Moon to have 4G network by 2019
Berlin: The moon will have its first 4G cell phone network in 2019, the network builder Vadafone has said.
The German branch of the multinational telecommunication company has teamed up with Nokia to do the mission, London-headquartered Vadafone said in a statement on Tuesday.
The network is to support a private lunar rover mission by PTScientists, a private space company based in Berlin, which plans to launch a lander and two small rovers to the moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Xinhua news agency reported.
The PTScientists said their team is committed to bringing down the cost of space exploration and democratising access to the moon.
The moon rover plan aims to study the lunar rover used by the Apollo astronauts during their historic landing in December 1972.
Nokia will create a space-grade Ultra Compact Network that is said to be the lightest ever developed - weighing around one kg, the same as a bag of sugar, according to the statement.
The planned network will enable PTScientists' lander to broadcast a live video from lunar surface to the audience on earth and facilitate the communication among the lander and rovers.
Under previous communication technologies used in moon exploration, such as analogue radio, transmitting data consumes considerable energy reserves and requires rovers to be stationary.
"The great thing about this... is that it saves so much power, and the less energy we use sending data, the more we have to do science!" said Robert Bohme, CEO and Founder of PTScientists.
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234 held in anti-drug operation in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 15 (PTI): The Kerala police on Saturday said as part of its special drive to crack down on individuals suspected of drug trafficking, 234 people were arrested, and varying quantities of several deadly narcotics, including MDMA, were seized.
The State Police Media Centre (SPMC) stated that on March 14, as part of the drive, D-Hunt, authorities inspected 2,362 individuals suspected of drug trafficking and arrested 234 of them.
The operation was carried out across the state to identify and take strict legal action against those involved in the storage and distribution of banned drugs.
Police registered 222 cases related to the possession of various prohibited substances, according to a statement issued by the SPMC.
Additionally, authorities seized 0.0119 kg of MDMA, 6.171 kg of cannabis, and 167 cannabis 'beedis' from those arrested.
Operation D-Hunt is being jointly implemented by the Range-based NDPS Coordination Cell and District Police Chiefs under the leadership of State Anti-Narcotics Task Force Head and ADGP (Law and Order) Manoj Abraham, following the instructions of State Police Chief Dr Sheikh Darvesh Sahib, the statement said.
The SPMC also announced that a 24-hour Anti-Narcotics Control Room (9497927797) has been set up to receive information from the public regarding drug-related activities.
The details of individuals who contact this number will be kept confidential, it added.
Furthermore, the operation will continue in the coming days through sustained surveillance and the creation of a database of individuals regularly involved in drug-related activities and transactions.
