering practical tools for today’s most demanding engineering challenges.
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🔬 Focused on Simplicity and Precision
The project also confirms the strength of integrated photonics, a key part of all our systems. By reducing size and weight while keeping accuracy high, integrated photonics makes LiDAR solutions better for every industry.
📖 Read the full SPIE paper: Lightfield LiDAR System for Lunar Landing Assistance
In addition, this technology reduces the cost and complexity of sensing systems—without sacrificing quality.
🤝 A Project Built on Strong Partnerships
This work was done under the TKI (Topconsortia voor Kennis en Innovatie) program. It was led by TNO, with support from RVO and the leadership of Fabrizio Silvestri.
Thanks to our Dutch partners for helping make this vision a reality. Together, we showed how smart sensing can move from theory to real-world performance.
Lunar Landing powered by LiDAR
📩 Get Involved
Are you working on spacecraft, smart factories, or advanced automation? We’d love to talk.
Lunar-navigation LiDAR questions
Explore the SPACIAL architecture, published design figures and its value for precise landing support and space navigation.
What is the SPACIAL Lightfield LiDAR?
SPACIAL is a coherent FMCW Lightfield LiDAR co-developed by TNO and Ommatidia for lunar-landing assistance and related space-navigation applications. The published design combines a wide field of view with dense ranging data.
What performance figures does the design provide?
The SPIE paper specifies a 23° × 23° field of view, a 150–1000 m target range, more than 18,000 points per second and a full frame in five seconds.
How does SPACIAL capture a scene?
A photonic integrated-circuit receiver captures 1,024 optical channels simultaneously in one scan plane. Precision mechanical scanning covers the orthogonal plane, creating a hybrid Lightfield architecture for dense three-dimensional ranging.
How does this architecture support lunar navigation?
Wide-area coherent ranging gives the navigation stack a dense view of terrain and landing-zone geometry across mission-relevant distance. Ommatidia’s photonic integration and parallel acquisition expertise supports compact, high-throughput space-measurement systems.
