MIT tech powered the Artemis II livestreams

麻省理工学院技术助力“阿耳忒弥斯2号”实时直播

During the original US missions to the moon in the 1960s and ’70s, astronauts relied on radio-frequency systems to communicate, sending grainy, low-quality images and videos to Earth. 在20世纪60年代和70年代美国最初的登月任务中，宇航员依靠射频系统进行通信，向地球发送颗粒感强、质量低下的图像和视频。

But on the Artemis II Orion mission in April, spacecraft transmitted crystal-clear footage at speeds on par with those of home internet connections. 但在今年4月的“阿耳忒弥斯2号”（Artemis II）猎户座任务中，航天器以媲美家庭宽带的速度传输了清晰度极高的影像。

The livestreams so many people enjoyed were made possible through the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O), developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory in collaboration with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. 许多人所欣赏的实时直播，得益于“猎户座阿耳忒弥斯2号光学通信系统”（O2O），该系统由麻省理工学院林肯实验室与美国国家航空航天局（NASA）戈达德太空飞行中心合作开发。

Based on infrared laser light, which can transmit 10 to 100 times more data per second than radio waves, the system downlinked nearly half a terabyte of data at up to 260 megabits per second. 该系统基于红外激光技术，其每秒传输的数据量是无线电波的10到100倍，下行链路传输速度高达每秒260兆比特，总计传输了近半个太字节的数据。

This data trove contained never-before-seen views of the basins and craters on the far side of the moon, a crescent Earth setting behind the moon, a nearly hour-long total solar eclipse, and flashes of light from tiny meteoroids striking the lunar surface. 这些宝贵的数据包含了月球背面盆地和陨石坑前所未见的景象、月球背后落下的新月状地球、长达近一小时的日全食，以及微小流星体撞击月球表面时产生的闪光。

“Our goal was to demonstrate O2O’s operational utility for human spaceflight, extending the high-bandwidth connections that internet users enjoy on Earth to astronauts in deep space,” says lead systems engineer Farzana Khatri ’90, SM ’92, PhD ’96, a senior staff member in Lincoln Lab’s Optical and Quantum Communications Group. “我们的目标是展示O2O在载人航天任务中的实际效用，将地球互联网用户所享有的高带宽连接扩展到深空中的宇航员身上，”首席系统工程师法扎娜·卡特里（Farzana Khatri，90届本科、92届硕士、96届博士）表示，她是林肯实验室光学与量子通信小组的资深成员。

“Participating in this historic mission … and having O2O be useful—I couldn’t have asked for anything more amazing in my career,” she says. “能够参与这项历史性的任务……并看到O2O发挥作用——我的职业生涯中再没有比这更令人惊叹的事情了，”她说。