Collaborative Development of a Distributed Lunar Mission Simulation: A Multi-Team Demonstration within Simulation Exploration Experience (SEE 2025)

Abstract

The Simulation Exploration Experience (SEE) is an international industry–academic initiative that promotes the use of distributed simulation for space exploration. Each year, multiple university teams participate by developing simulations based on lunar mission scenarios. In SEE 2025, Brunel University of London collaborated with three other institutions to create a real-time, distributed simulation of a conceptual lunar mission. Using High-Level Architecture (HLA) standards and NASA’s Distributed Observer Network (DON), five federates were developed to simulate a landing procedure, astronaut transport between facilities, inter-federate communications, and a laboratory tour. This abstract outlines the collaborative development effort, the roles of the participating universities, and the interoperable interactions between their systems.