Abstract#

The Lunar Ledger is a neutral, shared record of lunar missions, run by the Open Lunar Foundation, a nonprofit. The ledger currently has 6 signatories including major aeronautical corporations operating in cis-lunar space including Firefly and iSpace and Astrolab. The ledger is currently in beta but is actively being used by several of the major lunar operators to share information via invited accounts. Open Lunar's vision is to make the Ledger more accessible to all operators and to allow access to non-proprietary information to the broad public.

This project begins our first step along that track: we will build an open, documented API that lets anyone (a mission control team, a researcher, or a MoonDAO project) pull standardized information about lunar missions from the Ledger, such as where a mission is, what radio frequencies it uses and what state it is in.

Problem#

It helps to understand the problem that the Lunar Ledger is working to solve.

• Mission data is siloed. Each operator runs its own mission control. There is no shared, standard way for one mission to see another mission's location, radio use or status, even when they are operating near each other.
• Coordination happens late and by email. When a rover or lander has an anomaly, help from other missions depends on personal contacts and ad hoc data swaps. Operators we work with have told us the most useful thing a shared record could do is give them a standard way to know exactly where things are and how they can help each other.
• A shared record is only useful if people can read it. Today the Ledger can be viewed in its web app, but there is no programmatic way for other software to pull from it. Without that, every user has to copy data by hand, and automated solutions are not possible.

Solution#

What we already have: The Lunar Ledger is a working platform (private beta, with a second version in development). We have already shown a concept for live operational data (such as rover position) flowing into the Ledger from Yamcs, an open-source mission control system used by several commercial lunar operators, with no manual entry. See the demo video above. We are continuing to develop this capability using internal funding, and this would proceed in tandem with our MoonDAO grant.

What we will build: We will build an read API for the Ledger.

1. Ledger read API. A documented, versioned API that returns standardized mission records (mission identity, location, radio frequencies and transmission windows, status, and alerts). Each data owner will decide what is public and what is shared only with other operators.
2. Open data format. A published specification of the mission record, so any tool can read Ledger data the same way.
3. Documentation and a working example. An integration guide and a short example client showing a mission control dashboard (Yamcs) pulling and displaying another mission's data on a schedule, for example every few minutes.
4. Operator test. As the final deliverable, JAOPS, a commercial lunar mission operations provider that runs Yamcs, will test the API from its own environment and give feedback that goes into the final release and report.

Why the pull side. Open Lunar is funding the ingest side (getting mission data into the Ledger) from its own budget. Funding the read API through MoonDAO means the community gets the piece that is most useful to everyone else: once data is in the Ledger, any operator, researcher or community project can use it.

Alternatives considered. A one-off data feed for a single mission was ruled out because it would not carry over to the next user. A plugin built inside one mission control product was also considered, but a general API serves every tool, and the example client shows how to connect one.

Open questions and future directions. Which fields operators are willing to make public by default; connecting more mission control systems on the ingest side; cross-mission anomaly support (an operator flags an issue, another mission offers data to help).

Benefits#

• The API is an open public good: The API specification, data format, documentation and example client are released under open licences for anyone to use, including MoonDAO projects.
• A path for MoonDAO missions: MoonDAO teams planning analog or lunar missions, including Moon Base Zero, get a ready way to see other lunar activity in their own tools.
• Supports coordination on the Moon: The Lunar Ledger provides a standard way for missions to see each other which reduces the risk of interference and makes mutual help in an emergency practical.
• Tested by a real operator: The API is validated by a commercial lunar mission operations team before the project closes, not only in a demo.
• Revenue: This is not a revenue project for MoonDAO. Its value is open infrastructure and visibility for MoonDAO as a funder of it.

Risks#

• Platform changes: The Ledger is moving to a new version. Mitigation: the database layer stays the same, and we will build the API against the new version only.
• Data permissions: Mission data belongs to its data owner. Mitigation: the API only serves fields the owner has authorised, and public access is limited to data already marked public.
• Security: Mitigation: the API is read-only, rate-limited and permissioned; nothing in it can write to the Ledger or to any mission control.
• Scope creep: Mitigation: scope is fixed to the initial read API, the data format, documentation, one example client and one operator test. Anything else is as future work.
• Operator test timing: The test depends on the partner's availability. Mitigation: the test is scheduled at kickoff, and the example client lets us demonstrate the API end to end regardless.

Objectives#

Objective #1: Ship an open, documented read API for the Lunar Ledger so that any tool can pull standardized lunar mission data by 2026-12-31 (Thursday).

Key Results for Objective #1:

• Draft API specification and data format published for community comment by day 14.
• Read API live, with public documentation, by day 45.
• Example client open-sourced, with a recorded demo of a mission control dashboard pulling another mission's data from the Ledger, by day 50. (Not funded by MoonDao.)
• JAOPS, a commercial lunar mission operations provider that runs Yamcs, tests the API from its own environment by day 60, and the results are presented at a MoonDAO Townhall.

Member(s) responsible for OKR and their role:

• Nhat Nguyen: project lead, coordination of the JAOPS test, reporting.
• Zack Gainsforth: API, data format, documentation and example client.

Novelty and prior art#

The Lunar Ledger is an existing platform and Yamcs is an existing open-source mission control system. What is a new method to access an already proven, open, neutral read interface to a shared lunar mission record, with a common data format any tool can use.

IP and licensing#

The API specification, data format, documentation and example client will be released under an open-source licence Apache 2.0. Mission data served by the API remains under the terms set by each data owner.

Team (Table A)#

Team Bios

Project Lead: Nhat Nguyen is Project and Partnership Lead for the Lunar Ledger at Open Lunar Foundation. He was previously Mission Manager at Space Machines Company, where he directed a portfolio of projects including the flagship Australia-India Space MAITRI mission backed by the Australian Space Agency. Before space, he was CEO and co-founder of Otrafy, an AI-powered software platform, leading global engineering teams through early-stage venture funding, which grounds his work in product strategy and shipping technology. He holds a certificate in space systems engineering and space risk management from the MILO Mission Academy for Lunar Exploration, was a Foresight Institute Space Fellow, and founded the Vietnam Space Industry Group.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nhat-nguyen-7b936356

https://www.openlunar.org/nhat

Team Member #1: Zack Gainsforth is the Data Scientist for the Lunar Ledger at Open Lunar Foundation and built the live data demo that streams mission operations data into the Ledger. He has worked at the University of California's Space Sciences Laboratory for two decades, studying the history of the solar system using samples returned by NASA and JAXA missions. His work includes characterising some of the first interstellar dust returned to Earth on NASA's Stardust mission, and the petrography of asteroids Bennu and Ryugu for NASA's OSIRIS-REx and JAXA's Hayabusa2.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zack-gainsforth

Berkeley scientists reveal how organics emerged in deep freeze of early solar system - UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab

Timeline (Table B)#

Deadline for the project: end of Q4 2026.

Budget (Table C)#