AeroVironment says precision pointing hardware was on Artemis II mission

AeroVironment (AVAV) announced that its precision pointing hardware was on board NASA’s historic Artemis II Mission as part of the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System, a laser communications terminal developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory in collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. During the Artemis II mission, O2O used lasers to send high-resolution video and images of the lunar surface back to Earth. AV’s best-in-class laser gimbal allowed the spacecraft to precisely point the laser at terrestrial receivers, providing high-speed data links between astronauts in lunar orbit and ground stations. The technology enabled data transfer at speeds “orders of magnitude more than we get via our S-band telemetry system,” NASA Flight Director Rick Henfling told the New York Times.