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Used image @ kjpargeter from freepic.com
Space.com reports that Nokia is developing an LTE/4G communications system for the Moon. Its first part may be launched at the end of this year. The hardware for a simplified version of the network is due to launch later this year as part of the IM-2 Intuitive Machine mission, which is scheduled to land on the lunar south pole.
Nokia's equipment will connect Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lunar lander to Lunar Outpost's MAPP rover and Micro-Nova bunker. The viability of the system will be tested both at close and long distances.
“Like shelter, food and life support, communications will be a key component of any future mission to the Moon or Mars. Instead of “reinventing the wheel” by creating our own network in space, we are taking advantage of the same advanced technologies that connect billions of smartphones on Earth,” Thierry Klein, president of Bell Labs Solutions Research at Nokia, said in a statement. < /p>
In 2020, NASA awarded contracts to 14 companies to develop communications technologies to support the Artemis program. Nokia received $14.1 million to build the first cellular network on the Moon. Instead of developing entirely new technology, Nokia is adapting existing equipment for the lunar environment.
If all goes according to plan, Nokia's 4G/LTE lunar network will provide greater capacity than traditional UHF systems for space communications. This will speed up communication not only between astronauts, but also for autonomous robotic systems. Plus, the network could eventually be adapted for Mars—and one day upgraded to 5G.
But not everyone is enthusiastic about the idea of a cellular network on the Moon. Radio astronomers are concerned that such a network could create radio frequency interference that would interfere with radio observations. But Nokia could theoretically protect certain frequencies without disrupting radio observatories.
Attentive readers will remember that they already saw something similar at ITC more than a year ago. Yes, last March we were talking about Nokia on the Moon, Nova-C from Intuitive Machines and the Artemis mission. But given the postponement of this space program, similar news may appear in 2025 or 2026. It's amazing that a year after the initial announcement, Nokia is still “developing” the hardware.
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