Nasa’s Artemis II mission to stream hi-res videos from Moon – using lasers

New tech will enable unprecedented access to high-quality images and video

Nasa is planning to use lasers to develop a new high-quality communication system for its Artemis II crewed mission around the Moon.

The new Optical Communications System (O2O) is expected to help send high-resolution images and video to Earth from the Moon as part of the Artemis II mission, the American space agency noted in a video last month.

This new laser technology will enable an unprecedented access to high-quality images and video from the Moon in real time, Space.com first reported.

Nasa has traditionally used radio frequency systems to communicate with astronauts and spacecraft. However, as space missions generate and collect tons of data, the need for enhanced communications capabilities has increased.

In contrast to radio wave systems, scientists said laser communication provides missions with increased data rates, meaning they can send and receive more information in a single transmission.

Such laser systems are also lighter, more flexible and more secure. They can initially be used to supplement radio frequency communications that most missions use today.

The O2O system will bring laser communications to the Moon aboard Nasa’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft.

As part of the Artemis II crewed Moon mission, the space agency will carry out a nearly 10-day-long lunar flyby in 2024 aboard the Orion capsule without landing the spacecraft on the lunar surface.

Nasa’s O2O system will enable the transmission of high-resolution images and video from the mission when astronauts return to the lunar region for the first time in over 50 years.

Artemis II is expected to be the first-ever crewed lunar flight to demonstrate laser communications technologies that would send data to Earth with a downlink rate of up to 260 megabits per second.

By transmitting data at higher rates, the mission would offer more information from the space instruments to astronomers on Earth – a move that may help conduct better science.

Experts believe this update to laser communication systems with Artemis II will be integral for future Nasa missions, especially for further crewed exploration of Moon, Mars, and beyond.