It's a situation we've all been in before--you call a friend or co-worker on their cell phone, hear something odd in the background, and immediately ask, "hey, where are you?" Well, if you place that call in 2019 and your friend happens to be an astronaut, they could theoretically answer you with, "oh, I'm on the moon." No big deal.
According to
Reuters, the moon (yes, the moon) will be getting its first mobile phone network next year. Vodafone Germany, Nokia, and Audi are working together to support the mission, which is part of a project to back the first privately funded moon mission and will enable high-definition streaming from the moon's surface back to Earth.
The mission is scheduled to launch in 2019 from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, according to Vodafone.
“This project involves a radically innovative approach to the development of mobile network infrastructure,” Vodafone Germany Chief Executive Hannes Ametsreiter told Reuters.
Sadly, the network will only be 4G. Good luck with your high-end streaming.