A laser communications terminal developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory launched aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission will use laser beams to transmit HD video and data from the moon’s vicinity to Earth, demonstrating the the first use of lasercom on a crewed mission.

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MIT Lincoln Laboratory's laser communications terminal, the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O), launched aboard NASA's Artemis II mission — the first crewed lunar flight to demonstrate lasercom technology. Built around the MAScOT terminal (roughly the size of a house cat), O2O uses laser beams to transmit HD video and high-resolution images from the moon's vicinity to Earth at significantly higher bandwidths than traditional radio-frequency systems. The system previously debuted on the ISS via ILLUMA-T in 2023, achieving 1.2 Gbps downlink speeds. During Artemis II, it will enable near-real-time data offload and astronaut videoconferencing, with lessons learned expected to support future lunar surface missions and eventual Mars exploration.

Lincoln Laboratory laser communications terminal launches on historic Artemis II moon mission