When Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission launches later this month on February 26, it won’t just be another robotic expedition to the moon. Nestled inside the lander, alongside a rover and a hopper, will be a piece of technology that has never left Earth’s orbit: a fully functional 4G cellular network.
This could be a big deal. The network, designed by Nokia Bell Labs, could mark the beginning of a new era in space exploration. Astronauts, rovers, and even future lunar colonists may rely on the same kind of cellular technology that powers billions of smartphones on Earth.
From Apollo to Artemis: A New Era of Lunar Communication
For decades, space missions have relied on point-to-point radio communications. Think of the Apollo missions: a single lander or rover talking to Earth, sending modest amounts of data. “They were based on [ultra high frequency] or [very high frequency] technologies connecting a small number of devices with relatively low data throughput,” Thierry Klein, president of Nokia Bell Labs Solutions Research, told MIT Tech Review.
But the moon is about to get a lot busier. NASA’s Artemis program aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028 and establish a permanent habitat in the 2030s. With more devices, more data, and more people, the old way of communicating won’t cut it.
Enter Nokia’s Lunar Surface Communication System (LSCS), a “network in a box” designed to withstand the brutal conditions of space. The system, which includes a base station and an antenna mounted on the lander, is radiation-resistant, vibration-resistant, and built to survive extreme temperatures. It’s powered by the lander’s solar panels and will enable high-speed communication between the lander, a rover, and a hopper during the IM-2 mission.
“We intend to prove that cellular technologies can provide the reliable, high-capacity and efficient connectivity needed for future crewed and uncrewed missions to the Moon and eventually Mars,” Klein says.
A Network Built for the Moon — and Beyond
The Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission inherits and refines the successful Nova-C lunar lander design used in the IM-1 mission. The updated lander, named Athena, incorporates several enhancements, including a lighter-weight helium pressurant tank. The IM-2 Athena lunar lander is aming for the “Mons Mouton” region of the Moon. This landing site is approximately 100 miles (160 km) from the Moon’s South Pole, representing the closest location ever attempted. Athena is expected to land in a lunar highland terrain and demonstrate lunar mobility, resource prospecting, and analysis of volatile substances from subsurface materials.
The IM-2 mission is just the beginning. Nokia envisions a future where lunar habitats, rovers, and even spacesuits are connected by a sprawling 4G or 5G network. “Maybe just one network in a box, one tower, would provide the entire coverage or maybe we would need multiple of these,” Klein says. “That’s not going to be different from what you see in terrestrial cell networks deployment.”
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But building a cell network on the moon isn’t as simple as repurposing Earth-based technology. So, the LSCS had to be reconceptualized to handle the unique challenges of space. Each of the 14 mounting points on the lander is thermally isolated to protect the network from the deep cold of space. Intuitive Machines also integrated the system into the lander’s Thermal Protection System, which expels heat during operation and supplies warmth when the network is idle.
A first step toward the future
The network will support high-definition video streaming, command-and-control communications, and telemetry data. And if you somehow brought your smartphone to the moon, it could theoretically connect to the network — provided you had a “lunar” SIM card.
The IM-2 mission is a proof of concept, a first step toward a future where cellular technology connects not just the moon but also Mars and beyond. “Cellular technology has irrevocably transformed the way we communicate on Earth,” Klein says. “There’s no reason it can’t do the same for communications on other worlds.”
For now, the network will only operate for a few days — until the lunar night descends and the lander’s systems shut down. But if it works, it could lay the groundwork for a new kind of space exploration, one where connectivity is as seamless on the moon as it is on Earth.
And who knows? Someday, lunar colonists might scroll through their phones under the light of Earth, just as we do under the light of the moon.
