- Two Starlink mini laser terminals will ride on Orion’s exterior
- The terminals use the same crosslink tech SpaceX built for its Starlink constellation
- On Artemis II, an optical terminal moved 484 gigabytes at rates up to 260 megabits per second
NASA will fly SpaceX laser communications hardware on the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis III mission in 2027 to deliver 4K imagery and video to viewers on Earth as four astronauts test rendezvous and docking operations with commercial human landing system test vehicles — work meant to pave the way for returning crews to the lunar surface in 2028.
Two Starlink mini laser terminals will be mounted on Orion’s exterior to supplement the spacecraft’s existing communications system. The units draw on the same crosslink technology SpaceX built for its Starlink constellation and will downlink footage to the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
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How Has Laser Communication Performed on Previous Missions?
Optical systems carry far more data per downlink than radio frequency links by transmitting over invisible infrared light. NASA proved the approach at lunar distance on Artemis II, when an optical terminal on Orion moved 484 gigabytes between the spacecraft and Earth during the roughly 10-day flight — sending back high-definition video, photos, flight procedures and science data whenever the capsule had line of sight to ground stations. The terminal hit downlink rates of 260 megabits per second, well beyond the single-digit megabit rates available through traditional radio systems at that distance.
SpaceX, for its part, first demonstrated laser communications for NASA during the Fram2 human spaceflight mission in 2025 under a funded Space Act Agreement.
How Does the Demonstration Fit NASA’s Commercial Satcom Strategy?
The Artemis III effort runs through the Communications Services Project, or CSP, within NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation division and extends the agency’s existing agreement with SpaceX. NASA awarded six companies, SpaceX among them, a combined $278.5 million in 2022 under CSP to develop and demonstrate commercial relay services as the agency works toward retiring its own near-Earth satellite fleet.
