NASA, which wants to land permanently on the Moon, has chosen Nokia to help build the satellite's very first 4G network. This should be deployed at the end of 2022.
You won't have missed it. NASA aims to return humans to the Moon as early as 2024 as part of its Artemis program. But we are no longer talking about a "one shot" here. The American agency wishes to establish, from 2028, a sustainable human presence on and around our satellite . NASA and its partners will therefore have to set up various infrastructures to support a long-term lunar base. As part of this vision, reliable means of communication will be essential. Also, the Moon will soon have its own mobile network.
For this mission, NASA finally set its sights on Nokia. The telecommunications company founded in 1865 has indeed been awarded a contract worth 14.1 million US dollars (nearly 12 million euros) to deploy the first LTE / 4G communication system in space.
The engineers will then have to think and build all the necessary equipment. Namely, an LTE base station with built-in Evolved Packet Core (EPC) functionality, LTE user equipment, RF antennas, and high-reliability operations and maintenance (O&M) control software. All of these structures will have to withstand the physical demands of launching, landing and operating in space.
The company's research arm, Bell Labs, is also to partner with the private space company Intuitive Machines, which will take care of integrating everything into a lander.
This collaboration is part of NASA's Tipping Point program, through which the agency can accelerate the development of space technologies in partnership with private companies.
“By leveraging our rich and successful history in space technologies, from pioneering satellite communication to the discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation produced by the Big Bang, we are now building the first cellular communications network on the Moon” , said Marcus Weldon, chief technology officer at Nokia. “Reliable communications networks will be essential to support a sustained human presence on the lunar surface . By creating the first high-performance wireless networking solution on the Moon, Nokia Bell Labs once again raises the flag for pioneering innovation beyond conventional boundaries” .
Once in place, this 4G network will offer communication support for data transmission, control of robotic payloads (moon rovers) or for video streaming High Definition. It will also provide astronauts with better communication capabilities.
