When the first Moon mission in more than 50 years returns to the lunar surface in 2019, it will bring LTE connectivity to the Earth’s natural satellite.
On Tuesday, German space firm PTScientists announced a partnership with Vodafone Germany and Nokia.
The firm has spent the last several years planning a mission to the Moon. It intends to bring two Audi-designed rovers to the lunar surface next year when it launches them onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Part of the mission will involve revisiting the Apollo 17 landing site.
As for Nokia and Vodafone, they’re working together on developing space-grade networking gear that weighs less than 1 kilogram.
The purpose of bringing LTE-capable base stations to the Moon is so that the two rovers from Audi can communicate and transmit high-definition video to the Autonomous Landing and Navigation Module (ALINA), which in turn will connect scientists from PTScientists in Berlin with everything that’s happening on the lunar surface.
Additionally, those of us stuck here on Earth will be able to see the Moon in a way that we’ve never seen before.
“This project involves a radically innovative approach to the development of mobile network infrastructure,” said Vodafone chief executive Hannes Ametsreiter in a statement to Reuters.
While 5G is all anyone can talk about at Mobile World Congress, the Nokia and Vodafone plan to use 4G to connect the Moon due to the reliability of the technology.
