Lockheed Martin Applies for Lunar Communications Authorizations

Eyeing lunar communications infrastructure as a service, Lockheed Martin seeks FCC sign-off for 230 robotic landers, vehicles, spacesuits, landing systems and handheld terminals to use on the moon's surface. In an International Bureau application Wednesday, LM said the fixed and mobile lunar surface stations would communicate with each other, the company's ParsecTM lunar orbit satellites and other satellites, and earth stations using the UHF, S, X and Ka bands. LM said it's also planning for a second phase of lunar deployment that would involve licenses for space manufacturing and lunar surface mining assets and a third phase that would include a fission power plant and lunar surface habitat. It said its planned Parsec communications network would provide connectivity between the Earth and moon. The initial lunar mission likely would provide services to NASA, though "various international space agencies and governments as well as commercial entities have expressed a need for these services," LM said. It anticipates that for its proposed lunar communications network, customers would buy time the same way they buy time for an earth station under a service agreement.