NASA and Nokia are teeming up to launch a 4G mobile network… on the Moon! The SpaceX rocket is due to launch this year. The exact date is unknown, but it can’t be too far off. The network unit will be built in Nokia’s Bell Lab. Once it is built, the unit will get loaded onto a lander built by Intuitive Machines. Then it will get deployed, and will connect to the lander via radio to two machines already on the Moon. While it may seem unnecessary to give astronauts cell service, it’s mostly for the rovers, which are there only for one reason: looking for ice.
One of the vehicles, the Micro-Nova hopper, will plunge into a crater to search for ice, and the Lunar Outpost rover will explore the Shackleton Connecting Ridge, a different area of the Moon. Photos of lunar ice are actually way more important than anyone thinks. The ice could create breathable oxygen, and fuel that we could use for trips to Mars- from the Moon! Cell service is also more helpful to astronauts. Right now, they can only talk to each other using radios, but having cell service is more reliable for them as the missions get harder and longer. Having cell service on the moon could help to start interplanetary internet around the universe, making other planets even more similar to Earth.
NASA chose Bell Labs for the Tipping Point Initiative, a series of partnerships with different companies to develop technologies for future missions. Bell Labs got a $14.1 million grant in 2020, and in January of 2023, Nokia was selected by US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to work on a communications infrastructure that could become the framework for lunar economy. Overall, cell service on the moon is very important to astronauts and human kind.
Work Cited:
Streaming and texting on the Moon: Nokia and NASA are taking 4G into space. CNN,
24 Apr. 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/04/24/tech/nokia-moon-4g-network-nasa-spc/
index.html. Accessed 14 Jan. 2025.
