Nokia secured $14.1 million in funding to deliver 4G connectivity on the Moon as part of a broader NASA programme to land people on the astronomical body and establish long-term research facilities.

NASA stated the backing for Nokia of America will be piled into deployment of the “first LTE/4G communications system in space”.

James Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, told United Press International (UPI) mobile connectivity could aid communication between lunar landers, rovers, habitats and astronauts, with a possibility for the system to also extend to spacecraft.

Nokia’s funding is part of a $370 million NASA programme to land astronauts on the Moon in 2024 and commence broader exploration by the end of the decade.

The equipment vendor is one of 14 companies selected to develop the technologies to achieve this.

In 2018, Nokia and Vodafone Group outlined plans to deploy an LTE network on the Moon as part of a programme backed by German engineering company PTScientists and car manufacturer Audi.