The evolution of lunar communication—From the beginning to the present

Abstract

The Moon is the closest celestial body to the Earth. The examination and discovery of this planet have always played an important role in the history of humanity. Since the beginning of the space age, the Moon has been the target of many missions from the 1950s to the present day. Radio communication plays a fundamental role in space vehicle projects because this is the most obvious way to communicate with the ground station and transmit control commands and scientific data. From the early missions to the present day, Earth–Moon communication had many stages of development. In our article, we review this progress and then present the state-of-the-art ideas related to the present missions through the missions currently underway and those planned for the near future. Our primary objective is to describe the radio communication relay services planned for orbit around the Moon. Furthermore, we present the European Space Agency (ESA)-supported lunar missions, highlighting the Lunar Geology Orbiter (LUGO) mission. Finally, as a future perspective, we present the possibilities of optical communication in the Earth–Moon path, which can result a significant increase in capacity.