Vodafone Group Plc VODAFONE & NOKIA TO CREATE 1ST 4G NETWORK ON MOON
February 27 2018 - 8:30AM
RNS Non-Regulatory
TIDMVOD
Vodafone Group Plc
27 February 2018
Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, 27 February 2018
VODAFONE AND NOKIA TO CREATE FIRST 4G NETWORK ON MOON
-- PTScientists will lead Mission to the Moon in 2019.
-- Vodafone Germany appoints Nokia as technology partner to
develop space-grade network weighing less than a bag of sugar.
-- Vodafone 4G network will enable first live-streaming of HD
video from the Moon's surface to a global audience.
The Moon will get 4G coverage next year, 50 years after the
first NASA astronauts walked on its surface. Vodafone plans to
create the first 4G network on the Moon to support a mission by
PTScientists in 2019 and has today appointed Nokia as its
technology partner.
Berlin-based company, PTScientists is working with Vodafone
Germany and Audi to achieve the first privately-funded Moon
landing. Mission to the Moon is due to launch in 2019 from Cape
Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Vodafone's network expertise will be used to set up the Moon's
first 4G network, connecting two Audi lunar quattro rovers to a
base station in the Autonomous Landing and Navigation Module
(ALINA). Nokia, through Nokia Bell Labs, will create a space-grade
Ultra Compact Network that will be the lightest ever developed -
weighing less than one kilo, the same as a bag of sugar.
The 4G network will enable the Audi lunar quattro rovers to
communicate and transfer scientific data and HD video while they
carefully approach and study NASA's Apollo 17 lunar roving vehicle
that was used by the last astronauts to walk on the Moon (Commander
Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt) to explore the Taurus-Littrow
valley in December 1972.
Vodafone testing indicates that the base station should be able
to broadcast 4G using the 1800 MHz frequency band and send back the
first ever live HD video feed of the Moon's surface, which will be
broadcast to a global audience via a deep space link that
interconnects with the PTScientists server in the Mission Control
Centre in Berlin.
A 4G network is highly energy efficient compared to analogue
radio and that will be crucial to Mission to the Moon and is the
first step to building communications infrastructure for future
missions.
Vodafone Germany CEO, Dr Hannes Ametsreiter, commented: "This
project involves a radically innovative approach to the development
of mobile network infrastructure. It is also a great example of an
independent, multi-skilled team achieving an objective of immense
significance through their courage, pioneering spirit and
inventiveness."
Robert Böhme, CEO and Founder of PTScientists, said: "This is a
crucial first step for sustainable exploration of the solar system.
In order for humanity to leave the cradle of Earth, we need to
develop infrastructures beyond our home planet. With Mission to the
Moon we will establish and test the first elements of a dedicated
communications network on the Moon. The great thing about this LTE
solution is that it saves so much power, and the less energy we use
sending data, the more we have to do science!"
Nokia Chief Technology Officer and Bell Labs President, Marcus
Weldon, said: "We are very pleased to have been selected by
Vodafone to be their technology partner. This important mission is
supporting, among other things, the development of new space-grade
technologies for future data networking, processing and storage,
and will help advance the communications infrastructure required
for academics, industry and educational institutions in conducting
lunar research. These aims have potentially wide-ranging
implications for many stakeholders and humanity as a whole, and we
look forward to working closely with Vodafone and the other
partners in the coming months, prior to the launch in 2019."
- ends -
For further information:
Vodafone Group
Media Relations Investor Relations
www.vodafone.com/media/contact Telephone: +44 (0) 7919
990 230
About Vodafone
Vodafone Group is one of the world's largest telecommunications
companies and provides a range of services including voice,
messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone Group has mobile
operations in 26 countries, partners with mobile networks in 49
more, and fixed broadband operations in 19 markets. As of 31
December 2017, Vodafone Group had 529.1 million mobile customers
and 19.3 million fixed broadband customers, including India and all
of the customers in Vodafone's joint ventures and associates. For
more information, please visit: www.vodafone.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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