Envisioned Lunar Surface Communications Using 3GPP Cellular and Wi-Fi Technologies

Under NASA’s Artemis Program, NASA plans to collaborate with commercial and international partners to establish a long-term human and robotic presence on the Moon. Critical lunar infrastructure includes having a robust surface wireless communications and navigation network to be developed over time by many organizations, public and private. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) has envisioned a lunar surface future that includes the use of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular and 802.11 Wi-Fi technologies. NASA and Nokia Bell Labs are studying and validating the benefits and trade-offs of using 3GPP 4G and 5G technologies originally developed for use here on Earth, and how 3GPP technologies and 802.11 Wi-Fi technologies can be integrated to provide a robust and resilient end-to-end network architecture and solution design. Furthermore, as the 3GPP organization defines future 6G capabilities, NASA wants to understand how that could enhance lunar science and exploration missions and commercial endeavours to provide even more advanced, scalable and high-performance connectivity solutions. The vision is to provide human and robotic missions on the Moon with similar communications and navigation capabilities to what mobile users have on Earth, while adapting these technologies into space-hardened solutions that withstand the environmental and operational challenges of the lunar surface. STMD’s Tipping Point program seeks industry-developed space technologies that can both foster commercial space capabilities and benefit future NASA missions. Via Tipping Point, Nokia Bell Labs will demonstrate the use of 4G / LTE on the lunar surface on the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission. This will be followed with a technology demonstration with astronauts on the Artemis III lunar landing. This paper provides an overview of NASA’s current and planned future work on using 3GPP and 802.11 Wi-Fi on the Moon.