Compared with the radio system currently used on the moon, the 4G network allows astronauts to communicate over longer
distances.
Is there life on the moon?
As human beings move closer to the moon, the answer to this question is supported by more evidence. In order to further explore the moon, humans first answered the question of whether the moon has a network.
Nokia says it can, and 4G networks will be available on the moon in 2022.
Nokia wants to build a network on the moon, and astronauts will download movies in seconds in the future.
The Artemis project is a manned space project led by NASA. This is a sustainable lunar exploration program. The goal is to safely send astronauts to the moon and return by 2024, and establish a normalized residency mechanism.
In the Artemis plan, in order to allow staff to live better on earth, NASA also arranged the network construction together. The operator selected by NASA to deploy the first 4G LTE communication network system on the moon is the familiar Nokia.
It is Nokia Bell Labs that is responsible for completing the construction of this network.
At the end of 2022, Nokia and its US company IntuitiveMachines will build and deploy a set of compact, low-power, end-to-end, cosmic-ray-resistant LTE network solutions on the lunar surface. This network system will be integrated into the lunar lander, and the lander will deliver the system to the moon. After that, the network system will be automatically configured during deployment and continue to provide services on the moon.
Compared with the earth’s 4G network, the moon’s network system is actually not fundamentally different. Even because the moon does not have any trees, buildings, or television radio communication networks to interfere with 4G signals, its effect on the moon may be better than on the earth.
But in addition to the favorable conditions that the moon has no obstruction, it still needs it. For example, the extreme temperature, high radiation, and vacuum working environment ensure that the network can still work normally even when the rocket launches and returns to produce large vibrations.
Compared with the radio system currently used on the moon, the 4G network allows astronauts to communicate over longer distances. In addition, the use of the network to control the lunar rover, conduct map navigation on the moon, and transmit high-definition video, will all be in 2022.
And just like the renewal on earth, the 4G network on the moon will also be upgraded to 5G one day. In the press release announcing the 4G LTE cooperation, Nokia wrote that it plans to pursue LTE follow-up technology, 5G space applications. If the network system is further upgraded, astronauts can even download three movies in 20 seconds.
Marcus Weldon, the chief technology officer of Nokia, said with excitement that we are building the first-ever cellular communication network on the moon. Reliable, highly adaptable, and high-capacity communication networks will be the key to supporting sustainable human activities on the lunar surface.
4G networks are used on the moon, but 2G is still used in some places.
What does it mean that the moon will be connected to the Internet in 2022? More convenient communication, simpler file transfer, smarter tool applications… But in addition to this, this also means that astronauts on the moon will use 4G networks earlier than about 4.5 billion people on Earth.
This sounds weird. The moon is thousands of miles away, and it requires the joint efforts of the brightest minds in the world to bring the Internet to a new planet within two years. But in the world sharing the same planet, those already mature commercial technologies have not reached more regions due to various reasons such as economic restrictions. New technologies can operate between planets, but the same technologies have not yet been fully popularized on earth.
This is the real situation that will happen in 2022. According to data from technology company Cisco, only 3.9 billion people (51% of the world’s population) have access to the Internet in some form in 2018. By 2023, when the lunar 4G network has been deployed and is running smoothly, only 5.3 billion people in the world will still have access to the Internet.
Among these 5.3 billion people, one-third of users will be using 2G and 3G networks by 2023, and their internet speed will be slower than that of astronauts on the moon. As a result, a total of 4.5 billion users will lose out to moon residents in the comparison of internet speeds.
The inequality of Internet technology is real.
Do you think that surfing the Internet is the patent of the upper-middle class? You won’t because the internet is cheap enough in your environment. But in a country like Zimbabwe, the monthly internet fee may cost hundreds of dollars. Thinking about their financial situation, you know that this is a huge expense that ordinary families cannot afford. Therefore, many people who want to connect to the Internet can only go to Internet cafes, and the general Internet access fee is about $2 an hour.
When there is only one broadband service operator in a country, operators without competitive pressure can enjoy high profits, so network pricing will also be high. A report released by the Cheap Internet Alliance shows that in countries and regions with only one operator, the cost of each 1GB of traffic can cost up to $7.33.
The organization defines network affordability as a user’s 1GB mobile data network spending no more than 2% of the average monthly income. But on the African continent, the average of this dimension of data is 7.12%, and the cost of 1GB traffic in some regions can even exceed one-fifth of the average income.
Even if it is expensive, the internet speed is not great. In many areas, 4G is already the fastest network, and many people are using 2G networks.
In order to better surf the Internet, they made these efforts
The World Economic Forum published an article “Expanding mobile broadband coverage, how can millions of people be lifted out of poverty?” The article pointed out that the Internet has given users more education, work, and medical opportunities, and the existence of mobile networks has also helped economic growth. This also means that network inequality will make the strong stronger and the weak weaker.
So in today’s generation, if you want to be rich, you may not have to plant trees first, but you must first connect to the Internet.
When the smartphone and Internet penetration rate of users in a region is insufficient, it also means that this market may have great growth potential in the future. Because of this, giants such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Google are actually helping local users with infrastructure construction to help them enter the Internet era earlier. To this end, they have used balloons, drones, satellites, and several in-depth cooperation with local companies. These projects also have different effects.
Facebook assisted in the construction of the Uganda fiber optic project, the largest land network in Africa. They also launched a global Internet access plan in 2013, Internet.org free Internet service, which is certainly not charity. While being free, users who use Internet.org’s free services are living in a world built by Facebook. Of course, you can also call it a moat.
The existence of this service has caused some countries with low Internet penetration rates to regard Facebook as the Internet, and Facebook has also experienced explosive growth there. But this project has not been smooth sailing. Due to the withdrawal of some multinational mobile operators, Internet.org has ceased operating services in many countries. On the Facebook platform, the number of official mentions of Internet.org is also decreasing.
However, Internet.org is still influential compared to Google, which has already announced its abandonment. In February of this year, the GoogleStationprogram free Wi-Fi project announced a miscarriage. It originally wanted to establish hotspots in places with heavy traffic by cooperating with local governments and companies to provide access to the Internet for those who may not be able to afford the Internet.
But because there was no hope of making money, Google quickly gave up. Similar projects include Google’s balloon network project ProjectLoon.
At present, Microsoft’s Airband high-speed network expansion plan may be steadily advancing. It uses unused satellite TV frequency bands (white bands) in remote areas of the United States, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa to send broadband services to disconnected users. Their goal is to add 40 million Internet users worldwide by 2022.
You can call this technology poverty alleviation, or it can be called the preemptive occupation of virgin land. Many multinational operators, including China Telecom, also take a fancy to this underdeveloped land. For local people, in addition to waiting for the local network to get better and better with the assistance of large companies, also have their own wisdom in using the Internet.
Remember to close the background, do not open any web pages, and do not look at pictures. It is a user’s advice to later generations on social platforms.
In areas where the Internet is still underdeveloped, many behaviors represent high tariffs and stagnation. Therefore, many foreign Internet users have learned how to use the Internet well and quickly. This may be the same as when you used the Internet more than a decade ago. Watching videos is something they dare not think about. It is common to get information through text, and image loading means more traffic consumption.
You finished the movie in a few minutes, and the router at home completed the third generation; the 4G network on the moon was put into use, and the astronauts chatted with relatives on another planet with the support of the network; At the same time, another corner of the earth, the small girl feels the charm of the Internet in black and white text. Her father wants to work hard to pull a network cable at home next year.
This is a different world, this is the real world, this is the Internet world.
Not too interesting, not too optimistic.
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