NASA has selected a diverse group of 34 global volunteers to join the Artemis II mission, an ambitious endeavor to track the Orion spacecraft as it journeys around the Moon. This initiative marks a significant step in NASA's journey towards establishing a long-term presence on the lunar surface and paving the way for future missions to Mars. But here's where it gets controversial: While NASA's primary networks will handle communications and tracking, this volunteer program invites external organizations and amateur radio enthusiasts to demonstrate their capabilities, potentially reshaping the future of space exploration and innovation.
The Artemis II test flight will launch NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, carrying the Orion spacecraft and a crew of four astronauts, on a mission into deep space. This mission is a pivotal moment in NASA's Artemis campaign, which aims to establish a permanent lunar base and gather the necessary data for future lunar and Martian exploration. The selected participants, comprising government agencies, commercial service providers, academic institutions, and amateur radio enthusiasts, will use their equipment to passively track radio waves transmitted by Orion during its approximately 10-day journey around the Moon.
Kevin Coggins, NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for SCaN, emphasized the significance of this opportunity, stating, "The Artemis II tracking opportunity is a real step toward SCaN’s commercial-first vision. By inviting external organizations to demonstrate their capabilities during a human spaceflight mission, we’re strengthening the marketplace we’ll rely on as we explore farther into the solar system." This initiative not only strengthens the tracking capabilities for the Artemis II mission but also builds a resilient, public-private ecosystem that will support the Golden Age of innovation and exploration.
The selected participants will submit their data to NASA for analysis, helping the agency better assess the broader aerospace community’s tracking capabilities and identify ways to augment future Moon and Mars mission support. There are no funds exchanged as a part of this collaborative effort. This initiative builds on a previous effort in which 10 volunteers successfully tracked the Orion spacecraft during Artemis I in 2022, providing valuable data and lessons learned for the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, which develops communications and data standards for spaceflight.
Compared to the previous opportunity, public interest in tracking the Artemis II mission has increased. About 47 ground assets spanning 14 different countries will be used to track the spacecraft during its journey around the Moon. The participants include government agencies like the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), commercial service providers such as Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd and ViaSat, academic institutions like the University of California Berkeley and the University of New Brunswick, and amateur radio enthusiasts like Chris Swier and Scott Tilley. These diverse groups will work together to provide passive tracking of radio waves transmitted by Orion, contributing to the success of the Artemis II mission and the advancement of space exploration.
The networks supporting Artemis receive programmatic oversight from NASA’s SCaN Program office. In addition to providing communications services to missions, SCaN develops the technologies and capabilities that will help propel NASA to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The Deep Space Network is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and the Near Space Network is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. For more information about NASA’s SCaN Program, visit https://www.nasa.gov/scan.
This initiative not only strengthens the tracking capabilities for the Artemis II mission but also builds a resilient, public-private ecosystem that will support the Golden Age of innovation and exploration. As the Artemis II mission prepares for launch, the diverse group of volunteers stands ready to contribute their unique capabilities and perspectives, paving the way for a new era of space exploration and discovery.
