As we all came to know the significance of Telecommunication & digitization in this pandemic year, the use of those devices has significantly grown up globally. Now as the current scenario suggests there’s a dog fight going upon the famous telecom companies to take the supremacy.
First Cellular Network on Moon
But there’s a company who might be falling behind in this market but they’ve found another market, the Finnish company namely NOKIA has announced its expansion into a new market, winning a deal to install the first cellular network on the Moon.
The Finnish telecom equipment manufacturer company released a press release where they informed that NASA has selected them to deploy an "ultra-compact, low-power, space-hardened" wireless 4G network on the lunar surface, as part of the US space agency's plan to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon by 2030.
Installing the Network
As per some reports, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has signed a contract worth 14.1 million with NOKIA to set up a 4G network on Earth’s natural satellite. Nokia's network equipment will be installed remotely on the Moon's surface using a lunar hopper built by Intuitive Machines which will be sent up along with the NASA Artemis’ lunar lander scheduled to launch by late 2022 and reach the Moon by 2024.
“Communications will be a crucial component for NASA's Artemis program, which will establish a sustainable presence on the Moon by the end of the decade,” said Nokia in a statement. Later adding that the wireless technology will allow for "vital command and control functions, remote control of lunar rovers, real-time navigation and streaming of high definition video."
Deploying 4G On Moon
According to NASA, 4G could provide more reliable, longer-distance communication than the current radio standards in place on the moon. The network will allow astronauts on the Artemis mission to control vital command functions operate the lunar rovers from afar, use real-time navigation and even stream high definition video.
And, 4G will probably work better on the Moon than it does here on Earth since there aren’t any trees, buildings, or conflicting signals to interfere with its performance. And as per the standards we are seeing the world going towards the 5G network, NOKIA also promised that they can also upgrade their equipment accordingly which will support 5G networks also.
Nokia’s Bell Labs will be building the network. However, before its plan to deploy 4G on the Moon, Bell Labs discovered cosmic microwave background radiation produced by the Big Bang, and was responsible for launching the first-ever active orbiting communications satellite with NASA.
This grant is part of $370 million worth of contracts signed under NASA's "Tipping Point" selections, meant to advance research and development for space exploration. The bulk of the funding went to companies researching cryogenic propellants, freezing liquids used to fuel spacecraft.
According to some reports among the 14 companies that were given the grant by NASA apart from NOKIA another significant name would be probably be the company of Elon Musk SpaceX who received around 53.2 million dollars for a demonstration of the transferring of ten metric tons of liquid oxygen between tanks on a starship vehicle.
Written By - Gaurav
Edited By - Nidhi Verma
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