NASA has awarded Solstar Space Company a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract worth $150,000 to design a lunar Wi-Fi access point (LWIFI-AP) to support Artemis and Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions. The goal is to deliver a space-rated, rugged, multi-mode wireless system that can survive extreme lunar conditions—radiation, dust, temperature swings—and enable connectivity among landers, rovers, habitats, spacesuits, instruments, and orbital assets. PayloadSpace describes how Solstar will tackle this challenge by creating two versions: one for short (≈ two-week) CLPS missions and another designed for multi-year Artemis deployments. Meanwhile, a PR Newswire release clarifies that the LWIFI-AP must handle multi-band, multi-protocol service across lunar and cislunar systems, bridging ground, surface, and orbital networks. Additional reports by “Space Launch Schedule” note that Solstar will spend the coming six months developing preliminary designs under the contract. (https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/space-news/solstar-wins-nasa-contract-to-develop-lunar-wi-fi-systems/
Sources: PayloadSpace, PR Web
Key Takeaways
– NASA is investing in infrastructure for lunar operations—not just rockets—and sees wireless communications as a foundational piece.
– Solstar’s contract is small but strategic: the Phase I award is intended to prove concepts and lay groundwork for a flight-worthy system.
– The mission demands overcoming hostile lunar environmental challenges (dust, radiation, thermal cycles) while meeting rigorous communication standards across multiple mission phases.
In-Depth
If we’re going back to the Moon for real this time, it’ll take more than a spacecraft and a rover. NASA and its commercial partners are realizing that the lunar surface needs an infrastructure—not unlike the backbone of an Earthly city. Among the most critical pieces: WiFi. That’s where Solstar, a space communications startup from New Mexico, comes into play with its newly awarded NASA SBIR Phase I contract to design a lunar WiFi access point, or LWIFI-AP.
Under this deal, Solstar must prove that its design can withstand the rigors of the lunar environment. The Moon is unforgiving: radiation levels are high, temperatures swing wildly between day and night, and lunar dust is notorious for infiltrating even the smallest mechanical or electronic gaps. Solstar’s challenge is to create a wireless system that not only works but is rugged, self-healing, and maintainable from Earth. As the PayloadSpace article describes, the company is building two versions of the access point—one for shorter Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions (roughly two weeks) and another engineered to last up to five years for sustained Artemis operations.
This isn’t just about astronaut web browsing or streaming videos (though crew morale might appreciate it). It’s about connecting landers, rovers, instruments, habitats, spacesuits, and even orbital assets like the planned Lunar Gateway in cislunar space. The LWIFI-AP must interface with different network protocols, connect across multiple bands, and ensure real-time data flow, command, navigation, and scientific telemetry.
A PR Newswire explanation underscores how NASA sees this as filling a gap. Today, there is no commercial off-the-shelf solution that meets NASA’s standards for multi-protocol, space-qualified wireless access on the lunar surface. So, the $150,000 Phase I fee is a proof-of-concept contract, meant to enable Solstar to deliver viable preliminary designs and begin addressing swaths of system trade-offs. If this phase succeeds, further contracts or options could follow for flight hardware.
Importantly, reports say Solstar has six months to deliver these preliminary designs. According to Space Launch Schedule, that timeframe will be used for concept development, risk assessments, environmental modeling, interface specifications, and prototype planning. After that, NASA and Solstar would evaluate whether it’s ready for a Phase II or development of actual hardware for launch.
Solstar is not new to space communications. Its prior work includes delivering WiFi in suborbital flights and working with small satellite networks. But the leap to lunar WiFi is substantial. Here, the system must be self-reliant, resilient, and capable of remote troubleshooting—there is no “go outside and reboot the router” option at 238,000 miles away.
In the broader Artemis architecture, a network like LWIFI-AP could play a role in enabling scalable lunar bases, modular habitats, robotics operations, and scientific experiments. In time, it could become the “mesh network” of a lunar infrastructure. That said, plenty of technical and schedule risks remain: integrating with other systems, minimizing size/weight/power constraints, ensuring redundancy, and mitigating dust/radiation degradation.
If Solstar succeeds, this contract could represent a turning point: we’d be moving from episodic lunar landings to sustained, networked presence on the Moon. And WiFi—something we take for granted on Earth—would suddenly become a critical piece of humanity’s next frontier.