Nokia Bell Labs is rigorously testing the 4G LTE system that will provide sustainable and reliable lunar internet service for American astronauts when they return to the moon within the decade.
It hopes to deploy this system by 2022 at the lunar south pole. Nokia's lunar internet system will be carried to the moon aboard a lunar lander developed by space exploration startup Intuitive Machines based in Texas.
On Oct. 11, Intuitive Machines will attempt to become the first private company to land a commercial lander on the moon. Its Nova-C lander is scheduled to touch down in a deep, narrow valley named Vallis Schröteri in the Oceanus Procellarum, or the Ocean of Storms.
It will carry a drilling experiment called Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1. The drill will probe for water ice below the lunar surface.
The experience gained by Intuitive Machines in this maiden mission called IM-2 will benefit Nokia when it attempts to deploy its internet system next year.
Nokia has already built its lunar LTE system, which is configured for use and survival on the moon. It's also tested key system parameters, including performance, range and throughput.
Nokia revealed 25 tests were conducted in environmental chambers under extreme conditions simulating the hostile lunar environment. The tests took into account stressors like radiation, shock, vibration, operation in a vacuum and thermal threats.
The system hardware has been optimized and hardened to withstand extreme conditions, from takeoff to landing, to intense radiation on the lunar surface. Nokia is now integrating its internet equipment with the Nova-C lander assigned to the mission.
There's still development and testing needed to align with requirements for the lunar internet mission, said Thierry Klein, head of Nokia Bell Lab's Enterprise and Industrial Automation Research Labs.
"That's really the focus for us this year," said Klein about the development, integration and testing phase.
What Nokia Bell Labs has developed is essentially an entire LTE network in a box, said Klein. More technically, what Nokia has built is a small cell with an integrated evolved packet core.
"You have your radio, your baseband, your core, all your functionality integrated into a single compact unit that will be deployed on the lunar lander," said Klein.
User equipment emplaced on Nova-C's lunar rover will establish a link from the lander to the UE on the rover. The height of the lander and rover (three to 5 meters) means the system will be short-ranged. Nokia, however, has developed solutions for this problem.
