American based mobile phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint are always trying to outdo each other when it comes to price and network. They peddle deals promising unlimited data and a million lines (we’re approximating). But Vodafone might be winning. The European mobile company is teaming up with Nokia (remember your old “candy bar” phone?) to concentrate on expanding the range of the 4G network. Expand by how much? Well, is the freaking moon far enough?
Reported by the BBC, the two companies and Audi are making this leap in support of a PTScientists mission to achieve the first privately funded Moon landing, aptly called Mission to the Moon. The 4G network will support two Audi lunar quattro rovers on the moon’s surface and connect them to a base station. This endeavor, scheduled to launch in 2019 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will make sending large files back to Earth easier.
One of the biggest questions asked of PTScientists was why should Vodafone be putting 4G on the Moon before parts of the UK has received it. Kate Arkless Gray responded that so much of our technology, such as the cameras in our current smartphones, was created or discovered either through or for space exploration. Who knows what possibilities can be found using the technology in this fashion.
What do you hope scientists are able to find on the Moon? Will a Justice League Watchtower satellite soon be within the realm of possibilities? Let me know on Twitter at @donnielederer or sound off in the comments below.
Images: BBC
More from above!
- The Andromeda galaxy may not be as big as we thought.
- Neptune’s “fart storm” is about to die.
- NASA releases new Juno images of Jupiter.
