By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
So far NASA’s Artemis 2 has been spectacularly successful and today, the four astronauts – as well as the Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft itself – became the most remote Wi-Fi users of all time as Artemis 2 just a few minutes ago broke Apollo 13’s 55-year old record for longest distance from Earth.
If you’ve been following the live streams from aboard Moon-bound Artemis 2 over the past few days, you’ve probably discovered – like me – that the four astronauts look decidedly happy, comfy, and busy in their far-flung home. NASA says the Orion capsule is about the size of two minivans (60% larger than Apollo in terms of volume) and like any other acceptable home away from home, this Orion capsule (named ‘Integrity’ by the astronauts) comes with everyone’s favourite technology – and that’s Wi-Fi.
NASA uses Wi-Fi and other wireless technology for a long list of onboard mission task including connecting the astronauts’ phones and tablets. The tablets are used for both entertainment and professionally as ‘digital briefcases’ – but to maintain security, tablet networking is of course kept separate from Integrity’s flight computers. Artemis 2 also marks the first time NASA has allowed astronauts to carry their personal phones into space.
NASA says Artemis 2 is equipped with a total of 31 cameras for various purposes. Perhaps most interesting from a connectivity point of view: NASA engineer Chatwin Lansdowne says a set of modified GoPros are installed as ‘Solar Array Wing’ (SAW) cameras at the tips of the service module’s solar arrays.
“These have multiple uses and will be the source of many of the images we will see from the mission. One important operational role for these cameras is to be able to inspect the capsule’s mission-critical heat shield after the separation of European Service Module prior to reentry. The GoPros use Wi-Fi but for the connectivity between the service module and Integrity, we’re actually using WiGig,” Chatwin Lansdowne says. Also make sure you watch WiFi NOW’s early Artemis coverage featuring a video interview with NASA Engineer Chatwin Lansdowne here.
Another highlight of Artemis 2’s Moon fly-by mission has been astronauts taking photos of the Moon through the capsule’s windows. For this purpose NASA chose to use the Nikon Z9, which is also Wi-Fi enabled. “All the incredible photos the crew are taking out the windows using the Nikon Z9 are offloaded automatically over Wi-Fi for downlink. We’re planning on using that camera on the surface of the Moon as well and for this reason it is being packaged for a vacuum environment, including for the use of gloves and visors. NASA has been working with this camera for Artemis applications since pre-production, during which we also evaluated the Wi-Fi. Nikon took our needs into consideration before releasing the product,” Chatwin Lansdowne says.
From all of us at WiFi NOW: Huge, huge congratulations to NASA for this picture perfect Moon mission. Just like Apollo became a beacon of courage, achievement, and leadership, Integrity is giving us hope and faith in a world awash with strife and war and misery. We thank you, Integrity. God speed.
/Claus.
