Since KPLO entered orbit around the moon in December 2022, that system has generated 40 warnings, called red alarms, of potential conjunctions. Some are “naturally resolved,” she said, as improved orbital data shows no risk of a collision. Others can be handed by having one of the spacecraft perform a routine maneuver to maintain its orbit.

“But for some of them, you need to have a specific maneuver just to avoid this potential collision,” she said. KPLO has performed three such maneuvers so far, one to avoid a close approach to LRO, another to avoid Chandrayaan-2 and a third to avoid Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft shortly before its January landing.

Lunar space traffic control.