NASA is studying the possibility of build a Wi-Fi network on the Moon, according to reported the space agency itself.
Mary Lobo, NASA’s director of incubation and technological innovation, said in a press release: “This was a great opportunity to develop solutions to the challenges we face in sending astronauts to the Moon under the command of Artemis, while addressing a growing social problem in our city.”
The Artemis program, introduced last year, aims to get people to the moon for the first time since 1972. Their plan is to launch an unmanned mission around the moon in 2021, followed by a manned lunar flyover in 2023 and then a moon landing in 2024.
The study, conducted by NASA’s Compass Lab, is important because “Crew, exploration vehicles, scientific instruments and mining equipment will need reliable communication links ​​to the lunar base camp / Artemis and ultimately to Earth”Steve Oleson, head of NASA’s Glenn Compass Laboratory, explained to Insider.
To assess what this network might look like on the Moon, the Compass team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center evaluated how a terrestrial network might work in a neighborhood near Cleveland.
The study compared a lunar surface area with a city area to address the technical challenges associated with Wi-Fi connectivity in the local area. Although the teams were different due to different terrestrial and lunar environments, Wi-Fi frequencies can be the same as those on Earth.
Engineers found that placing Wi-Fi routers on about 20,000 poles or streetlights in Cleveland could provide Internet access to every home in a given neighborhood.
Place the routers no more than 100 meters apart, a house of four people could get a download speed of around 7.5 megabits per second.
Oleson said the study results will be provided to NASA mission planners for future Artemis missions and possible future base field projects.