The current Deep Space Network handles all NASA communication beyond Earth orbit. Three stations. Goldstone, California. Madrid, Spain. Canberra, Australia. They were designed for missions that transmit kilobits per second from the outer planets. A lunar settlement transmitting high-definition video, telemetry from dozens of robotic systems, and personal communications for 20 crew members will saturate the DSN's lunar allocation within months.

Communication is not just data. It is the thread that connects the settlement to everything it left behind. Every voice call home, every news feed, every medical consultation, every software update flows through that thread. If it breaks, the settlement does not just lose bandwidth. It loses its connection to humanity. The communication system is the psychological lifeline as much as the technical one.

NASA's LunaNet architecture specifies a constellation of relay satellites in lunar orbit providing continuous coverage of the south pole. The current plan calls for at least four satellites in near-rectilinear halo orbits and elliptical frozen orbits to ensure no communication blackouts. ESA's Moonlight program adds additional capacity. But the aggregate bandwidth of the planned constellations is approximately 100 megabits per second to the surface. That is residential broadband for an entire settlement.

Laser communication changes the mathematics. The LCRD demonstration on the ISS achieved 1.2 gigabits per second over optical links. A dedicated optical terminal at the lunar south pole, communicating through relay satellites equipped with optical transceivers, could provide gigabit-class connectivity. But optical links require precise pointing and are interrupted by any obstruction. The system needs both radio for reliability and laser for bandwidth. Two languages spoken to Earth simultaneously.

Navigation on the lunar surface is a separate problem. There is no GPS on the Moon. Terrain-relative navigation using stored maps works for landing, but surface operations—rover traverses, EVAs, robotic mining vehicles—require real-time position knowledge to sub-meter accuracy. A lunar GPS equivalent requires a minimum of 4 satellites with atomic clocks, and the geometry of south polar operations demands orbital configurations different from any Earth GNSS constellation.

NASA and ESA are developing LunaNet positioning services, but the timeline stretches to 2030 for full operational capability. The settlement may arrive before its navigation infrastructure. This means the first crews navigate the way Apollo did: by landmarks, dead reckoning, and line of sight. There is something both humbling and appropriate about that. The most advanced settlement in human history, navigating like explorers have for millennia. By the terrain. By the stars.