NASA has awarded SpaceX a contract to deliver laser communications capabilities for its Artemis III mission using Starlink, which could give Earthbound viewers a better view of the ship-to-ship transfer in LEO set for 2027.
Two Starlink mini laser terminals will be installed on the Orion spacecraft to supplement the existing communications system. The terminals, which use the same crosslink technology as the Starlink constellation, will deliver 4K imagery and video to NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston, TX.
The Starlink award is a small but revealing example of NASA’s shift from building its own comms system to buying.
Why lasers: Optical communications systems (aka lasers) use infrared light to transmit higher amounts of data than traditional RF systems.
NASA’s crewed missions have historically relied on the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system to communicate with Earth. However, the agency is slowly retiring TDRS and shifting toward commercializing satellite relay services for near-Earth missions through its Communications Services Project.
The stunning lunar visuals shared by the Artemis II crew bypassed TDRS. Instead, the mission relied on the spacecraft’s own laser terminal to transmit HD videos, photos, and other data from Orion to Earth when the spacecraft had line of sight with ground terminals.
Unlike Artemis II’s direct-to-ground link, SpaceX’s terminals use crosslink technology to pass data between satellites—the same architecture that lets Starlink relay data without every sat needing a ground station in sight. While NASA described the Artemis III work as a commercial relay demonstration, it did not detail exactly how Orion’s data will reach the ground.
Deepening the footprint: This isn’t SpaceX’s first comms rodeo with NASA During Fram2—SpaceX’s 2025 private mission that made history as the first crewed flight in polar orbit—the company demonstrated laser comms capabilities as part of an agreement with the space agency.
Beyond Artemis, the company has used Starlink to provide real-time flight video and telemetry data during its Starship flight tests giving viewers a peek at the plasma rainbows we’ve come to know and love.
The award also deepens SpaceX’s footprint on the Artemis III mission. The laser communications capabilities will allow the world to tune in as astronauts test rendezvous and docking operations between Orion and the landers that will bring astronauts to the surface on future Artemis missions, including SpaceX’s own Starship HLS and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander.
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The central campus of the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France, was forced into liquidation by the French courts last week.
The move has upended the plans of dozens of current ISU students. While some have had their degrees fast-tracked into diplomas, others have not been so lucky. In addition, many international students have found their legal right to live and work in France threatened by the pause in operations.
What happened: To many in the ISU community, the liquidation didn’t come as a surprise.
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