The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has started a study to establish a Wi-Fi (Wireless Area) network on the Moon at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. NASAstated that it plans to solve the internet connection problems in the world with its Wi-Fi work.
The study began after the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the region’s economic development agency, reached out to NASA because about 31 percent of Cleveland households lack broadband access. The Greater Cleveland Partnership has asked NASA to find the best way to bring connectivity to households in the region and resolve inequality in internet access.
Steve Oleson, Head of the Compass Laboratory at the Glenn Research Center, where the study was conducted, stated that the Wi-Fi project is important for establishing a reliable communication network on Earth, and to evaluate what such a network would look like on the Moon, they took a terrestrial station in Cleveland near the research team. explained that it is evaluating how the network works.
Oleson noted that although Earth and Moon environments are different, Wi-Fi frequencies on the Moon may be the same as on Earth. Oleson said the study showed that connecting Wi-Fi routers to about 20,000 lampposts would help solve internet problems in Cleveland or elsewhere.
Saying that a 4-person house can achieve an internet speed of about 7.5 megabits (mbps) per second when the routers are placed no more than 100 meters away, Oleson stated that the studies will also help NASA’s Artemis project.
The Artemis project, which is NASA’s goal of sending astronauts to the Moon by 2024, is known as NASA’s first crewed Moon mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
“While this presents a great opportunity to develop solutions to the challenges we face in sending astronauts to the Moon under Artemis, it also addresses a growing societal issue,” said Mary Lobo of NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
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