Indian-Origin Nishant Batra Leads Project To Setup First 4G Network On Moon For NASA

Nishant Batra, a Nokia executive, has taken charge of building the first 4G cellular network on the Moon with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA. He is headed towards setting extraterrestrial cellular mobility that could one day be extended to connect future robotic human missions in space, including missions to Mars.

An Indian born in New Delhi and who attended the bachelor's in a university at Madhya Pradesh before moving to the United Kingdom for further studies will be leading the efforts to accomplish the project that will provide mobile connectivity to NASA's ambitious Artemis moon landing programme.

Insights About The Lunar Connectivity Project

When asked about the lunar connectivity project, which NASA granted to Nokia in October 2020, Batra spilt a few insights about the project. He said,

"If you run a 4G network on the Moon, then this device will work there. And then, if somebody is carrying this device, they can make a call home as long as it is legally allowed. I'm not sure it will be legally allowed for a long, long time. These (networks) are very secure for the system, highly secured, (and) not for public use," Batra told Times Of India.

NASA wants to use Nokia's established network to help provide critical communications capabilities for tasks astronauts will need to carry out, such as remote control of lunar rovers, real-time navigation, and high-definition video streaming, as a follow-up to the historic 1969 moon-landing mission led by Neil Armstrong.

The US space agency said, "With Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of colour on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. Then, we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars," reported TOI.

Nishant Batra's History Imprint

Nishant Batra, based in Espoo of Finland, is the global head of Nokia, strategy, and technology, which values Euro 22 billion responsible for leading the technical architecture and research at Bell Labs, which has nine Nobel Prize wins and five Turing awards.

Batra, born in 1978, holds an MBA from INSEAD and a bachelor's degree in computer applications from Devi Ahilya University in Madhya Pradesh. And then graduated from Southern Methodist University with a master's degree in telecommunications and computer science.

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