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How laser tech from MIT's Lincoln Laboratory is helping Artemis II astronauts
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Artemis II astronauts are expected to begin their lunar flyby this afternoon, setting a new record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth. The Orion spacecraft is outfitted with 32 cameras to capture out-of-this-world imagery — which will be sent back to Earth with the help of some local tech.
Beaming down: While circling the moon, astronauts will collect data and imagery to transmit back to NASA in Houston after the flyby using a new laser communications system developed by researchers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington. Since the Apollo missions in the late 1960s, NASA has relied on radio frequencies to communicate with astronauts in space. And the crew aboard Orion is still using radio to communicate. But this is the first time astronauts will have a chance to use lasers to send data — such as high-definition photos and video — back to Earth.
- Why? Bryan Robinson, the leader of the Lincoln Laboratory's Optical and Quantum Communications Group told WBUR's Amy Sokolow that laser beams allow them to direct more energy at a target receiver. In other words, "you can communicate at higher data rates," Robinson said. (To be exact, 250 megabits per second, versus less than 10 megabits per second with radio, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.) "And because of the narrow beams, you don't have to worry about sharing that spectrum with other systems," Robinson said. "With radio systems, you have to be concerned about interference."
- The drawbacks: It's "very, very challenging" to point that narrow laser beam to a receiver from several hundred thousand miles away from Earth, requiring a very sophisticated system to point and stabilize the transmitter. Weather can also interfere, so they'll use three data-receiving ground terminals in New Mexico, California and Australia. " With those three terminals, we have pretty good chances of finding one that doesn't have clouds," Robinson said.
- What's next: Today's flyby includes a seven-hour observation period, beginning around 2 p.m. this afternoon. Astronauts are expected to start transmitting the photos and video they collect via radio and laser a little after 9 p.m. tonight. "It's really just so exciting and rewarding to see this technology that not just I but many others have been working on for a very long time succeed," Robinson said.
- Watch live: You can catch views from aboard Orion as it conducts its flyby here. NASA's lunar flyby livestream coverage will begin at 1 p.m.
- The view so far: Check out the photos that the Artemis II crew have already transmitted back from their mission here.
In local news: The Suffolk County District Attorney's office is investigating the fatal shooting Saturday of a man experiencing a mental health crisis by Boston police. The shooting occurred inside an apartment building near Northeastern University, after officers responding to an emergency call were attacked by the man, officials said.
- According to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, the man had barricaded himself in a room. Cox said police were trying to talk the person into accepting treatment when he attacked "with some type of sword," stabbing an officer in the arm and knocking an EMS clinician to the ground, Cox told reporters Saturday. Cox said at least one officer fired a Taser and a gun, hitting and killing the man.
Heads up: Starting this week and continuing into the summer, a 4-mile stretch of Storrow Drive and Soldiers Field Road in the eastbound direction will be closed every weeknight between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. The closure is meant to give DCR and MassDOT crews time to work on concrete repairs inside the Storrow Drive Tunnel. (Something to keep in mind if you're driving into the city for a Red Sox game this week.)
- A detour will divert cars onto Cambridge's Memorial Drive, starting at the Eliot Bridge. Drivers can cross back over and reconnect with Storrow Drive via the Longfellow Bridge. Click here for a map of the detour.
P.S. — Keep the Passover celebrations going tonight at CitySpace tonight with award-winning Jewish chef and author Joan Nathan. Nathan will discuss her latest cookbook, "My Life in Recipes," with Boston Magazine food editor Rachel Leah Blumenthal at 7 p.m., and guests will get to sample two kosher bites from the book after the event: mahammar with matzo and a Passover pecan lemon torte.
