Telephony from the Moon will soon be possible. Nokia, in cooperation with NASA, is preparing to launch a 4G mobile network on the Moon later this year, in hopes of promoting lunar discoveries and eventually paving the way for human presence on the lunar planet.
The Finnish telecommunications group plans to launch the network on a SpaceX rocket in the coming months, Nokia chief engineer Luis Maestro Ruiz de Temeno told reporters at the Mobile World Conference trade show in Barcelona.
The network will be powered by an antenna-equipped base station stored in the Nova-C lunar lander designed by the US space company Intuitive Machines, as well as a solar-powered rover.
An LTE connection will be established between the lander and the rover. The infrastructure will land on Shackleton Crater, which is located along the moon's south side.
Nokia says the technology is designed to withstand the harsh conditions of space. The network will be used as part of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to send the first human astronauts to walk on the moon since 1972. A Nokia spokesman said no decision has been made on how NASA will use the network.
“The goal is to show that ground-based networks can meet the communications needs of future space missions.” Nokia said, adding that its network will allow astronauts to communicate with each other and with mission control, as well as control the vehicle remotely and broadcast live broadcasts.
