2025 Fellows & Research Scopes
Meet our 2025 fellows and discover their research scopes!
2025 Areas of Research
At Open Lunar, we harness the expertise and insights of our community. Last year in support of our innovation process, we had our community evaluate and rank 15 ideas for potential research scopes to take forward in 2025 as fellowships. We are excited to announce that we have selected two exceptional fellows who will be leading research in the following areas.
Led by Christine Tiballi, a strategy expert operating at the intersection of advanced technology, sustainability, and business. Christine brings extensive experience driving innovation in space resources, climate technology, and the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries.
Just as areas for permitted activities have been established in various industries, Open Lunar is keen to explore the feasibility of such zones on the Moon. A system for designating activity areas—such as research areas, quiet areas, infrastructure sites, or experimental regions—could help alleviate issues by clarifying land use, fostering cooperation, and ensuring the safe and peaceful exploration of the Moon.
Borrowing from Earth's experience, what might the legal, ethical, and logistical challenges of such zones be? Drawing parallels with Earth's marine protected areas and nuclear test sites, research could delve into the scope, benefits, and potential pitfalls of special lunar zones. We aim to explore and develop an open-access model(s) that facilitates inclusive, peaceful exploration and development in line with Articles I and II of the Outer Space Treaty.
Led by Dr. Peng Hu, an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Dr. Hu's research expertise includes satellite networks, space sustainability, applied AI, and IoT, with a focus on enabling resilient, autonomous, and sustainable digital infrastructures for near-space and interplanetary networks.
The increasing number of lunar missions has highlighted the current limitations of PNT for space exploration. Currently, PNT is highly reliant on terrestrial/ earth orbital-based systems, such as GNSS. The increase in lunar missions and their increasing complexity is further pronouncing these limitations, therefore demonstrating a need for a new solution to assist with PNT. More reliable PNT will assist with more precise navigation, improve communication relays and overall improve mission success rates.
Many actors are working on this scope, however, there is a lack of cohesion and unity among the efforts. Open Lunar believes it can play a big role in uniting efforts or creating a shared solution to complement existing PNT efforts. Open Lunar intend to explore approaches and designs for PNT, with the aim of developing a solution that can support the growing need within lunar missions
How to get involved?
There are a few ways to get involved with our upcoming hunches:
Stay Updated: Subscribe to our newsletter or apply to become a member of our slack community.
Become a technical advisor: If you possess expertise in any of the areas mentioned above, we'd love to collaborate. Reach out directly to monty@openlunar.org and consider becoming a strategic advisor on one of our high-impact research topics.