Partnering with NASA, ANU provided the Artemis II crew with the essential laser communication technology needed to transmit mass amounts of data, information and imagery to ground crews.
ANU’s involvement, which was backed by over $4 million in funding from the Australian government and Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars Demonstrator Mission Grant, saw their Quantum Optical Ground Station (QOGS) track, receive and transmit communications from NASA's Orion spacecraft.
The QOGS is a laser communications network that uses adaptive optics and quantum technology to link mission crews to ground controls.
Researchers based at Mount Stromlo in Canberra were able to use the QOGS to communicate with the Artemis II crew via laser communications instead of traditional radio signals, allowing for 100 times faster data transmission.
“During Artemis II, QOGS successfully received live, high-definition video from Orion during all phases of the mission including receiving the longest-range laser link of the mission, at just over 400,000 km,” Dr Kate Ferguson, ANU Institute for Space, associate director strategic projects, told Space Connect.
“The ANU QOGS achieved the system-designed maximum data rate of 260 megabits per second, which is more than 5,000 times the data rate during Apollo 11.”
This technology allowed the astronauts on board to share critical scientific information and never-before-seen imagery of Earth from the furthest distance ever back to ground controls.
The QOGS achieved over 15 hours of connection time throughout the mission, with the laser communications recording live internal and external camera views, and 4K video streams that were sent to NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston. These images and videos were included in some of the publicly distributed media from the mission.
“Australian researchers are recognised globally as world-class in optical communications,” said Enrico Palermo, head of the Australian Space Agency.
“The involvement of ANU in the historic Artemis II mission is another signal of Australia’s growing capability and offerings for space exploration and space services here on Earth.
“The Australian Space Agency is proud to have backed its development.”
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