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O2O
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O2O

Orion laser comms terminal; hit 100GB at lunar distance at up to 260 Mbps on Day 4.

Last refreshed: 5 April 2026

Key Question

How did an Orion laser beam outperform 50 years of NASA radio in four days?

Timeline for O2O

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Common Questions
How fast is NASA’s laser communication system on Artemis II?
O2O operates at 20–260 Mbps at lunar distance, up to 200 times faster than S-band radio, and downlinked over 100 gigabytes by Day 4 of the mission.Source:
Who built the Artemis II laser communication system?
O2O was built by MIT Lincoln Laboratory as a technology demonstrator aboard Orion to test optical communications at lunar distances.Source: MIT Lincoln Laboratory / NASA
Will NASA replace radio with lasers for deep space missions?
NASA is evaluating that PATH. O2O’s Artemis II results, demonstrating 100 GB at 20–260 Mbps, are a key data point for planning operational optical comms on future crewed lunar and deep-space missions.Source: NASA

Background

The Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O) passed 100 gigabytes of downlinked data on Day 4 of the mission, operating at speeds of 20–260 Mbps at lunar distance. That is up to 200 times the throughput of the S-band radio link Orion relies on for primary voice and command traffic.

O2O was built by MIT Lincoln Laboratory and is a technology demonstrator, not the operational comms system for Artemis II. It transmits data via an infrared laser beam to ground stations, requiring precise pointing at ranges exceeding 320,000 km. The system’s success builds on NASA’s earlier Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) on the LADEE probe in 2013, which first proved optical comms from lunar orbit. Victor Glover relayed an Easter message via the system during a live television interview.

If optical comms mature into an operational standard, they would transform data return from the Moon and deep space: real-time 4K video, rapid scientific downlinks, and bandwidth sufficient for future teleoperated surface systems. The Artemis II results are a key input to that planning.

More questions
What is O2O on the Orion spacecraft?
O2O stands for Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System, a laser terminal built by MIT Lincoln Laboratory that demonstrates high-bandwidth data transfer at lunar distances.