## 1 Introduction
Additionally, the extreme temperature conditions on the lunar surface can contribute to the degradation of communication system components. Antennas are crucial for maintaining signal quality and robust data transmission in this complex lunar environment. This article provides an in-depth examination of the challenges encountered in lunar communication from the reported data and the profound implications they carry for establishing successful connections. The primary part of the article compares and summarizes various propagation models developed and reported in the field of lunar communication. The secondary part of the article focuses specifically on lunar antennas, delving into their design intricacies in search of an optimal solution that can facilitate precise data transfer with minimal signal losses across the moon's surface and during transmissions between the lunar and Earth realms. Through a comprehensive analysis, this article scrutinizes a plethora of designs that have been utilized in practical missions and scholarly investigations alike. It also reviews the sleeve dipole antenna used in the Rashid rover, ambitiously deployed to explore the Atlas Crater [15]. A notable highlight of this sleeve dipole antenna is that it serves as the primary communication apparatus for the Rashid rover [17]. Additionally, this article reviews the patch antennas that act as a secondary communication channel for the Rashid rover [18]. This holistic approach ensures a thorough understanding of the communication systems' interplay and their resilience in the lunar setting and we believe that our findings will be interesting to the scientific community. As a summary, in addition to providing a thorough examination of lunar communication systems and the antennas employed for this purpose, this article delves into the anticipated hurdles of lunar communication. The rest of this article follows the following structure:  
Section 2 reviews the lunar surface propagation models reported so far. It also details various types of signal losses reported thus far. In Section 3, the paper outlines the numerous challenges posed by the lunar environment and their implications for successful communication. The primary focus of this paper centers on various antenna types and designs for lunar communication, as detailed in Section 4. Within this context, the paper provides an in-depth analysis of multiple designs reported to date. These designs encompass the Compact Microstrip Monopole Antenna (CMMA), Folded Hilbert Curve Fractal Antenna (fHCFA), Vivaldi antenna, all-metal circular patch antennas for the Rashid rover, Bow-Tie antenna, inf-IRA antennas, all-metal reflector antennas, polyimide film antennas, and dipole and monopole antennas, including the sleeve-balanced antenna used on the Rashid rover. These diverse lunar antenna designs are well-segregated into four distinct categories: planar antennas, reflector antennas, antennas for low-frequency radio astronomy, and wire antennas. This categorization stems from an extensive literature review conducted. Section 5 provides a concise overview of lunar communication and lunar antennas along with potential directions for future research. The major conclusions are outlined in Section 6.