[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] In the U.S. space agency NASA's crewed lunar exploration mission Artemis II, the Orion spacecraft will operate a next-generation communications system that combines a dual radio network with laser optical communications. The effort aims to overcome limits on data transmission in deep space and send even high-resolution video close to real time.

On April 7 local time, Japan's ITmedia reported that NASA will operate a laser optical communications system alongside traditional radio-based communications in the Artemis II mission. From shortly after launch until entry into a lunar transfer orbit, the Near Space Network (NSN) will handle communications, and the Deep Space Network (DSN) will take over afterward. The deep-space network is designed to maintain stable connections over distances of several hundred thousand km through large antennas located in the United States, Spain and Australia.

Even so, there have been continuing observations that radio communications alone have limits on data volumes in deep space. To complement this, NASA introduced the laser-based optical communications system O2O (Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System). Jointly developed with MIT Lincoln Laboratory, it is the first case to demonstrate laser communications in a crewed lunar exploration mission.

MAScOT, O2O's core terminal, is a small device about the size of a cat. It mounts a 4-inch optical-communications telescope on a two-axis gimbal to precisely aim at ground receiving stations on Earth. The gimbal points the telescope toward the ground station and delivers an infrared laser beam accurately to the receiving station on Earth, enabling much higher bandwidth than existing radio.

NASA's stated target transmission speed is up to 260 Mbps. That level can support scientific data and flight plans, as well as crew voice communications and 4K video transmission. In actual tests, data transmission performance improved by more than 100 times compared with existing wireless, the report said.

The communications blackout that occurs when passing behind the Moon remains an outstanding issue. Orion recently experienced a blackout in which its signal was cut off for about 40 minutes while passing behind the Moon, and communications were later restored through the deep-space network.

To address this, NASA is pushing ahead with a lunar-orbit relay satellite project, the Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems (LCRNS). Intuitive Machines was selected as a commercial partner, and NASA aims to build a communications infrastructure that does not suffer outages around the Moon.

The Artemis II communications system is significant because it could extend beyond simple mission support and develop into core infrastructure for building a future lunar base and long-term crewed exploration.