Vodafone and Nokia have outlined plans to install a 4G mobile network on the moon next year.
The mission is being organised by PTScientist, a group of volunteer scientists and engineers in Germany, and will launch in 2019 from Cape Canaveral ona SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The network will enable the live-streaming of HD video from the moon's surface to a global audience.
Vodafone will connect 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.
"This project involves a radically innovative approach to the development of mobile network infrastructure," said Dr Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Vodafone Germany.
"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."
Marcus Weldon, Nokia's chief technology officer and Bell Labs president, added: "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."
The mission will be the first privately-funded moon landing, taking place 50 years after the first NASA astronauts walked on its surface.
Source: http://www.businesscloud.co.uk/news/moon-to-get-its-first-4g-mobile-network