Artemis II to Revolutionize Lunar Communication

In 1969, Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon's surface—a momentous engineering and science feat marked by his iconic words, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Three years later, Apollo 17 became NASA's final Apollo mission to land humans on the brightest and largest object in our night sky. Since then, no humans have visited the moon or traveled past low Earth orbit (LEO), largely because of shifting politics, funding, and priorities.

But that is about to change. Through NASA's Artemis II mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2025, four astronauts will become the first humans to travel to the moon in over 50 years. In 2022, the uncrewed Artemis I mission proved the ability of NASA's new spacecraft Orion—launched on the new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System—to travel farther into space than ever before and return safely to Earth.

Building on that success, the 10-day Artemis II mission will pave the path for Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface, with the goal of establishing a lasting human presence on the moon and preparing for human missions to Mars.

One Big Step for Laser Communication

Artemis II will be historic not only for renewing human exploration beyond Earth, but also for being the first crewed lunar flight to demonstrate laser communication (lasercom) technologies, which have the potential to revolutionize how spacecraft communicate. Researchers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory have been developing such technologies for more than two decades, and NASA has been incorporating them into its missions to meet the growing demands of long-distance and data-intensive space exploration.

As spacecraft push farther into deep space and advanced science instruments collect ultrahigh-definition (HD) data such as 4K video and images, missions will require better ways to transmit data back to Earth. Communication systems that encode data onto infrared laser light instead of radio waves can transmit more information at once, and can be packaged more compactly while operating with less power.

Greater Volumes of Data Fuel Additional Discoveries

Greater volumes of data fuel additional discoveries. Size and power efficiency translate to increased space for scientific instruments or crew, lower launch costs, and longer-lasting spacecraft batteries.

For Artemis II, the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O) will send high-resolution video and images of the lunar surface back to Earth—a significant improvement from the blurry, grainy footage from the Apollo program. Additionally, O2O will send and receive procedures, data files, flight plans, voice calls, and other communications, serving as a high-speed data pipeline between the astronauts aboard Orion and mission control on Earth.

O2O will transmit information via lasers at rates of up to 260 megabits per second (Mbps) to ground optical stations located at either the White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Table Mountain Facility in Wrightwood, California. Both locations boast minimal cloud coverage, which can obstruct laser signals as they enter Earth's atmosphere.

At the core of O2O is the Lincoln Laboratory-developed Modular, Agile, Scalable Optical Terminal (MAScOT). About the size of a house cat, MAScOT features a four-inch telescope mounted on a two-axis pivoted support (gimbal), and fixed back-end optics.

The gimbal precisely points the telescope and tracks the laser beam through which communication signals are transmitted and received, in the direction of the intended data recipient or sender. Underneath the gimbal, in a separate assembly, are the back-end optics, which contain light-focusing lenses, tracking sensors, fast-steering mirrors, and other components to precisely direct the laser beam.

A Series of Firsts

MAScOT made its debut in space as part of the laboratory's Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) LEO User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T), which launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2023.

After several weeks of preliminary testing, ILLUMA-T transmitted its first beam of laser light to NASA’s LCRD satellite located in geosynchronous (GEO) orbit approximately 22,000 miles above Earth’s surface. Achieving this crucial step, known as "first light," necessitated precise pointing, acquisition, and tracking of laser beams between moving spacecraft.

During the subsequent six months, the laboratory team executed experiments to evaluate and characterize the system's fundamental functionality, performance, and utility for human crews and user applications. The team initially checked whether the ILLUMA-T to LCRD optical link was operating at the intended data rates in both directions: 622 Mbps down and 51 Mbps up. Remarkably, even higher data rates were achieved: 1.2 gigabits per second down and 155 Mbps up.

“This first demonstration of a two-way, end-to-end laser communications relay system, in which ILLUMA-T was the first LEO user of LCRD, is a significant milestone for NASA and other space organizations,” states Bryan Robinson, leader of the laboratory’s Optical and Quantum Communications Group. “It serves as a precursor to optical relays at the moon and Mars.”

Moon Ready

The Artemis II O2O mission will implement the same overall MAScOT design that proved successful on ILLUMA-T. Lincoln Laboratory delivered the payload to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for installation and testing on the Orion spacecraft in July 2023.

“Technology transfer to the government is what Lincoln Laboratory, as a federally funded research and development center, specializes in,” explains lead systems engineer Farzana Khatri, a senior staff member in the Optical and Quantum Communications Group. “We not only transfer technology but also collaborate closely with our transfer partners to ensure success. In preparation for O2O, we are leveraging lessons learned during the ILLUMA-T operations. Recently, we conducted pre-mission dry runs to enhance coordination among the various teams involved.”

In August 2024, the laboratory completed a vital milestone for the O2O optical terminal: the mission readiness test, which comprised three phases:

1. Validating Terminal Command and Telemetry Functions: While the laboratory-developed ground software was directly used to command and control ILLUMA-T, for O2O, it will run in the background, and all commands and telemetry will interface through software developed by NASA's Johnson Space Center Mission Control Center.
2. User Application Testing: The team tested various user applications, including activating some of Orion's HD cameras and transmitting videos from Cape Canaveral to Johnson Space Center as a mock-up for the actual space link. They also performed file transfers, video conferencing, and other operations on astronaut personal computing devices.
3. Simulating Payload Commissioning Activities: This included tasks such as popping the latch on the optical hardware and moving the gimbal, as well as executing ground terminal operations.

“For O2O, we aim to demonstrate that this optical link is functional and beneficial for astronauts and the mission,” Khatri emphasizes. “The Orion spacecraft collects a massive amount of data within the first day of a mission, and typically, this data remains on the aircraft until it lands, which can take months for offloading. With an optical link running at maximum speeds, we should be able to transfer data down to Earth within a few hours for immediate analysis. Furthermore, astronauts can maintain communication with Earth during their journey, which inspires the public and the next generation of deep-space explorers, much like the Apollo 11 astronauts who first landed on the moon over 50 years ago.”

For More Information

• Communications user terminal prepares for historic moon flyby
• NASA's space station laser comm terminal achieves first link
• NASA's laser relay system sends pet imagery to and from Space Station
• Privacy policy

In conclusion, the upcoming Artemis II mission not only represents a significant step for human exploration of the lunar surface but also heralds innovative advancements in communication technology. Such developments are vital as humanity prepares for missions deeper into the cosmos, ultimately aiming to return humans to the Moon and send them to Mars.

As we stand on the cusp of a new era of space exploration, the excitement and potential for discovery are greater than ever. The next leap may be around the corner, literally and metaphorically.