The next human visitors to the moon will be able to share selfies with each other, thanks to Nokia’s plan to equip our satellite with 4G connectivity. As reported by CNBC, the Finnish telecommunications giant has made significant strides in bringing 4G to the Moon.
If all goes as planned, US aerospace firm Intuitive Machines will carry Nokia’s antenna-equipped base station with it when it launches the Nova-C lunar lander on a SpaceX rocket. According to Nokia chief engineer Luis Maestro Ruiz De Temino, he will be accompanied by a solar-powered rover.
De Temino says that once the base station reaches Shackleton crater, it will establish LTE connectivity on the Moon.
While the idea of sharing selfies from the moon is fun, that’s not the point of course. Nokia is working on such a project to support the next manned Artemis probe to the Moon. Astronauts will be able to use the network to communicate with each other. In addition, it will be possible to establish a healthier communication with mission control. It will also be able to remotely control the rover and transmit video and telemetry data back to Earth in real time.
In the meantime, a concrete date for when the rocket will be launched has not been announced. But analysts are said to see 2023 as an “optimistic target”.
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