According to the latest report, the US start-up Aquarian Space is planning to launch the first high-speed Wi-Fi Internet system to the moon and Mars. The company, based in Boulder, Colorado, has raised $650,000 in funding.
The project aims to create a lunar communications network to connect the Earth to the Moon by 2024 via satellites similar to those used by other internet companies such as SpaceX’s Starlink.
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Currently, this connection is achieved by a system known as “EME” (Earth-Moon-Earth), which is based on a platform that sends and receives information via radio waves.
The only problem with the project is that it is very expensive and only agencies like NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) have the capacity to install the infrastructure that can transmit and receive waves this far.
Moreover, Aquarian Space aims to create an infrastructure parallel to that used by space agencies, it will be called Solnet, and the system will be based on “the high data rates and high-speed transmission of commercial satellite networks.”
“We have 13 landers, rovers, and satellites operating on the moon,” said Kelly Larsen, CEO of Aquarian Space. “By 2030, we’ll have 200, creating a multi-billion dollar lunar economy. But that won’t happen without solid, reliable lines of communication between Earth and the moon,” he added.
Technical analysis for the project is being developed with the company as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Currently, Aquarian Space has not given details on the satellite models it intends to use for the network or how to launch them into space.
But it says it intends to use the system for space junk tracking, space weather observations, and information from the moon and Mars. According to the company, the aspiration is to start launches in 2024, with a second launch in 2025 to cover the moon’s south pole. The company promises internet speeds of up to 100Mbps.
