Radar technique advancements have made it possible to equip lightweight aircraft with radar systems. These systems can help determine the relative position of the world around the aircraft. Performing calculations on the incoming radar signals, it is possible to determine the locations of the ground elements in the aircraft body of reference, which can be done using Direction of Arrival Estimation (DAE) in a lateral setting, as a Side Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR). Using traditional computing techniques for image processing as well as two pre-trained image segmentation machine learning algorithms, it is possible to identify the aforementioned structural elements onto a satellite image to determine the actual position of the aircraft. As a consequence, navigation may be possible alongside Global Positioning Systems (GPS) methods, through obtaining the coordinates of the aircraft based on radar images. Experiment results show that a high accuracy identification rate is possible, based on large features, such as highways, within the radar image.

Lunar exploration initially started as a race between two superpowers to see who had the highest technical capabilities to send a human onto the Moon’s surface. Until recently, the frequency of Moon missions has been in decline, but in the last couple years there has been an increasing interest in returning. Scientific studies and observations will be performed and will give humanity a better understanding of the solar system and our place in it. As a result there will be a need for a direct communication line between the lunar surface and Earth, such that rovers can be controlled in real-time and immediately relay their data back, independent of their location on the Moon.