Cislunar multi-source data fusion for navigation and positioning: a review of advances and insights

The rapid growth in the number of cislunar spacecraft imposes stringent requirements for high-precision and highly autonomous navigation systems, while traditional ground-based navigation exhibits inherent limitations. To address these challenges, this work systematically reviews and compares the fundamental principles and cislunar adaptability of major navigation technologies, including ground-based tracking, celestial navigation, and inertial navigation. Special focus is placed on advanced space-based approaches such as weak GNSS signal enhancement, orbit determination via inter-satellite links, and linked autonomous interplanetary satellite orbit navigation (LiAISON). The study demonstrates that space-based navigation offers significant advantages in overcoming challenges related to spatio-temporal reference inconsistency, signal attenuation, and resource allocation, with multi-source data fusion serving as the core pathway to high-performance navigation. Promoting the synergistic development of space-based navigation and multi-source fusion technology is crucial for constructing a highly reliable navigation architecture capable of meeting the demands of future cislunar missions.