NOKIA gets NASA contract worth US$ 14.1 million

NOKIA won the prestige by NASA

NASA has awarded NOKIA US$ 14.1 million to help deploy a 4G cellular network on the moon.

NOKIA is a Finnish telecommunications corporation. It's a multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics company. NOKIA was founded in 1865. The company has operated all over the world with a wide-spread network for over 150 years.

NOKIA has won the prestige by NASA to be awarded of their own NOKIA moon mission.
NASA has reportedly awarded a contract of $14.1 million to set up a 4G network on the moon. This grant is a part of a bigger deal worth $370 million.

This is, however, not NOKIA's first attempt to launch an LTE network on the moon. It was planned to do this in 2018 with the help and collaboration of PT Scientists, a German space company, and Vodafone UK to launch an LTE network at the site of Apollo 17 landing. The mission was discussed back in 2018 but the mission never took off from the grounds.

NASA's administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a live broadcast that they are in dire need of new technology and the possible picture of astronauts working on the lunar surface by the year 2028, living and working on the lunar surface must be made possible.

"We need power systems that can last a long time on the surface of the moon, and we need habilitation capability on the surface,"
- Bridenstine (Administrator, NASA)

NOKIA's research executive Bell Labs had provided information in regards to their said moon mission in a tweet which he had posted earlier.

"Working with our partners at @Int_machines, this groundbreaking network will be the critical communications fabric for data transmission applications, including the control of lunar rovers, real time navigation of lunar geography and streaming of high definition video" said Bell Labs in a tweet.

If a cellular network gets established on the surface of the moon it will be the greatest achievement in modern days for space telecommunications.