Towards a Unified Cislunar Reference System: PNT Challenges and Solutions
A special issue of Time and Space (ISSN 2813-9526).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2026 | Viewed by 137
Editors
Interests: cislunar spatiotemporal reference systems and PNT; geodetic and deep space VLBI techniques
Interests: deep space references; space surveying and mapping
Interests: space geodesy; pulsar timing and navigation; fundamental astronomy
Interests: earth orientation parameters prediction; celestial reference frame alignment
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The rapid expansion of human and robotic activities into cislunar space marks a new era of exploration and utilization. This endeavor faces a foundational challenge: the lack of a unified, high-precision spacetime reference system. Unlike near-Earth operations, cislunar navigation and coordination are fundamentally governed by general relativity, where the definitions of time and position are relative and gravitationally perturbed. Establishing a common reference framework is therefore not merely an academic exercise but an operational imperative for ensuring safety, enabling interoperability, and fostering international collaboration. This Special Issue, titled "Towards a Unified Cislunar Reference System: PNT Challenges and Solutions," aims to consolidate cutting-edge research addressing this grand challenge. We seek contributions that span theoretical foundations, such as relativistic spacetime modeling and clock synchronization, to technological innovations in signal structure, autonomous navigation, and constellation design for cislunar PNT services. The issue will serve as a pivotal forum for discussions on standardizing references, mitigating gravitational and dynamic uncertainties, and architecting the future infrastructure that will underpin all lunar and deep-space ambitions. We invite papers that explore these fundamental challenges and present innovative, practical solutions to build an indispensable spacetime cornerstone for our cislunar future.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
Relativistic Spacetime Frameworks: Kinematic and dynamical modeling in the Earth–Moon system under general relativity.
Coordinate Systems and Referencing: Definition, realization, and transformation of unified cislunar and lunar reference frames, including Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) and lunar physical librations.
Time Scales and Synchronization: Establishment of lunar time scales and ultra-precise time transfer mechanisms over lunar distances.
Cislunar PNT Infrastructure: Architectural design, navigation constellations, orbit optimization, and signal structures for navigation augmentation constellations.
Autonomous Navigation: Advanced navigation algorithms using X-ray pulsars, optical sensors, and multi-sensor data fusion.
Spacecraft Tracking and Surface Positioning: High-precision observation, orbit determination, and localization for cislunar spacecraft, lunar landers, and surface targets utilizing Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR), radiometric tracking, and multi-technique data fusion.
Dynamic Modeling and Geodesy: High-precision lunar gravity field modeling, space geodetic techniques for EOP determination, orbit determination, and mitigation of dynamic perturbations.
Interoperability and Standardization: Architectures and protocols facilitating multi-agency and international lunar operations.
Dr. Zhongkai Zhang
Dr. Dianwei Cong
Dr. Hongfei Ren
Dr. Haihua Qiao
Dr. Elisa Felicitas Arias
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- cislunar PNT
- spatiotemporal reference system
- earth orientation parameters (EOP)
- lunar time scale
- relativistic modeling
- autonomous navigation
- very long baseline interferometry (VLBI)
- spacecraft tracking and localization
- lunar laser ranging (LLR)
- orbit determination
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