Earlier this month, NASA’s Artemis II mission sent four astronauts to orbit the moon and used new laser communications systems to send stunning images back to Earth at 260 megabits per second. A low-cost terminal built by Observable Space and Quantum Opus, operated by the Australian National University, was key in this demonstration.

The terminal cost less than $5 million compared to more bespoke solutions that can run into tens of millions of dollars. NASA has been testing deep space laser communications for several years with various successful demonstrations; Artemis II was its most comprehensive yet, collecting 4K video from the moon orbit using both primary and experimental terminals.

Josh Cassada, a former U.S. astronaut who co-founded Quantum Opus, pointed out that Australia was the first continent to appear in the iconic Earthrise photo captured by the Artemis II astronauts. Dan Roelker, CEO of Observable Space, believes this mission proves space-to-Earth laser downlinks are ready to scale.

Already widely used for satellite-to-satellite connections, this technology will now be considered for global networks of these terminals to receive data from various satellites. Roelker envisions partnering with ground station-as-a-service companies and large constellation providers who want their own infrastructure.