2024-05-07 07:39:08
Astronauts will now be able to chat. This is a first step towards the colonization of Earth’s satellite
Chatting on the moon and streaming from Mars may soon be completely achievable.
The project is shared by NASA and Nokia.
who, in cooperation, set out to build a mobile network on the Moon to facilitate the construction of settlements for a long-term human presence on the Earth’s satellite, and then on other planets.
It is known about the project that its implementation will begin already this year, as the equipment needed to build the 4G network will be transported to the moon with a SpaceX rocket – the private space agency of billionaire Elon Musk. The launch date has not yet been specified, but it is most likely that the flight will be scheduled for October, when the conditions are most favorable for it. The system will be located at the south pole of the Earth satellite and will then be remotely controlled from Earth.
“The first challenge in getting the network up and running is having space-ready cellular equipment that meets the size, weight and power requirements and can be deployed without a technician,” Walt Engellund, deputy associate program administrator in NASA’s Space Technology Directorate. Equally challenging is that the equipment will have to operate in the harsh lunar environment of extreme temperatures and radiation.
The special space 4G network is being built by Bell Labs, an American division of Nokia, using a set of off-the-shelf commercial components. It will be loaded onto a lander of the American company Intuitive Machines and, once deployed, will connect the lander via radio equipment with
two roaming vehicles that have a special mission: to search for ice
One of the machines, the Lunar Outpost rover, will explore the area known as Shackleton Connecting Ridge (where a lunar crater 4.2 km deep is located), while the autonomous Micro Nova robot will dive into the crater to scan up close for evidence of ice on the Moon. Facilitating the search for water will be the first major task of 4G equipment.
The images of ice – transmitted back to the lander and then to Earth in near real time via the cellular network – would be a world first. Lunar ice could be used to create breathable oxygen and even fuel that could eventually be used to launch missions to Mars from the moon.
For NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon this decade, cellular connectivity is invaluable. Astronauts currently talk to each other by radio, but NASA wants a lunar communications system capable of supporting high-definition video and transmitting a huge amount of scientific data, Engelund said.
“The ability to communicate on the Moon is critical to Artemis – as important as any other element of the mission such as energy, water to drink and air to breathe,” continued the NASA specialist. “Ultimately, this effort will help create a lunar communications network that can give our researchers the ability to transmit scientific data, contact mission control, and talk to their families as if they were walking down the street with their cellphones.” .”
4G technology was chosen for the moon over the newer 5G technology because it is reliable and stable, while its more advanced counterpart is still being deployed. However, the network is designed to be upgraded to 5G in the future, probably around 2030.
Once 4G and 5G are available on the Moon, any astronaut on the surface will be able to easily and reliably communicate with the rovers, instruments and other crew members. All data coming back to Earth will be able to be sent over a single link.
However, the deployment of the network will not be without problems
“Wireless systems face a number of challenges when operating on the lunar surface,” Raymond Wagner, principal investigator of the Lunar 3GPP project, told the BBC. – Extreme temperatures and radiation environments alone can cause all kinds of problems for commercial grade electronics. 4G and 5G systems are computationally complex, and firmly anchoring it to the lunar surface is no easy feat.”
The US space agency NASA has selected Bell Labs as part of its Tipping Point initiative, a series of partnerships with private companies to develop technologies for future space missions. This puts them in a prime position for key roles in the future space economy.
Bell Labs received a $14.1 million grant in 2020, and in January the Finnish telecommunications giant was selected by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to begin work on infrastructure for communication services that will ultimately serve as
“framework for the lunar economy”
“The future lunar economy will depend heavily on communication technologies to collect and analyze data, share information, and maintain and control operations,” explains Thierry Klein, president of Bell Labs Solution Research. “This includes maintaining a semi-permanent or permanent human presence on the Moon, as well as automated robotic operations for transportation, resource extraction, mineral processing and scientific data collection.”
The functionality of the lunar 4G network will be tested for several weeks. The ambition in the more distant future is to deploy a similar telecommunications system on Mars.
There are potential commercial benefits for earthly business ventures as well. “If a network can survive the trip into orbit, then deploy and survive in the vacuum of space the unusually changing temperatures and cosmic radiation, it will be able to survive in the harshest places on Earth – such as polar ice caps, deserts or coastal water platforms. Especially when it comes to remote deployment, public safety, emergency response, disaster recovery or defense, it’s very useful to have compact, small-footprint networking equipment that can be easily transported and deployed anywhere,” notes Klein.
In addition to returning humans to the moon decades after the Apollo missions, NASA intends to build the first lunar base in 2028 and establish a permanent presence there around 2030. To this end, the US space agency has so far invested more than 370 million dollars in various projects.
106 million dollars are intended for the so-called pioneering lunar surface innovation technology that helps humans and robots explore more of the lunar surface. This includes a fast wireless charging system, a heat and electricity source that can withstand extreme temperatures, and the aforementioned 4G network.
Another $256 million or so has been invested in technologies to manage cryogenic liquids – liquefied gases maintained at very low temperatures. They are essential to establishing a sustainable presence on the Moon and sending humans to Mars.
“Together, NASA and private business are building a set of capabilities to support a sustained presence on the Moon and future human missions to Mars,” the agency said.