U.S. Leadership in Lunar Spectrum Policy

Over the next decade, NASA and many commercial and international entities plan to send missions to the Moon. All of these missions will use spectrum to communicate with Earth. However, the international regulatory frameworks overseeing radio spectrum beyond Earth’s orbits (such as “lunar spectrum”) are underdeveloped, creating the potential for interference and disruptions to communications with missions on and in orbit around the Moon. Currently, the United States and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) are considering specific frameworks for coordinating and regulating lunar spectrum use. Despite a lack of frameworks, as of January 12, 2024, the ITU has already received over 50 filings for lunar missions from 9 different countries.¹

Notably, 2024 was the first year that filings from commercial operators outnumbered government space agencies. The U.S.-proposed framework emphasizes international cooperation and coordination in the development and operation of lunar communications in a shared spectrum environment.²

1. Oliver Hawkins and Peggy Hollinger, “The race to claim the Moon’s airwaves”, Financial Times, 1/13/25, https://www.ft.com/content/4de3dce6-f94e-4b1b-b4a0-380386b5836c ↩︎
2. James Schier, Catherine Sham, Dennis Lee, Kedar Abhyankar, Karen Clothier, “International Coordination and Cooperation on Lunar Spectrum”, NASA, 10/2024, https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20240011047/downloads/2024_Ka-Band_LunaNet_Spectrum.pdf ↩︎