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.
Voices in my head
The AxEMU suits will now include built-in mobile devices that astronauts will operate via a control box on the front of their suit. One challenge on the Axiom side is making sure that voices—which sound different in the pressurized atmosphere of the suit—are picked up correctly by the mics in the helmet, Axiom suit boss Russel Ralston said.
On the Nokia side, the company needs to ruggedize its components for the familiar radiation and thermal challenges of the space environment, but also ensure that network management is truly autonomous and self-configuring.
“This lends itself towards a future Artemis architecture on the surface where this kind of technology can be applied on many assets—rovers, pressurized rovers, suits, ground stations,” Ralston says. “The intent is this will become the cornerstone of a larger communication network architecture on the surface of the moon.”
This story originally appeared on Payload and is republished here with permission.
<hr class=“wp-block-separator is-style-wide”/> https://www.fastcompany.com/91181492/how-nokia-and-axiom-are-putting-4g-on-the-moon?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss
Login to add comment
Other posts in this group
DoorDash is expanding its portable benefits pilot program to certain gig workers in Georgia starting next year, the food-delivery giant tells Fast Company.
Dashers (which is wha
To get from 0 to 60 in Formula 1 engine design while competing against organizations with much more experience, Red Bull Ford Powertrains will need extra help (and, no, that boost won’t come in th
I am not what you would call a finely tuned athletic machine. I am, if anything, an outdated lawnmower engine held together by duct tape and rust. So when I was offered the opportunity to let AI h
It’s hard to remember now, as you scroll through a thicket of porn bots, anti-trans activists, and AI slop
There’s been plenty of speculation about whether generative AI could replace—or perh
When Meta established its Oversight Board to adjudicate on decisions it made about removing content from its platforms in 2020, the goal was for the select group of individuals from the media, civ
When a devastating wildfire hit California in November 2018, a powerful CEO went on Twitter to ask how his company could help. That
