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Photos: Lunar mobile phones preparing to soar
Astronauts phone home

By Nick Heath

Published: Monday 25 February 2008

In space no one can hear your ringtone - something that could be a blessing from 2012 when Nasa and the British National Space Centre (BNSC) trial a mobile phone network on the moon.

The joint Nasa/BNSC MoonLite mission, due to be launched after 2012, will test a prototype version of the satellite phone network using an orbiter, seen in a mock-up here, to communicate with four probes buried in the lunar soil.

Photo credit: BNSC