{"id":43312,"date":"2026-04-06T20:26:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/why-will-todays-lunar-flyby-only-beam-back-low-resolution-video\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:26:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:26:03","slug":"why-will-todays-lunar-flyby-only-beam-back-low-resolution-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/why-will-todays-lunar-flyby-only-beam-back-low-resolution-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Why will today\u2019s lunar flyby only beam back low-resolution video?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Humanity is about to get its first in-person, up-close look at the Moon in more than half a century.<\/p>\n

Four astronauts will spend about seven hours on Monday observing the far side of the Moon, the half that constantly points away from Earth. At their closest approach on board their Orion spacecraft Integrity<\/em>, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen with the Canadian Space Agency will be about 4,000 miles (6,400 km) above the surface. The last time any person came that close was during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.<\/p>\n

You can tune into the webcast here, starting at 1 pm ET.<\/p>\n

Although the primary purpose of the Artemis II crew\u2019s observations will be to advance scientists\u2019 understanding of lunar geology, there is no doubt a spectator and inspirational interest in this as well. The flyby of the Moon is expected to be watched by millions of people on Earth, and while any view will be impressive, it may also leave many wanting more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be getting SAW [solar array wing] camera video streaming during the flyby, except, of course, during the loss of signal when they go behind the Moon,\u201d said Kelsey Young, NASA\u2019s Artemis science flight operations lead, during a pre-flyby press conference. \u201cThey\u2019ll be recording the rest on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SAW cameras are four specialized, modified GoPro cameras. One is mounted on each of four solar array wings that extend out from Orion\u2019s service module.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor parts of the flyby, we\u2019ll actually be able to go on board with [the astronauts],\u201d said Young, referring to a camera inside Integrity<\/em>\u2018s crew cabin.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t expect high-res video,\u201d added Judd Frieling, Artemis II ascent flight director, \u201cbut you will have, as Kelsey mentioned, the SAW cameras through our nominal low-rate video.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2017, NASA has been broadcasting in 4K from the International Space Station, so why can they not do the same from the Moon almost a decade later?<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Data, daylight, and distance<\/h2>\n

For most of the Artemis II mission, communications between Integrity<\/em> and NASA\u2019s Mission Control in Houston are being handled by either NASA\u2019s Near Space or Deep Space networks. During the flyby, any imagery being broadcast live to Earth will be via the latter, which relies on transmissions to radio antennas in California, Spain, and Australia.<\/p>\n

Integrity is also carrying an experimental optical communication system that uses a laser (infrared light) to transmit data at a higher rate than radio waves, allowing for larger video and imagery files to be transmitted back to Earth quicker. Prior to the flyby, the demo had successfully transferred more than 100 gigabytes of data collected during the mission thus far.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rendering of the optical communications system using laser light to convey data to the Moon on the Orion capsule Integrity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n NASA<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The optical communications system, though, is subject to limitations, including being pointed in the wrong direction while Integrity\u2019s windows are focused on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

So all of the live imagery from the flyby, as well as the telemetry from the capsule, crew communications with Mission Control, and more has to all be directed through the same radio direct pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge is really the distance,\u201d said David Israel, the space internetworking principal for program management at Intuitive Machines, a Houston-based space services, delivery, and infrastructure company, in an interview. \u201cThe space station is able to get the continuous, high-rate video that people see because it is in Earth orbit and communicates through the NASA tracking and data relay system, so it moves in and out of view of one relay to another relay providing a near continuous feed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo from the Moon point of view, you have the extra distance,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then there\u2019s also a limited number of ground stations on Earth that are currently able to support signals to and from the Moon at high data rates.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Deep Space Network might be sufficient if Artemis II were the only mission out there. The reality is that the same antennae that are used to receive signals from the Moon are also needed for the two active rovers on Mars, probes around the Sun and the planets, and spacecraft at the edge of our Solar System and beyond.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Lunar relay<\/h2>\n

In 2024, NASA took a step toward making sure it could deliver live high-resolution video by the time the next humans walk on the Moon.<\/p>\n

The agency awarded a contract to Intuitive Machines to establish a lunar satellite constellation to provide communications for the exploration and scientific study of the Moon. NASA expects lunar relays will be used by both human and robotic landing systems, expanding the number of potential landing sites by connecting them to ground stations on Earth.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Concept of an Intuitive Machines lunar data relay satellite in orbit around the Moon.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Intuitive Machines<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cSo if you\u2019re [an astronaut] down inside a crater or down or at any point where Earth isn\u2019t in view, then the lunar relay can be in a position in orbit where it\u2019s able to give you that access point to connect,\u201d said Israel, who, before joining Intuitive Machines, served as the architect of NASA\u2019s Near Space Network, advancing the use of optical communications and relay satellite architectures.<\/p>\n

\u201cLunar relay also has the advantage that it is much closer to the Moon, so it makes it much easier to make that connection,\u201d Israel said. \u201cSo then user systems on the Moon can have smaller communications packages to send back video. They don\u2019t have to send it all the way back to Earth. Just send it to the relay, and then the relay is built to be able to close that link to Earth and send the video back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building upon its recent acquisition of Lanteris Space Systems (formerly Space Systems\/Loral and most recently, Maxar Space Systems), an established manufacturer of satellites, Intuitive Machines is on track to deploy its first lunar relay satellite later this year from the same rocket that launches its third robotic mission (IM-3) to land government and commercial payloads on the Moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur current deployment plan is for the five relays,\u201d said Israel. \u201cWe\u2019ll have enough of them up there and operational to have full coverage for when the first Artemis landing happens. If they have the antennas deployed and are able to point to us, we should be able to provide live high-res video of the landing as it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Astronaut\u2019s perspective<\/h2>\n

Intuitive Machines is among a group of 34 volunteers chosen by NASA to follow the Artemis II mission as it flies to the Moon and back. The company is using its Space Data Network (SDN) and ground station infrastructure to track the radio waves transmitted by the Orion spacecraft during its 10-day journey.<\/p>\n

The data collected will help NASA identify ways to augment future Moon mission support, including the need for additional lunar relays.<\/p>\n

Intuitive Machines\u2019 chief integration officer is intimately familiar with the need for bandwidth in space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more you get, the more you expect, and then it opens the gateway to new types of science and new types of interactions that you couldn\u2019t consider before,\u201d said Jack Fischer, who, before joining Intuitive Machines in 2021, lived on the International Space Station for four and a half months as a NASA astronaut and was there for the first live 4K broadcast. \u201cNo matter how much bandwidth there is, there\u2019s always a way to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Intuitive Machines\u2019 space network connects space and ground via partner sites like Goonhilly and the company\u2019s controlled locations, offering enhanced connectivity.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd.<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Eventually, all of the footage and photos taken by the Artemis II crew on Monday will reach Earth, even if that means landing with the astronauts aboard Orion. NASA plans to share it all with the public so everyone will get to see what Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen saw, albeit not at the same time they saw it.<\/p>\n

Fischer foresees a day coming soon when the bandwidth will be available so we can all go along for the ride, while the same lunar relays support multiple missions and lunar surface activities, relieving the demand on the Deep Space Network.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t stress enough how important it is for us to build this infrastructure, to reduce the costs, making that economic case of everything we actually do put on the Moon. I\u2019m very excited and proud of our team for what they\u2019re doing to lay that groundwork,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s webcast starts at 1 pm ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Humanity is about to get its first in-person, up-close look at the Moon in more than half a century. Four astronauts will spend about seven hours on Monday observing the far side of the Moon, the half that constantly points away from Earth. At their closest approach on board their Orion spacecraft Integrity, Reid Wiseman, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}