A Vodafone 4G network, together with two Audi rovers, are going to land on moon by 2019. What we know is that there are so many moon areas in which the phone does not get a signal now, but next year there might be a cell coverage.
This private mission was conceived by a PTScientists team from Berlin: a group of scientists who have devoted their free time to this project. The PTS team are collaborating with Nokia and Vodafone about the 4G networking and with Audi to bring two Audi Quattro rovers and the ALINA (Autonomous Landing and Navigation Module) lander on moon.
The plan is that Nokia delivers a version of its Ultra Compact Network, weighing less than a kilogram, and the two Audio Quattro rovers, which will be approaching and examining the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) used in the final Apollo mission, Apollo 17.
The rovers will also be controlled in real-time using joysticks and are outfitted with 3D depth-sensing cameras. On the other hand, ALINA will touch down to the Taurus-Littrow valley where tools had already been launched, like the Lunar Rover Vehicle in 1972 during Apollo 17.
Data will be relayed through the ALINA lander using LTE. Theoretically, thanks to the system operating, we could see the surface of the moon live and in High-Definition, without the rovers having to stop themselves in order to broadcast the images stored on tape. The aim of taking the 4G network is to test a communication type faster and more efficient than before.
According to IFLScience, it could be developed to a “lunar cell phone” able to connecting with the Earth. At this point, all we got to do is waiting for 2019 and seeing where this technological project takes us!