Lasers, traveling as invisible beams, can send terabytes of data in a single transmission. Lasers will be able to send back more data at a quicker rate across longer distances, such as when Orion is flying by the moon during Artemis II. Traditionally, NASA has relied on radio waves to communicate with spacecraft and return data to Earth.Īntennae located across the world receive communications from satellites that transmit radio frequencies carrying data to and from various missions, like returning scientific data or sending commands from mission control. “The higher the data rates, the more information our instruments can send home to Earth, and the more science our lunar explorers can perform.” “By infusing new laser communications technologies into the Artemis missions, we’re empowering our astronauts with more access to data than ever before,” said O2O Project Manager Steve Horowitz in a statement. The laser system will also be able to send and receive procedures, flight plans, voice messages and other communications between the Orion spacecraft and mission control on Earth. The high bandwidth, a far cry from the grainy footage captured during the Apollo missions 50 years ago, could enable high-definition views of the moon in real time.
The O2O system will be capable of returning high-resolution images and video of the lunar surface back to Earth with a downlink rate of up to 260 megabits per second. This illustration depicts the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System sending a laser signal from the Orion spacecraft to Earth.
0 kommentar(er)
