2024-08-23 15:02:45
In the next few years, NASA wants to send astronauts back to the moon. Before then, Nokia will build an LTE network there like the one on Earth.
Internet and mobile communications on the moon: Nokia wants to set up the first LTE network on Earth’s satellite. The electronics manufacturer announced this in a blog entry. Future astronauts will be able to use this to communicate.
Nokia says it is working with spacesuit manufacturer Axiom Space, which plans to incorporate mobile communications technology into its products. Axiom Space was commissioned by the US space agency NASA to develop the spacesuits for the astronauts who will land at the south pole of the moon as part of the “Artemis” missions.
The Nokia mobile network will also be built there, enabling astronauts to exchange HD videos in real time, transmit telemetry data from their spacesuits and communicate with mission controllers on Earth.
The so-called Lunar Surface Communications System (LSCS) is intended to connect the astronauts’ spacesuits with the manned lunar module on the Moon, from which there is a direct connection to Earth.
“Just as astronauts on these missions need life support, shelter and food, they will also need networks to communicate with each other and do their work,” Nokia writes.
The company wants to prove that the same mobile communications technologies that work on Earth can meet the increased communications requirements on the Moon.
The equipment for the cellular network is scheduled to be delivered to the moon during an unmanned mission at the end of the year. Two lunar exploration vehicles will then be able to communicate via it to exchange telemetry data and take live videos.
Several lunar missions are planned within the “Artemis” program, named after the Greek goddess of the moon. First, a manned space capsule, “Artemis 2,” is to orbit the Earth’s satellite. The mission was postponed to September 2025 at the beginning of this year due to problems with the rocket and spacecraft.
According to this, a woman and a non-white person are to land on the moon for the first time by 2028 at the latest. The European Space Agency (ESA) and space agencies from several other countries are involved in “Artemis”.
The last time humans were on the moon was around 50 years ago with the “Apollo 17” mission – the landing took place on December 11, 1972.