The Intuitive Machines IM-2 Mission in March marked a milestone moment for cellular technology capable of withstanding the rigors of space travel, a level of connectivity that will be critical in fueling any future space economy. The inaugural journey of a new lunar network Nokia's ‘network in a box’ (NIB) was delivered to the Moon’s surface in March attached to the Intuitive Machines’ Athena lunar lander. And there, in an area of the lunar highlands called Mons Mouton, the network powered up. For 25 minutes, the rigorously adapted 4G/LTE system, about the size of a small pizza box, was functional, receiving and transmitting operational data to Nokia’s mission control center nearly 400,000km away. “We’ve achieved some major objectives. We’ve built a network which survived launch and landing. It survived transit to the Moon.” Dr. Thierry Klein, President, Bell Labs Solutions Research, Nokia Bell Labs Signal noise with the laser altimeter and issues with the optical sensors aboard Intuitive Machines’ Athena caused the lander to end up on its side, and left a planned cellular call — establishing a wireless link between the NIB and the rover and hopper on board—unworkable. But for the engineering team behind the innovation, the mission achieved significant goals in advancing the readiness level of cellular technology and validated years of painstaking work. “From the network’s perspective, we’ve achieved some major objectives,” says Dr. Thierry Klein, president of Bell Labs Solutions Research at Nokia. “We’ve built a network which survived launch and landing. It survived transit to the Moon. That’s no small feat because we’ve taken commercial technologies and built this NIB to survive the mechanical stresses of a rocket launch, traversing the Van Allen radiation belts and then landing. We’ve then managed to turn the NIB on, send commands and receive telemetry data back from the network. So, we know that our NIB was fully operational and ready to establish connections.” And that marks a major leap forward in the creation of a cellular network set to be instrumental to the success of a projected multi-trillion-dollar space economy. Developing connectivity critical to the space economy By 2035, the Moon could be full of activity and industry. There may be astronauts living and working in permanent habitats; fleets of robotic vehicles circumnavigating craters and asteroid boulders; research teams conducting scientific experiments and manufacturing advanced materials; industrial teams drilling and mining for resources and erecting sensor grids designed to power local economic activities. There could even be railroads ferrying cargo, power generators, and minerals harvested from lunar soil. In fact, the entire space economy is expected to be as high as $1.8 trillion by 2035. And while lunar activities are only a small chunk of this, they will only be sustainable with a modern cellular communications network designed to withstand the rigors of space. Until now, radio communications, which require a clear line of sight between two antennas and use ultra-high frequency radios, have been relied upon to connect, say, astronauts on the surface of the Moon or a lunar lander with Earth. When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the Moon in 1969 they used a radio system called an S-Band, which used a lightweight umbrella-like antenna on the lunar lander to reflect signals over a vast distance. But with far more devices soon to populate the Moon’s surface, and more advanced bandwidth-intensive and latency-sensitive applications, these technologies will fall short. As Klein outlines, there are multiple scenarios in which cellular connectivity that enables better range, more devices, and higher data transfer speeds will form the bedrock for safe, effective space exploration. For one, astronauts’ work will need to be augmented by myriad robotic and autonomous systems—be it in drilling, mining, or harvesting for food—and each of these will need to coordinate and communicate with one another to align on tasks. “Everything that we want to do, from scientific exploration to creating an established permanent presence on the lunar surface with an operating lunar economy, requires advanced communication capabilities.” Dr. Thierry Klein, President, Bell Labs Solutions Research, Nokia Bell Labs