Nokia won the massive $14 million contract as part of NASA’s ‘Tipping Point’ program that involves allocating $370 million to companies in the hopes of advancing research and development for space exploration.
Bell Labs, Nokia’s research arm made the announcement on Twitter on October 15, in a thread of tweets.
“To the moon! […] We are excited to have been named by @NASA as a key partner to advance “Tipping Point” technologies for the moon, to help pave the way towards sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.point 485 |
So, what technology can you expect to see?” Bell Labs wrote.point 52 | “Our pioneering innovations will be used to build and deploy the first wireless network on the moon, starting with #4G/LTE technologies and evolving to #5G.point 186 | ”point 189 | 1
Bell Labs explained how it will work with its partners at Intuitive Machines, and stated that the ‘ground-breaking network’ it is creating will be the ‘critical communications fabric for data transmission applications, including the control of lunar rovers, real-time navigation over lunar geography, & streaming of high definition video’.point 611 |
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Furthermore, the company explained how its network will be developed to ‘withstand the extreme temperature, radiation, and vacuum conditions of space’.
On October 14, NASA also announced the other companies that will receive contracts as part of its Tipping Point program.
“The following selections, organized by topic area, are based on NASA’s fifth competitive Tipping Point solicitation and have an expected combined award value of more than $370 million,” NASA said. “NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) will negotiate with the companies to issue milestone-based firm-fixed-price contracts lasting for up to five years.”
Together with Nokia, other companies that have been awarded contracts include Eta Space, Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance (ULA), Masten Space Systems, and Teledyne Energy Systems.