YouNeverCall offers cash for first cell call from the moon

We have bad enough luck with cellphone coverage in our own apartment to worry much about balls of dirt floating around in space, but YouNeverCall is tacking a slim $10k onto Google's existing $30 million in moon-related prize money for the first cellphone call made by a device or a person on the moon, so if you're headed there any time soon you might want to give it a shot. Sure, $10k probably pales in comparison to the expense of even adding a phone and related hardware to the payload -- not to mention those hefty interstellar roaming charges -- and it mainly seems like a bit of cheap PR for the YouNeverCall peeps, but we like the concept of a moon rover doing something more than just roaming and pesky science while it's chilling out way up there. Whoever or whatever is making the call will need to be able to answer some simple questions while on the phone, and the call must pass through a commercially available cellphone -- though technical details are murky beyond that. Secondary prizes are also on offer for first SMS message and first usage for the Crazy Frog Ringtone.

[Via MobileWhack]

[blarvh @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:28PM]

Call me next time you need to use photoshop.
Also would be quite expensive to ship out a cell tower up there.

[jamma @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:55PM]

Forget a cell tower, what about the roaming charges???

[ethana2 @ Sep 24th 2007 12:10AM]

Bah. Just download the GIMP and give it a go.

[Derry Quinn @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:30PM]

God how dumb!

[a ham sandwich @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:36PM]

i think now would be a pertinent time for somebody to list the physical limitations of current cell phone technology and explain why this is, or most likely, is not, possible.

[ethana2 @ Sep 24th 2007 12:13AM]

Current cell technology can screw itself. All it is is pathetic VoIP over wireless dialup. I'd rather have non-pathetic VoIP over something a bit faster...

Then, whether it's possible or not depends only on your software settings and the limits of current technology. Enjoy this with the moon-- latency from mars will make it less than enjoyable...

[John Doe @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:36PM]

And you couldn't have used some other phone for the picture why? Dear god why doesn't Engadget and the iPhone get a damn room. It borders on the fetish at this point.

[Matt @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:38PM]

Dude, chill out.

[David W. @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:51PM]

It's a picture...chill

[Steve Jobs @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:00PM]

Calm down...I guess someones mad cause they don't have an iPhone.

[Argot @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:14PM]

Yeah, you probably need a modern 3G phone if you wanna call from the moon so the iPhone won't do.

[derek @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:34PM]

Ok the people here are just getting ridiculous. Do people seriously have nothing better to do than get angry about a picture on a blog??? And the fact that those comments telling him to chill are lowest ranked... it's just ridiculous! Is it killing you that they are posting Apple news or a picture with an iPhone? Is it hurting you in anyway? Get a grip!

[Patrick @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:02PM]

Click the Read link asshole, they just used the same image as the original article.

[Josh @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:12PM]

Chill out buddy, you dont have to low rank the people who comment on you freaking out.



This is just about as close to impossible as impossible comes with todays modern infrastructure. I can't even get reception in my house, i can't imagine the moon is all that much better.

[MARSHAK @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:21PM]

screw'em john. you're right. IM SICK OF READING ABOUT THE IPHONE

[Homeboy @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:41PM]

...............and I'm willing to give a 150 dollar gift card at Costco to the first woman to reproduce semen.

[Simon @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:46PM]

Good to see engadget keeping the trend with the iPhone right there.

[chief99 @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:49PM]

Engadget didn't make the image, it was taken off the article.

[cmonkey @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:49PM]

The real question is, why is Engadget playing along with the company's Marketing department by posting about this? It isn't really news, it's just a lame PR stunt.

[dj-kenpo @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:50PM]

does at&t's cell tower reach the moon?
no?
then why propagate the attention grabbing scheme that screams "wouldn't work in the first place".

[David W. @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:52PM]

Would satellite phones work?

[Z @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:59PM]

Dont think so unless the satellite points towards the moon AND the earth in the same time.

[catfish @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:12PM]

well since the satellites are most likely in geosynchronous orbit, so long as your on or near the dark side of the moon I'd say the odds of getting a signal are pretty good. Plus you could always use a satallite thats on the far side of the earth (but not eclipsed.)

More intrestingly though, I wonder what a gps system would say if you tried to use it on the moon.

[paul34 @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:21PM]

Even if it did, its not really a "cell" call since the satellite phone system isn't based on the same cellular system that terrestrial-based systems are.

[Reader @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:08PM]

Adobe needs remove the magic wand from their products so people are forced to learn how to use the pen tool.

[Grant @ Sep 23rd 2007 8:29PM]

Or people could learn how to set the sensitivity right and then clean up the edges with the pen like people who arn't lazy do....

[Steve D. @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:11PM]

How can you even talk in a vacuum? There is no air to make the sound wave to travel.

And don't forget to set it to vibrate, I'm sure you won't hear those ring tones neither.

[Wwhat @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:23PM]

Text message perhaps?

[Wwhat @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:22PM]

Apart from there not being reception I'm thinking the average cellphone isn't too suited to be used in an environment like there exisit on the moon, no air and what? hundreds of degrees radiation temperature? I don't think LCD's like that much, and the battery would explode probably?

[dave @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:35PM]

dont forget the radiation that causes ur ears to turn purple that radiates from phones when they get outside of the atmosphere. lol i couldnt agree with you more.

[Wormbolt @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:43PM]

Uh hi, I'm calling from the uh moon... uh, really, there's nothin but rocks and stuff here..so uh, send the check to my Earth bank cuz I'll be there soon..oh, I'm losing you...must be some sun spots...OH NO! DARTH VADER!!!.......

[Jeff @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:11PM]

Huh?

Nixon made the first call to the moon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htx5oT-s2wA

Tricky Dick FTW!

[LondonConsultant @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:13PM]

One small call for a man, one giant call for mankind.

[jilie @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:16PM]

Engadget didn't make the image, they published the article only because of the image!

[YourNameHere @ Sep 23rd 2007 8:19PM]

You're going to need that when you get the bill and realize they're charging you $1,000/minute for "roaming in outer space."

[oshean @ Sep 24th 2007 9:59AM]

Can you hear me now?

[Matt @ Sep 23rd 2007 8:37PM]

It's not that ridiculous. You just need
- a cell phone
- a test suite (http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/product.jspx?nid=-536900143.0.00&cc=US&lc=eng)
- an asterisk server on the ground

and you can piggyback the celldata down to the ground. Or what about those t-mobile "cellphones" that automatically switch to 802.11?

[Logboy @ Sep 23rd 2007 8:49PM]

Crap, I'd pay insane money for a celly that could transmit 250,000 miles.

[Dean Croshere @ Sep 23rd 2007 11:35PM]

250,000 line of sight is a good amount easier than doing the same through something other than vacuum though.

[dave @ Sep 26th 2007 12:30AM]

forget paying for a cell that does that, just hook a sprint AiRave into the international space station, and the next time it's near the moon, bring any old sprint CDMA phone into space. except a trip into space would cost 10 mil, thus negating the point of 10 thousand. google's 30 mil prize still standing, this would be a good time for us all to grab a sprint phone and get on the AiRave wating list.

and maybe attach a super cantenna onto the AiRave to make up for space being one giant vacuum.

[Robert in Texas @ Sep 24th 2007 1:10AM]

Neil Armstrong needs to apply for the prize, 'cause he's already done it, with what was essentially a hands-free wireless phone back in 1969 when Nixon called him at Tranquility Base. That call meets all the requirements.

[moondy @ Sep 24th 2007 8:02AM]

What about the first porn image downloaded? I guess if its Vanessa Hudgens it shouldn't be too hard to find.

[wilddenali @ Sep 24th 2007 7:04PM]

I don't imagine the technical issues are all that tough:

The moon always shows the same side of itself to Earth throughout it's orbit, even though the Earth is always revolving much faster "below." An astronaut would just have to time his call when he's positioned opposite the United States. He'd probably light up every cell phone tower in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. No roaming charges, because his home area would be active too.

This is similar to how you would receive the same satellite video from anywhere in the U.S. It's just that the astronaut's satellite cell phone on the moon is calling from 10x further than a geosynchronous (stationary orbit) satellite.

Radio signals (and TV and cell phone calls) travel outward from Earth to the rest of the solar system every day and can be received easily so the reverse is also true. Otherwise the Apollo astronauts would not have been able to communicate with mission control, right?

The phone call would have to be made from the Lunar Lander because you can't hold or dial a cell phone in your helmet, right?

It's not as ridiculous as it sounds. The only thing that I'm unclear about is whether a cell phone's low-wattage radio is powerful enough to reach the earth without using a huge antenna like "Arecibo" in Puerto Rico to hear it.