Search results for Artemis II
Industry
NASA steps up permanent moon base plans; Blue Origin to handle lander
NASA has released a preliminary schedule to carry out up to three additional moon missions by the end of 2026 as it pushes ahead with plans for a long-term lunar outpost. The missions focus on testing rovers and landers and surveying the lunar surface environment. Blue Origin, Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines will provide landers, while Astrolab’s FLIP rover is also slated for deployment. The plan highlights NASA’s separate contracts for landers, rovers and payload transport.
Industry
Will the 2030s bring a lunar colony era? Radiation and low gravity are key variables
Private space companies are increasingly setting lunar habitation as a realistic goal, but human and environmental risks that could block long-term stays are also coming into focus. A Voyager Technologies executive expects people to reach the moon in the late 2020s and for early 2030s living and work to become possible with life-support bases. Investment in low Earth orbit is rising and space data centres are being discussed, while radiation and low gravity are highlighted as key threats requiring exercise, nutrition and shielding.
Space
Artemis II completes laser communications demonstration
The U.S. lunar mission Artemis II has demonstrated laser-based communications, showing data-transfer performance up to 100,000 times faster than Apollo 13, TechRadar reported. The optical system is aimed at handling large volumes of high-resolution images and telemetry expected from modern missions. Orion’s O2O system transmitted about 36 GB per hour, far above older radio links. NASA said weather sensitivity and ground-station requirements remain challenges.
