Nokia, as a key telecommunications partner, sealed the $14.1 million deal with NASA to advance their Tipping Point technologies to the moon.
If you’re old enough, you may still pair Nokia with that very first flip phone you got back in high school. It both weighed and looked like a brick – and you had to press the number ‘7’ four times just to type the letter ‘s’. But these were simpler times, and you were most likely frothing on your new tech setup. Obviously, technology has progressed exponentially since 2006 and we’re well into the realm of smartphones. Even your grandma probably doesn’t use a flip phone anymore.
Yet, Nokia still leads the charge as one of the world’s leading industry innovators. They’ve just taken on a massive $14.1 million contract with NASA as part of the space innovator’s Tipping Point program. Well, if there wasn’t enough conspiracy and concern surrounding the safety of 5G on Earth, it looks like Nokia and NASA will be teaming up to get 4G networking on the moon.
NASA has allocated a combined award value of $370 million to research companies as part of their Tipping Point program. The funding will pool resources into advanced space exploration and innovation, in order to establish “a sustainable presence on the Moon and enabling crewed missions to Mars“.
Nokia will be the first-ever company to build a cellular network on the lunar surface! The news of the deal was released on Oct 16 via Bell Labs, the research and scientific development company owned by Nokia, on their Twitter page.
To the moon! 🌕
We are excited to have been named by @NASA as a key partner to advance “Tipping Point” technologies for the moon, to help pave the way towards sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.
So, what technology can you expect to see? (1/6) pic.twitter.com/wDNwloyHdP
— Bell Labs (@BellLabs) October 15, 2020
Nokia announced that they will work towards first implementing 4G on the moon, with the goal of evolving and transitioning to 5G coverage. The network will deploy “critical communications fabric for data transmission applications, including the control of lunar rovers, real-time navigation over lunar geography, & streaming of high definition video”.
The telecommunications company further went on to explain how its network will be developed to “withstand the extreme temperature, radiation and vacuum conditions of space”. In the meantime, NASA has also launched a rover into orbit to better understand what Mars sounds like!
Working with our partners at @Int_Machines, this groundbreaking network will be the critical communications fabric for data transmission applications, including the control of lunar rovers, real-time navigation over lunar geography, & streaming of high definition video. (3/6)
— Bell Labs (@BellLabs) October 15, 2020
“By building the first high performance wireless network solution on the Moon, Nokia Bell Labs is once again planting the flag for pioneering innovation beyond the conventional limits,” announced Marcus Weldon, Chief Technology Officer at Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs President.
Looks like we may be ringing up our alien friends pretty damn soon!
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