As Nokia gears up to put a 4G network on the Moon potentially in late February, the feat will mark a milestone for both telecoms and space exploration while representing a high-tech leap towards shaping future lunar connectivity.
Earlier this month, the Finnish vendor and its partners aerospace company Intuitive Machines and Lunar Outpost revealed the successful integration of Nokia’s Lunar Surface Communications System (LSCS) into the IM-2 mission lander, dubbed Athena, paving the way for deployment.
The project has been years in the making; the vendor partnered with Vodafone Group back in 2018 to deploy a lunar cellular network, but the initiative did not proceed and the operator has since backed out of the venture.
Then, in late 2020, Nokia pivoted to working with NASA, striking a $14.1 million agreement with the space agency under its Tipping Point initiative to develop commercial space technologies.
Now, with the LSCS and Athena poised for a strenuous journey to the lunar south pole from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, Thierry Klein, president of Nokia Bell Labs Solutions Research, spoke to Mobile World Live (MWL) about how the project plugs a significant need for advanced communication capabilities in space exploration.
Pizza box
As space missions grow more complex, so do communication needs, and Klein highlighted technology’s ability to “connect payloads, rovers, scientific equipment and astronauts”.
In order to support long-term human activities on the lunar surface, Klein continued: “We need high-definition video, real-time sharing of information, telemetry data from the rovers and robotic assets, low latency communication to control these robotic assets, and biometric information from astronauts. So, we believe that there is no mission that can go to space without advanced communication capabilities.”
Nokia’s main ambition, says Klein, is to “push the boundaries of technology” by utilising the capability of everyday technologies to support space missions.
Also speaking to MWL about the vendor’s plans, Ian Fogg, director of network innovation at CCS Insight, explained LTE/4G is a mature, well-tested technology with proven reliability and more robust network management compared to 5G, making it a sound choice for a Moon deployment.
Maturity is indeed particularly useful in demanding extraterrestrial conditions. Klein explained Nokia’s lunar mobile network was optimised to withstand extreme environments, from shock and vibrations at launch and landing to extreme lunar temperatures.
Furthermore, the LSCS is designed to be compact and durable, with size, weight, and power optimisation being critical factors. “It’s a massively integrated, compact network – about the size of a small pizza box – and has all cellular network functionalities integrated,” Klein stated.
The system was also engineered to operate autonomously aboard the uncrewed IM-2 mission. “We built the software reliability framework to make sure the network is self-functioning. Even if you think of future crewed missions with astronauts, you don’t want them to be network technicians,” he remarked.
Closer to home
As Nokia shoots for the Moon in vying to establish a first lunar LTE network, the stakes are high for the vendor to prove its technology’s reliability in a challenging environment given the high costs and risks associated with space operations.
While Fogg judged Nokia’s role in this project to be relatively low risk considering failures are often tied to rockets or other systems unrelated to connectivity, the deployment could still carry significant strategic value in the form of “marketing benefits”. By demonstrating its technological capabilities, Nokia can use the project as a “halo case study for their terrestrial private network business” to prove it can withstand challenging deployments on Earth, he explained.
Indeed, Klein also highlighted that on Earth, high-risk industries like mining, defence, oil rigs, and remote infrastructure could benefit from the company’s LSCS network. The technology’s autonomous capabilities and compact, energy-efficient design could potentially streamline enterprise operations and boost public safety in high-risk earthbound applications. “If we can solve these challenges for space, the solutions will be beneficial for terrestrial networks as well,” Klein added.
Mission Mars?
NASA intends to use these lunar advancements in its Artemis programme, which seeks to establish sustainable lunar operations by the end of the decade as a precursor to Mars exploration. The same network used on the Moon “could be applicable to Mars”, Klein explained.
While latency issues between Earth and Mars would require adaptations to the network architecture, “a lot of lessons learned on lunar deployments will be applicable to Martian deployment”, Klein affirmed. He envisions a future where astronauts and payloads connect to permanent lunar networks, much like roaming services on Earth. “Ultimately, you could imagine that there might be a lunar service provider,” he added.
As more private companies and nations plan lunar missions, including Amazon’s Blue Origin and Musk’s SpaceX, Nokia could position itself as a preferred provider of communication infrastructure in space. Considering this ambition, Fogg underscored that if multiple networks are deployed on the Moon, “there will need to be coordination of wireless spectrum usage just as there is on earth”. Nokia’s early involvement in lunar connectivity could shape its future influence in this new regulatory landscape.
One thing is for certain. As the IM-2 lander prepares for launch, Nokia’s lunar mission offers a glimpse into the converging future of telecoms and space exploration and a potential catalyst for terrestrial innovations.
Source: Mobile World Live
