Australia to support NASA's Artemis II as first crewed Moon mission in 50 years launches.

 Extract from ABC News

• By Lois Maskiell

• By Ruby Thomas

• Topic:Space

14 hours ago

Katherine Bennell-Pegg says Artemis II will send four astronauts around the Moon. (ABC News: Stuart Carnegie)

In short:

Australia will support NASA's Artemis II mission with Canberra-based communications and tracking systems, helping astronauts orbit the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

ANU will demonstrate next-generation laser communications, increasing data volume and upgrading historic imagery.

What's next?

Australia will continue its involvement in future Artemis missions, including a planned lunar rover in 2030.

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Australia will play a key role in humanity's return to the Moon, with Canberra-based communications systems supporting NASA's first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years.

The Artemis II mission, scheduled for April 1, will send four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon, marking the first time humans have ventured that far since the Apollo era in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Australian-based facilities, including NASA's Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla and the Australian National University's (ANU) Quantum Optical Ground Station at Mt Stromlo Observatory, will support the mission from the ground.

Artemis II crew members Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, and their training staff at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. (ABC News: NASA Mark Sowa)

Australian astronaut and 2026 Australian of the Year Katherine Bennell-Pegg said the mission represented a scientific milestone and continuation of Australia's long-standing role in space exploration.

"In the Apollo era, Australia hosted the most amount of tracking stations outside of the US that supported Apollo. We were absolutely critical then; we are also absolutely critical now," Ms Bennell-Pegg said.

Mission aims 'to answer the big questions'

The Artemis II mission will mark the first crewed flight of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, as astronauts test the vehicles in deep space and collect data to inform future missions and scientific research.

Katherine Bennell-Pegg, Francis Bennet and Kevin Ferguson in ANU's Quantum Optical Ground Station. (ABC News: Stuart Carnegie)

Ms Bennell-Pegg said the crew members would take on an important observational role during the flight.

"When they go out there, there'll be geologists in the sky, observing the Moon, looking at tens of different sites to inform future landers," she said.

"Looking out to the Moon … we're going to answer the big questions, where did humanity come from? Why is the Earth the way it is?

"We're learning about the Moon to help us understand the Earth, our climate, to develop new technologies and also to inspire the next generation into doing hard STEM pursuits."

Communications critical to mission success

Australia's contribution will centre on communications and tracking, which are critical to mission safety and success.

Katherine Bennell-Pegg and Kevin Ferguson say Australia will play a significant role in supporting communications for the Artemis II mission. (ABC News: Stuart Carnegie)

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC), managed by CSIRO, is one of three global tracking stations supporting Artemis II, alongside facilities in the United States and Spain.

CDSCC director Kevin Ferguson says the three sites work together to maintain constant contact with the spacecraft as Earth turns.

"The three of us connect very closely to ensure that we overlap the eyes on the sky in space,"

Mr Ferguson said.

"The whole DSN [Deep Space Network] is important in the sense that we will take 95 per cent of the communications that come back from the Artemis mission.

"We need to have that data come back, but most importantly, we need to have the safety of the astronauts. We are their lifeline. We are their connectivity back home."

Artemis II crew members inside NASA's spacecraft. (ABC News: NASA Mark Sowa)

ANU to showcase new tech

At Mount Stromlo Observatory, researchers at the ANU will support the mission through a demonstration of their optical communications technology.

Researcher Francis Bennet said ANU's Quantum Optical Ground Station would receive signals from NASA's laser communication terminal on the Orion spacecraft and translate them into usable data.

Francis Bennet shows Katherine Bennell-Pegg ANU technology in the Quantum Optical Ground Station.   (ABC News: Stuart Carnegie)

"We're basically demonstrating our technology and our capability," Professor Bennet said.

"Even though you can't see the lasers with your eyes themselves, we can use the signals, basically the laser winking on and off, to allow us to detect those individual blips and convert that into a communication signal."

He said the technology would both increase the volume of data returned from space and upgrade imagery from historic footage.

"What this changes is the grainy images from the 1960s into high-definition video coming from places like the Moon,"

Professor Bennet said.

Australia will continue its involvement in future Artemis missions, including a planned lunar rover in 2030.