KDDI Corporation (KDDI) has been awarded a contract by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) under its Space Strategy Fund to study feasibility of Cislunar communication system development.
The study will be conducted by a team led by KDDI, along with KYOCERA Corporation, NEC Space Technologies, Ltd., ArkEdge Space Inc., NEC Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and KDDI Research, Inc.. During the one-year contract, the team will explore the feasibility of achieving high-capacity communication between Moon and Earth.
As lunar exploration such as the Artemis Program [Jump to the applicable section1] is emerging, there is a growing demand for high-speed, high-capacity communication services to provide high-quality video transmission from astronauts and rovers on the Moon. KDDI and the consortium members will contribute to develop high-quality communication between Moon and Earth using Lunar Exploration Ground Sites (LEGS) compliant ground stations for Direct-to-Earth (DTE) services and 3GPP technologies for lunar surface network.
Since 2022, KDDI has been engaged in studies with regards to lunar navigation and communications with JAXA [Jump to the applicable section2]. KDDI also successfully demonstrated the technology to assemble and install a 3GPP mobile network antenna by collaborating with GITAI USA Inc. [Jump to the applicable section3]. Along with these outcomes and our knowledge of terrestrial network infrastructure construction and operation to provide high-quality communication services, KDDI will take a step forward to study how to realize the vital infrastructure with the team.
