Capability for precise lunar landing is the goal for future NASA missions . A LIDAR - based terrain relative navigation ( TRN ) approach lets us achieve this goal and also land under any illumination conditions . Results from field test data showed that the LIDAR TRN algorithm obtained position estimates with mean error of about 20 meters and standard deviations of about 10 meters . Moreover , the algorithm was capable of providing 99 percent correct estimates by assessing the local terrain relief in the data . Also , the algorithm was able to handle initial position uncertainty of up to 1.6 kilometers without performance degradation .