Over the past few years, there has been talk of installing an LTE network on the moon. Now, thanks to the contract between NASA and Nokia, 4G satellite connectivity is closer to becoming a reality.

4G Moon connection

NASA announced that it will give Nokia $ 14.1 million (which is why $ 20 million in Australian dollars) to build a 4G LTE network running on the moon. The purpose of the network is to increase the reliability of communication between astronauts while they are on the moon.

This funding is just a small part of Artemis projectNASA’s $ 370 million attempt to land on the Moon in 2024.

“With funding from NASA, Nokia will look at how to adapt terrestrial technology to the lunar environment to support reliable, high-speed communications,” said James Reuter, NASA’s Associate Administrator. United Press International.

“The system will also extend to spacecraft,” Reuter said. With funding from NASA, Nokia will look at how to adapt terrestrial technology to the lunar environment to support reliable, high-speed communications.

What’s also interesting about this are its plans to be 4G, despite launching four years from now. Maybe it will revolve around 5G?

It is not the first attempt

We first learned about the lunar 4G network in 2017. German PTS scientists were planning their first privately funded trip to the moon using the SpaceX Falcon 9. Part of the purpose of that flight was to study the Apollo 17 spacecraft that was left on the lunar surface in 2005. 1972.

At the time, Nokia and Vodafone announced they were collaborating to help bring roving video over LTE.

“The 4G network will enable the Audi lunar quattro rovers to communicate and transmit scientific data and high-resolution video as they approach and carefully study the NASA Apollo 17 spacecraft, which the last astronauts used to walk on the moon at some point,” Nokia said at the conference.

In the end, that flight never happened, but the dream of a fourth generation on the moon is clearly not dead. When NASA returns to the moon, it looks like it will take a mobile connection with it.