Nokia Put a 4G Cellular Network on the Moon but Couldn’t Make a Phone Call

If everything went to plan on March 6, there'd be a small 4G LTE network on a tiny area of the moon right now. The first lunar 4G network—from Nokia—would have provided connectivity for several rovers as a part of the IM-2 mission. The work was supposed to pave the way for NASA's Artemis III in 2027, the first crewed mission to the moon since 1972, where Nokia and Axiom Space will integrate 4G LTE communications capabilities into astronaut spacesuits. Unfortunately, Intuitive Machine's lander, Athena, landed on her side—a fate that befell the original IM-1—not to mention 250 meters from its intended landing site at the lunar south pole. The orientation of the solar panels, direction of the sun, and cold temperatures in the crater it landed in all contributed to the fact that Athena couldn't recharge. The company announced on March 7 that the mission quickly concluded. (IM-2 wasn't the only craft to recently land on the moon—earlier this week, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 s ... Read full article.