Vodafone wants 4G network on the moon for live HD video

Vodafone wants to station a Nokia LTE base station on the moon next year to be able to transmit live HD video to Earth, among other things. Furthermore, the network must connect two Audi rovers.

Setting up the 4G network is part of a mission of the German PTScientists. That company is preparing a moon mission together with Vodafone Germany and Audi. In 2019, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch PTScientists’ Autonomous Landing and Navigation Module, or Alina, into orbit.

From there, the lander departs for the moon, carrying two Audi Lunar Quattro rovers on board. Among other things, they are looking for the moon lander from the Apollo 17 mission of December 1972. The LTE base station of Nokia Bell Labs, weighing less than a kilo, provides the data connection of the two Audi rovers and has to be used for a live HD video stream to the Mission Control Center in Berlin.

The connection will be via the 1800MHz band. According to Vodafone and Nokia, this is a first step towards a definitive communication infrastructure on the moon for upcoming moon missions. According to PTScientists, the Alina is compatible with multiple types of missiles and the racks on either side can hold different payloads. For example, the lunar lander could put cubesats, small satellites the size of a milk carton, into orbit around the moon.