To make Artemis cheaper than Apollo, the plan is to use off-the-shelf tech, or close to it. That’s why NASA is paying Nokia to network astronauts headed for the moon.
Axiom, NASA’s space suit contractor, said last week that it will use Nokia’s tech as the primary comms system for AxEMU space suits that astronauts will wear during the Artemis III landing (assuming that happens on schedule.) To fund the communications upgrade, NASA added $57.5 million to Axiom’s suit task order, which is now valued at $285.5 million.
Thierry Klein, president of Nokia Bell Labs, says his network will be the first deployment of 4G/LTE tech in space.
Talk among yourselves
When NASA began work on its future moon suits, the plan was to rely on radio and Wi-Fi for communications.
But as NASA pushed that work out to private contractors, it awarded a research contract to Nokia to explore “3G PP”—the standards underlying terrestrial mobile networks—for the moon. Its mandate is to worry only about surface comms; the Human Landing System contractor will provide a relay back to Earth.
While radio has limited bandwidth and Wi-Fi limited range, a 4G/LTE network can deliver high bandwidth to multiple devices. Nokia has designed a “network in a box” that it will test on Intuitive Machine’s next uncrewed lunar mission, using the technology to communicate with Lunar Outpost’s rover and IM’s hopper.
That demo will inform the final design of the network that heads to space on Artemis III, Klein said. Right now, there aren’t plans for further in-space testing, given tight deadlines.
