How to launch a telecoms business on the Moon
A business case for the telecommunications industry. General Motors, Toyota, Sony and a Japanese toy company are designing lunar rovers.
How to launch a telecoms business on the Moon
Human and robotic activity on the Moon is widely anticipated to increase in the near term and grow exponentially there forward. Just this month, the BBC noted, “a large flotilla of lunar missions will be launched this decade.” With such a remarkable expansion on the horizon, the entrepreneurial may begin thinking about which industries will be the first to capitalize on the demands that will arise from this development.
One likely answer is the telecommunications sector. After all, communications are the lifeline of a lunar mission. Without a link to Earth, no information can be exchanged, no commands received, and no guidance on navigating the mysterious and largely unexplored lunar surface. Responding to this need, telecom firms could deploy communications satellites to provide commercial services.
This month, as part of its Moonlight initiative, the European Space Agency (ESA) contracted two industry consortiums to study how satellites orbiting the Moon could provide commercial services for people and machines operating there.1 In doing so, ESA officials suggested the following business concept: By utilizing lunar satellites, commercial landers could offload telecoms equipment, which would decrease development costs, while increasing customer payload capacity; the savings could then be used to pay for the satellite service.2 In other words, reallocate the cost for comms to the satellite provider with the benefit of increasing delivery revenue. This would, conceivably, be a win-win for both companies. Aiming to be operational by 2027 or 2028, Moonlight aims to drive the development of a lunar economy. The managing director of SSTL, one of the awarded companies, who is planning to launch a lunar satellite in 2024 for an 8-year mission, said this initiative could “act as a catalyst” to inspire more missions.
NASA, which is working on its own lunar satellite constellation concept called LunaNet, last year awarded telecom company Nokia with $14.1 million (USD) to begin building a cellular network on the Moon.3 NASA acknowledged Nokia’s proposed network as having the “potential to provide substantial benefit to government and other customers.” Nokia had previously partnered with British telecoms company Vodafone and German lander company PTScientists to build a LTE network on the Moon, but the plan never materialized.4
Major companies are working on lunar vehicles
On May 26, three separate announcements about commercial lunar rovers were made on the same day around the globe:
In the US, General Motors and Lockheed Martin announced plans to jointly design an autonomous lunar vehicle.5
The Canadian Space Agency announced plans to fund Canadian companies to develop a rover by 2026.6
Japan’s space agency revealed a miniature rover jointly designed with Sony and toy company Takara Tomy.7
The GM-Lockheed self-driving “Lunar Terrain Vehicle” was announced after NASA asked industry to pitch ideas for crewed rovers. So, presumably, we’ll be seeing competition from other US car makers in this arena. A spokesperson for GM said he expects the rover program to lead to other market opportunities. Reportedly this is “one of several initiatives” the companies are working on together.8
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) aims to collect data on the lunar surface with a small rover—a “transformable lunar robot”—to aid the design for a crewed lunar vehicle its working on with Toyota. Roughly the size of a baseball, it employs miniaturization technologies from Takara Tomy and control technologies from Sony. The rover will also be delivered to the Moon as a payload on ispace’s commercial lander.†
Why lunar business may become the next big thing
I expect the concept of commercial activity on the Moon may be pushed into mainstream within the next year or two with Elon Musk and his rocket company SpaceX a driving force in its popularization.
This month, lander company Firefly Aerospace announced it selected SpaceX to launch its first mission in 2023.9 SpaceX now has contracts to launch six missions for four different lander companies through 2023. In addition, NASA recently awarded SpaceX a contract to launch the first elements of its lunar-orbiting station, the Gateway, in 2024.10 And, last month, NASA awarded SpaceX with $2.89 billion (USD) to develop and launch a crewed lunar mission.11
This cadence of missions should be enough to grab the public’s attention, but the bigger force may be Musk, himself. With more Twitter followers than CNN, BBC, and NASA,12 appearances on popular programs such as Saturday Night Live and The Joe Rogan Experience, he has sweeping reach. He’s also in step with internet culture and online communities, such as Reddit, which can be seen through his embrace of the meme-based cryptocurrency Dogecoin; this month, SpaceX announced DOGE-1, a launch of a lunar payload funded entirely by the cryptocurrency.
Considering the public attraction toward SpaceX, Musk’s continuous presence in the news cycle, and his “race” to the Moon against Jeff Bezos, I think it’s only a matter of time that conversations about lunar industry mature from the fringe to the mainstream as a byproduct of all the attention.
South Korea gearing up for the Moon
South Korea became the 10th country to sign the Artemis Accords, an international agreement for civil exploration and peaceful use of the Moon.13 The country is planning to send an orbiter to the Moon in 2022 and aiming to put a lander on the Moon by 2030.14
In 2019, the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) unveiled the world’s largest vacuum chamber filled with artificial lunar soil to be used as a testbed for lunar missions. KICT has also developed or is in the process of developing equipment for lunar expeditions, such as a drill, an AI lab, a 3D printing system, and a technology to manufacture bricks from lunar soil.15
Japanese companies launching lunar businesses
JAXA said it will continue “utilizing the lunar landing opportunities and technologies offered by commercial companies.”16 This month, Jiji Press featured Japanese companies working on lunar businesses; at least three have some collaboration with JAXA. Among them, housing company Misawa Homes and JAXA are developing a “movable Moon base” which underwent tests in Antarctica last year.1718 The agency also has a program called J-SPARC to collaborate with the private sector on space business concepts. A JAXA official recently said more than 20 plans are underway, and JAXA has been communicating with over 200 companies for the program.19
Additional lunar timelines mentioned in the news this month (not comprehensive)
2021 (Oct): Launch of Russia’s Luna-25 mission reportedly on schedule.20
2021 (Dec): Potential launch of US lander company Astrobotic’s first mission.21
2022 (Q1): US lander company Intuitive Machines 1st mission.22
2024: Planned launch of China’s Chang’e-6, to land on the far side South Pole.23
2025: Targeted completion of the first phase of China and Russia’s data gathering missions to determine the location for ILRS**.24
2026: Targeted start of second phase and beginning construction of ILRS.25
2029: Targeted launch of crewed lunar mission by China.26
2030: Targeted start of third phase of ILRS through 2035.27
2030: South Korea aims to put a lander on the Moon by 2030.28
2036: China’s targeted start date for long-term human presence on the Moon through 2045.29
*Gateway: Lunar Gateway - a planned space station in lunar orbit.
**ILRS: International Lunar Research Station - a planned international lunar base cooperation being led jointly by China and Russia.
† The author of this newsletter is employed by ispace. I do my best to be fair and objective. All opinions and analysis are my own. Read full disclaimer in the newsletter About section.
ESA advances its plan for satellites around the Moon; ESA, May 05 2021.
ESA awards study contracts for lunar communications and navigation systems; SpaceNews, May 21 2021.
VODAFONE AND NOKIA TO CREATE FIRST 4G NETWORK ON MOON, Feb 27 2018.
GM’s newest vehicle: Off-road, self-driving rover for moon; Associated Press, May 27 2021.
Canada to send rover to Moon by 2026: minister, France24, May 26, 2021.
NASA’s new lunar vehicle could be built by GM and Lockheed Martin, TechCrunch, May 27 2021.
Firefly Aerospace Awards Contract to SpaceX to Launch Blue Ghost Mission to Moon in 2023; Firefly, May 20 2021.
NASA selects Falcon Heavy to launch first Gateway elements; SpaceNews, Feb 10, 2021.
NASA selects SpaceX to develop crewed lunar lander; SpaceNews, Apr 16 2021.
List of most-followed Twitter accounts; Wikipedia, May 24 2021.
Republic of Korea Joins List of Nations to Sign Artemis Accords; NASA, May 27 2021.
South Korea signs Artemis Accords, aims for moon by 2030; Space.com, May 27 2021.
Korea Develops World’s Biggest Moon Simulator; WIRED Korea, Dec 12 2019.
Japan's Space Startup Market Blooms, Nov 2020.
Intuitive Machines’ first lunar lander mission slips to 2022; SpaceNews, April 28 2021.
China, Russia open moon base project to international partners, early details emerge; SpaceNews, Apr 26 2021.
China, Russia open moon base project to international partners, early details emerge; SpaceNews, Apr 26 2021.
China, Russia open moon base project to international partners, early details emerge; SpaceNews, Apr 26 2021.
China, Russia open moon base project to international partners, early details emerge; SpaceNews, Apr 26 2021.
China, Russia open moon base project to international partners, early details emerge; SpaceNews, Apr 26 2021.
South Korea signs Artemis Accords, aims for moon by 2030; Space.com, May 27 2021.
China, Russia open moon base project to international partners, early details emerge; SpaceNews, Apr 26 2021.