Nokia and Intuitive Machines have completed the final integration of Nokia’s Lunar Surface Communication System (“LSCS”) into the IM-2 mission lander, named Athena, which is due to travel to the Moon next month.
The two companies intend to deploy the first cellular network on the Moon as part of the mission.
The LSCS “network in a box” will enable Intuitive Machines’ Micro-Nova Hopper and Lunar Outpost’s Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) vehicles to stream HD video back to Athena. Intuitive Machines expects to relay data from the LSCS back to Earth using its direct-to-Earth data transmission service.
The LSCS utilises the same 4G/LTE cellular technology used on Earth, with Nokia Bell Labs reconceptualising the system to meet the requirements of a lunar mission, said the company.
Thierry E. Klein, President of Bell Labs Solutions Research at Nokia, said: “We intend to prove that cellular technologies can provide the reliable, high-capacity and efficient connectivity needed for future crewed and uncrewed missions to the Moon and eventually Mars.
“Cellular technology has irrevocably transformed the way we communicate on Earth. There’s no reason it can’t do the same for communications on other worlds.”
The launch of Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander is expected to take place no earlier than late February from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
