Artemis II will use laser beams to live-stream 4K moon footage at 260 Mbps — one giant step beyond the S-band radio comms of the Apollo era

NASA launched Artemis II and will use the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications (O2O) laser system on the mission.

O2O can beam 4K moon footage at up to 260 Mbps and will also carry procedures, images, and flight data.

Laser ground stations in Las Cruces and Table Mountain will receive the transmissions, while astronauts will keep radio contact via the Deep Space Network.

A planned loss of line-of-sight on the Moon's far side could block both laser and DSN comms for about 41 minutes.