⁍ NASA has selected Nokia to build the first cellular network on the moon.

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⁍ The network will give astronauts voice and video communications capabilities.

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⁍ Nokia said the network would be using 4G/LTE, in use worldwide for the last decade, instead of the latest 5G technology.

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– Finland’s Nokia has been chosen by NASA to build the world’s first cellular network on the moon, the Guardian reports. According to Reuters, Nokia will build the 4G/LTE network, which will be delivered to the moon by private space craft design company Intuitive Machines in late 2022. NASA wants to have humans on the moon by 2024, with lunar settlements being part of the agency’s long-term plan. The 4G/LTE network will be able to handle voice and video communications, as well as allow for data exchange and remote control of lunar rovers and other robotic devices. It will have to be sent to the moon in an extremely compact form to meet the stringent size, weight, and power constraints of space payloads. Nokia said the network would be using 4G/LTE, in use worldwide for the last decade, instead of the latest 5G technology, because the former was a more known quantity with proven reliability. The company will also “pursue space applications of LTE’s successor technology, 5G.”