This 4G NIB has shorter than the planned shelf life, but even though the mission is successful, the NIB is still short. Dow said it wasn't meant to survive the cruel lunar night, which starts for almost 9 days (one lunar day and a lunar night is every equivalent of almost 14 ground days). In fact, the entire IM-2 mission is planned to end this time, as solar cells of the equipment will not have the energy to empower the devices. For the Artemis III mission, the network and modules in the spacesuits will be built to survive the extreme moon temperature, which can get as hot as 250 degree Fahrenheit or as cold as the -208 degree.
Over time, the goal is to establish Permanent base stations. “When you have a solid connection, you will see how you can have a basic infrastructure to support all the visions people are talking about,” Dow said. “As you see the scaling of travel on the lunar surface, then you will have the inhabitants,” Dow said. “In the end, it gets to the point where you don't have to take the network with you, you just have to bring the device because of the network where.
The 4G LTE communications to be included in the Axiom Spacesuit in the future can talk from astronaut to lander and astronaut to the lander on the astronaut. There will be no smartphone for astronauts to hold their head. “It's going to be a little like driving in your car free of charge,” said Russell Ralston, the executive vice president of extravehicular activity in the Axiom Space. The microphones in the suit activate the voice, and the network will include many HD video streams, not to mention telemetry and data from built-in sensors.
So why not 5G? The current generation mobile network provides significant improvement In its predecessor, after all. Dow said the development for space lasts a long time and Nokia wants to start with the technology that has been tested firmly. At this time, 5G is in the early stages of its adoption and, for trials, additional capabilities are not required. “We are fully working on evolution at 5G,” he said. If you wonder if Nokia will be Just The network provider on the moon, Dow said a multi-vendor environment would be flexible as Nokia uses a standard technology with interoperability.
Michael López-Alegría, Chief Astronaut at Axiom Space, spends time with International Space Station From 2006 to 2007, and also ordered AXIOM-1 in 2022-the first commercial crewed astronaut mission to the ISS. He said in Apollo's missions, astronauts were heavily trained in Geology, and as Artemis III's astronauts were undergoing similar training, having the ability to send high-definition video from the moon to more qualified people who returned home the game changes.
“Now they can show a geologist in the world [the things they’re seeing] Instead of knowing everything that a PhD knows, ”said López-Alegría. “They can use it as a tool, a little like we do in ISS today. I think it's a jump, and it's 50 years later, right? So it should be.”
The IM-2 is the only scheduled test of the 4G Nokia network in the moon. It was slightly successful, but Nokia would not share if there was another test today that the IM-2 suddenly ended. Dow said the company will continue to run world trials leading Artemis III.
