Telecoms conquering the moon

Audio 02:00

NASA has chosen the Finnish group Nokia to deploy a 4G network on the Moon.

BellLabs

By: Dominique Desaunay Follow

5 mins

As part of its Artemis program, the US Space Agency, NASA, intends to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon.

But without an efficient telecom network, future “astro-mobi-nautes” would be quite incapable of transmitting any SMS or other lunar “selfies”.

NASA has therefore chosen the Finnish group Nokia to deploy a 4G network on our natural satellite.

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In 2024, two American astronauts, a woman and a man, will frolic, hand in hand, on the surface of the lunar star, as part of the

.

And this time, no question of undertaking

, the objective of the American Space Agency is to establish a permanent base on our natural satellite which would eventually be used to launch manned flights to the planet Mars.

►

But little problem!

With a total absence of network and Internet, the Moon can claim to be the largest "white zone" in the history of telecommunications.

This is the reason why 

with the US subsidiary of the Finnish group Nokia to deploy this cellular connectivity in 4G, " 

 ", specifies the Space Agency.

The telecom equipment will be integrated directly into the frame of a small automatic goods transport module, developed by the

company

in Houston.

Landing of connection devices on the Moon by 2022.

The specifications of the American Space Agency require Nokia to design compact, light and energy efficient equipment.

They must be

, the forces of acceleration during launch and the shocks of the moon landing.

Moreover, as it is impossible to send maintenance technicians on site,

in the event of failure.

The mission of this 4G network will be to command and control sensors in real time, to pilot lunar robots, but also to ensure the streaming of high-definition videos, the voice communications of astronauts and to convey telemetry data and biometrics of future Selenite explorers.

Nokia specifies that this " 

 ", will evolve very quickly towards 5G.

After the Moon, it will obviously be Mars that we will have to connect!

And who knows, let's dream a little, in the extremely distant future, a large interstellar telecom network will perhaps broadcast our “selfies” to the stars.

You have questions or suggestions, you can write to us at

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