Laser Enhanced Mission Communications Navigation and Operational Services Pipeline (LEMNOS)
OVERVIEW
On NASA’s journey to the Moon, the Orion spacecraft will be integral. It looks remarkably like the Apollo capsule, which placed humanity on the Moon in 1969, but Orion hosts many new, cutting-edge technologies and capabilities. Among them, the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O) will provide Orion with data rates as much as 10 times higher than possible through current systems.
The terminal, managed by the Laser-Enhanced Mission Communication Navigation and Operational Services (LEMNOS) Pipeline project, leverages laser communications, also known as optical communications, for use on NASA’s cutting-edge Orion spacecraft. Launching in 2023, Artemis II will be the first crewed flight since the Apollo missions. During a roughly ten-day mission, Orion will loop around the Moon before heading back to Earth. O2O will make the mission one of the first to use laser communications technologies for crewed spaceflight.
With laser systems onboard, O2O will enable live, 4K ultra-high-definition video from the Moon, as well as enhanced science data transmission and more. In addition to video, O2O will transmit procedures, pictures, flight plans, communications, and voice between Orion and Earth. O2O will provide Orion with a “giant leap” in communications technology, allowing optical communications to join radio on NASA’s journey to the Moon and beyond.
After O2O’s ride on Artemis II, the LEMNOS Pipeline project will provide optical communications terminals to subsequent missions as well as provide a variety of optical terminals for science missions from low-Earth orbit to lunar to Lagrange Points 1 and 2.
Quick Facts
TECHNOLOGY
The LEMNOS Pipeline project utilizes optical communications technology, making the Orion Artemis missions some of the first to use optical in an operational environment. Optical communications’ benefits for these long-duration human exploration missions are immense. Not only will the new communications system offer much higher data rates – enabling vast amounts of data to be transmitted to Earth more quickly than ever before – but it will enable astronauts to connect with their families and society through 4K video and more.
Additionally, optical communications offers reduced size, weight, and power for terminals. A smaller system leaves more room for science instruments, a weight reduction can mean a less expensive launch, and lower power allows batteries to last longer. These benefits will be crucial for future exploration and science missions where space and power is at a premium.
HISTORY
Human Exploration Analysis & Mission Support
The LEMNOS Pipeline and the O2O mission build on a legacy of cutting-edge optical communications projects undertaken by the Exploration and Space Communications (ESC) projects division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
NASA’s first optical communications payload, the Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD), was created and managed at Goddard. Launched in 2013, LLCD had direct applicability to O2O and its successors, proving optical communications from the Moon not only possible, but an improvement over existing radio communications systems. Flying as part of the Lunar Atmosphere Dust and Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft, LLCD achieved data rates as high as 622 Megabits per second, six times higher than the best radio communications systems.
ESC is also responsible for the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), which will be the first test of laser communications in a geosynchronous relay communications system, as well as an optical terminal for the International Space Station known as the Integrated LCRD Low-Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T).
