Astronauts on future missions to the moon may be able to WhatsApp friends and watch Netflix thanks to the efforts of a British company.
By 2028 internet satellites will hopefully be orbiting the moon, made by Inmarsat – one of several UK firms tasked by the European Space Agency with creating telecommunications and a GPS navigation system for the lunar surface.
Nick Shave, vice-president of strategic programmes at Inmarsat, said: “You could envisage getting Netflix and you’ll certainly be getting WhatsApp on the moon.”
A host of missions are planned for the next decade that would see humans return for the first time since 1972. Commercial companies are also planning space missions in the future.
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David Parker, director of human and robotic exploration at the ESA, described upcoming moon trips as the “systematic exploration of our ‘eighth continent’”.
He added: “The moon is a repository of 4.5 billion years of solar system history, but we’ve hardly begun to unlock its secrets.”
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Inmarsat is working on a project being led by Italian space systems company Telespazio, with MDA Space and Robotics, of the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
A parallel project is being led by Surrey Satellite Technology, alongside Airbus in Portsmouth, the Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall and the Nottingham-based sat-nav firm GMV-NSL.
