Nokia

Company - Nokia

Founded
Country
1865
Finland
Funding
Yes, ?
Website
Nokia
Social
Nokia

Product/Service

Classification
Space Utilities
Category
In-Space Communications Relay
Status
Development
First launch
2024
Partners
Lunar Outpost, Intuitive Machines

Nokia won a $14.1 million award to develop lunar communications systems using 4G wireless networks.

Nokia is partnering with Intuitive Machines for this mission to integrate this groundbreaking network into their lunar lander and deliver it to the lunar surface. The network will self-configure upon deployment and establish the first LTE communications system on the Moon. 

The network will provide critical communication capabilities for many different data transmission applications, including vital command and control functions, remote control of lunar rovers, real-time navigation and streaming of high definition video. These communication applications are all vital to long-term human presence on the lunar surface.

In the Nokia Bell Labs mission, the end-to-end system has been optimized for the extreme lunar environment and to minimize size, weight and power. The various components of the LTE network are tightly integrated with the ultra-compact base station mounted on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, rather than deployed as separate units as they typically are in terrestrial networks.

The other key hardware components of the mission are the LTE user equipment integrated into Lunar Outpost’s MAPP rover and two different sets of antennas that provide the connectivity between the lander and rover. Upon successfully landing on the Moon, our LTE network will operate for up to 12 days, during lunar daylight, enabling surface communications between the lander and the rover. That link will be used to control the rover remotely from Earth when it is not operating autonomously, as well as send back a live video feed, telemetry and network measurements collected across the rover’s multi-kilometer path.

DARPA LunA-10 Program Study, 2023-2024

To this end, DARPA has selected 14 companies for the 10-Year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) Capability Study, which aims to catalyze the setup of a future civil lunar framework for peaceful U.S. and international use. LunA-10 seeks to study the rapid development of technology concepts for a series of shareable, scalable systems that can operate jointly, creating monetizable services for future lunar users.

Nokia's payload is scheduled for Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission, planned for mid-2024 as of late 2023.

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