Lunar communication is becoming a reality: NASA and Nokia team up to create a network on the Moon
NASA and Nokia have teamed up to create cellular service on the Moon. This can help astronauts stay in touch, CNN writes.
Currently, the astronauts communicate with each other by radio, but NASA plans to make a lunar communication system capable of supporting high-resolution video.
The Space X rocket is to carry the 4G network to the moon. The lander should install the system at the south pole of the moon. It will be controlled remotely from the Earth.
The first challenge to getting the network up and running is space-ready cellular equipment that meets the size, weight, and power requirements, and can be deployed without a technician.
Walt Engelund, Deputy Administrator of NASA Space Programs
The network unit is built by Nokia Bell Labs using a number of off-the-shelf commercial components. It will be loaded onto a lander manufactured by the American company Intuitive Machine and, once deployed, will be connected to two roaming vehicles via radio equipment.
The Lunar Outpost rover will explore the area known as Shackleton Ridge, while the other, the Micro-Nova rover, will dive into the crater to find unprecedented evidence of lunar ice up close.
For the first time in the world, the images will be transmitted to the lander and from there to Earth in near real time.
Lunar ice can be used to create breathable oxygen and even fuel, which can then be used to launch missions to Mars from the Moon.
The ability to communicate on the Moon is as important as any other mission element, such as energy, water to drink, and air to breathe. These efforts will help create a communications network on the Moon that will give our researchers the ability to transmit scientific data, communicate with mission control, and talk to their families as if they were walking down the street with their cell phones.
Walt Engelund, Deputy Administrator of NASA Space Programs
NASA adds that this could lay the groundwork for an extraterrestrial Internet that is unlike the Earth’s.
