Artemis II incorporates a laser communications space terminal

June 13 (EUROPE PRTESS) –

A laser communication system arrived at the Kennedy Center for integration into the Artemis II mission, which will carry astronauts around the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions.

On November 16, 2022, NASA launched the Artemis I mission, an uncrewed flight test into cislunar space. The next mission, Artemis II, will test all Orion systems needed for human spaceflight and lay the foundation for future missions to the lunar surface. The Artemis II mission will also test new and improved technologies, including laser communication capabilities.

Orion’s laser communications terminal is known as the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System or O2O.

Laser communications systems, such as O2O, provide missions with higher data rates, which means they can send and receive more information in a single transmission compared to traditional radio wave systems, than most laser missions. NASA currently use. More data means more discoveries.

“At 260 megabits per second, O2O is capable of sending 4K high-definition video from the Moon,” he said. it’s a statement Steve Horowitz, O2O project manager. “In addition to video and images, O2O will transmit and receive procedures, images, flight plans, and be a liaison between Orion and mission control on Earth.”

After collecting data, O2O will send the information via laser signals to one of two ground stations in Las Cruces, New Mexico, or Table Mountain, California, both chosen for their minimal cloud cover. The quality of the images and videos sent from Orion via O2O will depend, in part, on the cloud cover at the ground stations.

O2O was developed by a team of engineers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory (MIT-LL).