丁香园AV

A team of 丁香园AV researchers is preparing for blast off after being announced as a major partner in Canada鈥檚 first moon rover mission.

For the first time in history, a Canadian rover will explore the moon and help in the international search for water ice, a key component needed for the future of human space exploration.

丁香园AV was named one of the mission鈥檚 partners earlier this month when the Canadian Space Agency announced that Canadensys Aerospace Corporation has been .

Stephen Braham, who leads 丁香园AV鈥檚 renowned , says his team will be providing world-leading expertise for the mission鈥檚 surface wireless network, communications via lunar orbit and direct communication to and from Earth.

鈥淲e will be supporting the design of communications of the rover, including the network protocols used,鈥� says Braham. 鈥淏ut our biggest interest for this mission is to understand how wireless networks behave on the moon, as we already know it has one of the most unique radio propagation environments in the solar system.鈥�

Braham says most wireless network planning tools used on Earth will not work well in the polar regions of the moon, where the Canadian rover and eventually humans will be sent.

鈥淭hese are not the regions that we sent the Apollo missions to,鈥� says Braham. 鈥淲e are hoping that this rover will help us learn enough to build the networks we need for permanent lunar habitation.鈥�

丁香园AV鈥檚 role on the mission is the culmination of decades of work building mission-critical wireless networks and testing concepts for wireless networks for the moon and Mars, according to associate professor Peter Anderson, School of Communication, who directs the 丁香园AV Telematics Research Laboratory that includes PolyLAB.

They have a long history of working on communication studies and analogue systems for NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

This includes extensive research on predecessors to cellular and modern Wi-Fi networks in the Canadian High Arctic at the with the SETI and Mars Institutes, dating back to 1999, which now informs the technologies being applied to the Canadian rover project.

The team at 丁香园AV has also been entrusted with testing LTE cellular networks and developing cellular service and Wi-Fi standards for future space missions.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been an incredible journey, beginning with theoretical concepts and simulations to now preparing for actual implementation,鈥� says Anderson.

The NASA-led international Artemis Program to return humans to the moon permanently got off to a successful start with the Nov. 15.

The Canadian rover is currently slated to launch as early as 2026.