Nokia Bell Labs to help establish networks on the surface of the Moon

It may sound like science fiction, but an economy on the moon is closer to reality than we think. Proof of this is that Nokia Bell Labs, Nokia’s research arm, was one of 14 organisations chosen to take part in the LunA-10 initiative by DARPA, the US agency responsible for investing in innovative technologies aimed at national security. The main goal of the LunA-10 study is to design an integrated multi-service architecture to support a thriving economy on the Moon from the next decade. LunA-10 will develop the fundamental infrastructure to support industrial activities and scientific discoveries.

DARPA has selected 14 companies from different sectors of activity to co-operate on LunA-10. Nokia will focus on designing future network architectures and communication technologies on the lunar surface. According to Nokia, the company was chosen not only because of its current mission to build the first cellular network on the Moon, but also because of Nokia Bell Labs’ long history in space innovation dating back to the Mercury Programme, the first US manned space flight project carried out between 1958 and 1963.

“A major paradigm shift will take place over the next 10 years in terms of the lunar economy. To achieve this transformation more quickly, the LunA-10 project will identify solutions that can enable multi-mission lunar systems,” says Dr Michael “Orbit” Nayak, programme manager for DARPA’s strategic technologies unit. He exemplifies the application of these technologies by citing a wireless power station that could also provide communication and navigation services on its beams.

Nokia Bell Labs will work together with the other 13 companies to establish an integrated commercial economy on the Moon and will specifically be responsible for recommending a high-performance communications infrastructure that can be transported and built efficiently on the lunar surface using reliable energy sources.

LunA-10 wants to select companies that have a clear vision and a technically rigorous business plan for providing or using one or more lunar services, and then encourage them to work together in a collaborative environment in which they will design new integrated solutions.

The main areas of study for LunA-10 are traffic/mobility, energy, communications and other orbital or surface infrastructure concepts. The initiative will not fund the construction or transport of the technological architectures to the lunar surface. Nor will it fund integration with lunar vehicles. However, DARPA intends to present economic information to all the LunA-10 teams to help them analyse and validate the definitions of a critical mass to create a thriving lunar economy.

The expectation is that by mid-2024, LunA-10 will already have a comprehensive plan to establish by 2035 the infrastructure that will support commercial operations on and around the lunar surface. The proposed networks will, for example, allow astronauts to communicate freely and directly with mission control on Earth. They will also transmit video and telemetry data from cameras and sensors scattered around the Moon and integrated into spacesuits, vehicles, structures and scientific experiments in space. In addition, they will guarantee the connectivity needed to control robots and automate risky tasks on the lunar surface.

According to Thierry E. Klein, president of Nokia Bell Labs Solutions Research, DARPA has played a direct role in some of the most significant technological advances of the last 50 years, such as the creation of the Internet and GPS systems. “We are excited to participate in DARPA’s next revolutionary endeavour and help shape the infrastructure for the lunar economy. Pushing technological boundaries is in Bell Labs’ DNA, and by creating the communications solutions model for the Moon, we will help lay the groundwork for a permanent human presence on the lunar surface,” adds Klein.

In addition to the LunA-10 initiative, Nokia will deploy, as part of NASA’s Tipping Point initiative, the first cellular network on the Moon in 2024 to demonstrate that 3GPP technology is capable of meeting the communications demands of future missions on the Moon and Mars.