A team of European scientists has sent back LoRa remote signals from the moon for the first time. This feat set a new record of 730,360 kilometers, the longest distance LoRa technology has ever traveled. This is also the first time that off-the-shelf, small RF (radio frequency) chips have been used to send data information back and forth. In a very short time, the entire message “PI9CAM” (the telescope’s call sign) traveled from the Earth to the Moon.
It also proves that LoRa technology, used in many IoT (Internet of Things) applications, can cover such long distances and send and receive low-power information from the moon. This may be relevant to future lunar communications.
The team includes Jan van Muijlwijk (CAMRAS), Tammo Jan Dijkema (CAMRAS), Thomas Telkamp (Lacuna Space) and Frank Zeppenfeldt (ESA), some of whom hold radio amateur licenses. To achieve the transmission, the team used the Dwingeloo radio telescope operated by the CAMRAS Foundation in the Netherlands. Radio telescopes have a history of being used for amateur radio experiments and are now often used for lunar reflections.
In addition to the technical demonstration of bouncing signals from the moon, some additional scientific research was completed during the experiment, the researchers said. Because the radio signals are slightly offset, they can be compared to the Moon’s theoretical position. Of course, the moon is also moving during the transmission of the signal. The lunar sphere can actually be seen by observing the signals returned to Earth.
Nicolas Sornin, co-inventor of LoRa, said: “This was a great experiment. I never dreamed that one day LoRa signals would go all the way to the moon and back. I was impressed by the quality of the data captured. The The dataset will become a classic in radio communications and signal processing. Many thanks to the team and the CAMRAS Foundation for making this possible.”
Thomas Telkamp, chief technology officer of Lacona Space, a global connectivity provider for the Internet of Things, said: “It’s exciting to see news coming from the moon. Based on the round-trip time, we were able to calculate the distance to the moon, which is consistent with NASA’s JPL Horizons ephemeris system. The predictions matched up very well. We even used the echo to see a shape of the moon that we couldn’t have imagined.”