Nokia Is Getting $14.1M From NASA To Get 4G Wifi On...THE MOON

(mashable)--Nokia's research arm, Bell Labs, provided more details in a Twitter thread. The company intends for the network to support wireless operation of lunar rovers and navigation, as well as streaming video. 

The network is built to be compact and efficient, as well as "specially designed to withstand the extreme temperature, radiation and vacuum conditions of space."

According to UPI, NASA said in a live broadcast of the announcement that the network would extend to spacecraft, and help develop technology fit for the moon. While there aren't details about the timeline of this project becoming a reality, it's all in support of NASA's goal of having a lunar base on the moon by 2028, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in the broadcast.

You know what they say...home is where you connect to the wifi automatically. I guess if we are actually going to colonize the Moon we are going to need a reliable network. Imagine living in a world with no internet. I can't do it, even if that world is another world. Everyone needs the comforts of home and when you're stuck on a giant white rock 239,000 miles from home you're going to need to be able to refresh instagram and stream netflix otherwise nobody will sign up to go there. The moon has to be the most boring place of all time. It's basically like living in permanent worst case scenario covid-19 quarantine. Kind of like what we thought was happening in March-April...if you go outside and breathe air...you die. If I didn't have reliable wifi during those times I would've gone insane. 

I won't lie though...I am getting EXTREMELY triggered by this. If it costs $14M to have reliable 4G on the fucking moon, then it can't possibly cost that much to have 4G that works in places like you know...mountains or the country. I've been outside in places where the sky is so clear that I can literally see the satellites buzzing over Earth, but I have no signal on my phone. It's peaceful in a sense to be disconnected sometimes, but the flip side of that coin is that when you're in a place with no signal that is exactly when you're going to get murdered. That is how it works. "Oh my god, look at the nature! It's so beautiful..ahhhh....I'm dead". Call me crazy, but I think maybe we should be getting 4G coverage everywhere on Earth before we start putting it on the Moon. If they can spend money to come up with a network that is "specially designed to withstand the extreme temperature radiation and the vacuum conditions of space" maybe they can come up with a network that can work even when you're next to a building or in a tunnel or in national park. Just a thought. Priorities seem out of whack. We could get murdered in a National Park on Earth because we couldn't call for help, and NASA astronauts are going to be streaming the Netflix documentary about said murders from the moon without a single second lost to buffering. That is bullshit.