In this video from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen explains how the Artemis 2 crew will stay communicate with Earth during the mission.
Transcript
Jeremy Hansen – The only time we’ll lose connectivity with Earth will be when we go around the far side of the Moon.
During our mission, we’ll have contact with Mission Control almost during the entire mission, if it goes according to plan. We’ll use radio communication primarily to talk to Mission Control. And we’ll use that communication from time to time to communicate with all of you. So we’ll have downlinks and we’ll set up a camera, and we’ll route it through the Deep Space Network, which is what NASA uses to communicate with its spacecraft that are out in deep space. We’ll use that same network, and we’ll be able to send you videos, we’ll be able to have a video conference with you and give you an update on our mission. And then we’ll also have the opportunity to speak with our families at least once, maybe twice, during the mission, which will be really special.
The only time we’ll lose connectivity with Earth will be when we go around the far side of the Moon. For approximately 45 minutes, we’ll be in the shadow of the Moon with respect to communications. And so we won’t be able to talk to Earth.
We’re testing a system on Artemis II. It’s a laser-enabled communication system. And that would have an increased bandwidth. And so that would allow us to send and receive more information than we can over the Deep Space Network, for example.
And I know lots of people are wondering, what about wifi? And will we have connectivity to the Internet? And the answer is no, not really. We can have wifi in the vehicle. Some of our devices can leverage wifi, but it’s just a local network here, and won’t have access to the Internet back home.