Finnish telecommunications firm Nokia and the US space agency Nasa will establish a LTE (4G) wireless communications system on the Moon later this year.
Nasa chose Nokia as its partner for the project in 2020, as part of plans to create a permanent base on the Moon and use it as a launching point for future space explorations, including a mission to Mars.
CNN reported earlier this week that the plans are finally set for take off — with a SpaceX rocket due to bring a simple 4G network to the Moon later this year. The lander will install the system at the Moon's south pole, Nasa said, which can then be controlled remotely from Earth.
If all goes well, the network will send audio and video back to earth, and will also be instrumental in searching for evidence of ice on the lunar surface.
"Eventually, this effort will help establish a lunar communications network that could give our explorers the ability to beam scientific data back, confer with mission control, and talk to their families, as if they were walking down the street on their cellphones," Walt Engelund, deputy associate administrator for programs at NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, told CNN.
Any images of ice sent from the lander back to Earth via the 4G network would constitute a world-first, CNN noted, adding that lunar ice "could be used to create breathable oxygen, and even fuel that could eventually be used to launch Mars missions from the Moon."
The 4G network unit is being built by Nokia’s Bell Labs division, which focuses on research and product development.
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