Images of ice — transmitted back to the lander and then Earth in near real-time via the cellular network — would be a world-first. Lunar ice coဣuld be♊ used to create breathable oxygen, and even fuel that could eventually be used to launch Mars missions from the Moon.
For NASA’s program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon this decade, cellular connectivity is invaluable. Currently, astronauts talk to each other by radio, but NASA wants a lunar communications system capable of supporting high-resolution video and science data, said Engelund — especially as Artemis missions become more sophisticated. “Being able to communicate on the Moon is critical to Artemis — as critical as any other mission element like power, water to drink, and air to breathe,” said Engelund. “Eventually, this effort will help establish a lunar communications network that could give our explorers the ability to beam scientific data back, confer with mission control, and talk to their families, as if they were walking down the street on their cellphones.”It could lay the groundwork for an off-world internet not dissimilar to that of Earth’s. Personal devices could connect to such networks, allowing space colonists to use smar🅠tphones that can access all the and services available to those back on Earth.
NASA selected Bell Labs as part of its Tipping Point initiative, a series of partnerships with companies to develop technologies for future missions that puts them in prime position for key roles in the future space economy.Bell Labs was given a in 2020, and in January, Nokia was by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to begin working on a communications services infrastructure that will eventually serve as the “framework for t⛦he lunar ecoꦛnomy.”
“A future lunar economy will critically depend on communication technologies to collect and analyze data, share information, and maintain and control operations,” Thierry Klein, president of Bell Labs Solutions Research, told CNN. “This includes sustaining a semi-permanent or permanent human presence on the Moon, as well as automated robotic operations for transportation, resource mining, mineral processing and scientific data collection.”