Part Time Scientists, a start-up company in Germany, is making plans to send the first telecommunication infrastructure to the moon, NBC News reports.

In partnership with Vodafone, the company will embark on their mission to install the first mobile base-station on the lunar surface next year. It will allow much faster access to astronauts and Earth, as well as speedier transmission of data from one orbital to another.

"Using the LTE modem to transmit our data is much more energy efficient than using direct Earth communication," Karsten Becker, head of embedded electronics development and integration for PTScientists, told Space.com

How does it work?

According to Becker, a rover derives 90 watts of energy from its solar panels.

He says that half of that energy goes into driving, and the other half goes to the modem to connect directly to Earth.

"With LTE, it's significantly less," he said.

The company has a launch contract to send rovers to the Apollo 17 site in late 2018, the site of NASA’s last mission to the moon in 1972. In place of rover’s sophisticated communication system, they will use 4G LTE technology to contact Earth, the same technology used for cell phone connectivity.

The mission

The Falcon 9 rocket, designed by SpaceX, helps propel satellites into orbit.

It will be responsible for carrying the team’s spacecraft, Alina, into orbit up to 26,000 miles, where it can continue on its own to the moon.

Becker told Space.com that they will make a soft landing on the moon and disembark the two Audi Lunar Quatro rovers. He explained that the rovers are, in essence, mobile phones that will communicate a video stream to Alina, which will communicate back to the rovers.

These rovers appeared in the newest “Alien: Covenant” film, and while they are at the site will delicately examine the Apollo 17 spacecraft, and study what has happened to it in the past 45 years, according to NBC.

How long will it be until we can call from the moon?

Becker told space.com that PTScientists have plans for a second mission around 2020.

Hopefully, on that mission, they can plant LTE terminals that are designed to survive the harsh lunar environment for longer periods of time.

The future: a community on the moon?

The company heavily supports the European Space Agency and their lunar village concept where people could one day inhabit the moon. The agency’s mission in the project is to bring together minds from all over the world to build a community on our closest and only natural satellite.

The LTE mission is expected to help launch efforts in the construction of the lunar village. Becker says their goal is to help provide options for the site that are cost-effective. He says they want to show they can utilize the most widespread means of communication, the cellular network, even on the moon to help with missions.

Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Vodafone Germany, told PTScientists.com that with this step, they are laying down the groundwork for all future missions to the moon.

“When Elon Musk sends his first private passengers to orbit the moon in 2018 or ESA opens the doors of its moon village, our Vodafone LTE network will already be there,” he said.

Although this might seem like a distant dream, we have to remember that one point, things that sounded absurd have become daily norms. Ten years ago, the idea of connecting to people solely online raised eyebrows. That was no different than the how the idea of carrying a portable telephone in our pockets once sounded far-fetched.

This could be the new age of communication, one where we make contact throughout the universe. For now, it obviously is still in its first stages and can only be used by the select few astronauts who visit the lunar site.
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