How Australia is supporting NASAs first Moon flight in 50 years

Australia will play a key role in humanity’s return to the Moon, with Canberra-based communications systems supporting NASA’s first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years. The Artemis II mission, scheduled for April 1, will send four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon, marking the first time humans have ventured that far since the Apollo era in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Australian-based facilities, including NASA’s Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla and the Australian National University’s (ANU) Quantum Optical Ground Station at Mt Stromlo Observatory, will support the mission from the ground.

Australian astronaut and 2026 Australian of the Year Katherine Bennell-Pegg said the mission represented a scientific milestone and continuation of Australia’s long-standing role in space exploration. “In the Apollo era, Australia hosted the most amount of tracking stations outside of the US that supported Apollo. We were absolutely critical then; we are also absolutely critical now,” Ms Bennell-Pegg said.

Mission aims ‘to answer the big questions’

The Artemis II mission will mark the first crewed flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, as astronauts test the vehicles in deep space and collect data to inform future missions and scientific research.

Ms Bennell-Pegg said the crew members would take on an important observational role during the flight. “When they go out there, there’ll be geologists in the sky, observing the Moon, looking at tens of different sites to inform future landers,” she said. “Looking out to the Moon – we’re going to answer the big questions, where did humanity come from? Why is the Earth the way it is? We’re learning about the Moon to help us understand the Earth, our climate, to develop new technologies and also to inspire the next generation into doing hard STEM pursuits.”

Communications critical to mission success

Australia’s contribution will centre on communications and tracking, which are critical to mission safety and success. The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC), managed by CSIRO, is one of three global tracking stations supporting Artemis II, alongside facilities in the United States and Spain.

CDSCC director Kevin Ferguson says the three sites work together to maintain constant contact with the spacecraft as Earth turns. “The three of us connect very closely to ensure that we overlap the eyes on the sky in space,” Mr Ferguson said. “The whole DSN [Deep Space Network] is important in the sense that we will take 95 per cent of the communications that come back from the Artemis mission. We need to have that data come back, but most importantly, we need to have the safety of the astronauts. We are their lifeline. We are their connectivity back home.”

ANU to showcase new tech

At Mount Stromlo Observatory, researchers at the ANU will support the mission through a demonstration of their optical communications technology. Researcher Francis Bennet said ANU’s Quantum Optical Ground Station would receive signals from NASA’s laser communication terminal on the Orion spacecraft and translate them into usable data.

“We’re basically demonstrating our technology and our capability,” Professor Bennet said. “Even though you can’t see the lasers with your eyes themselves, we can use the signals, basically the laser winking on and off, to allow us to detect those individual blips and convert that into a communication signal.” He said the technology would both increase the volume of data returned from space and upgrade imagery from historic footage.

“What this changes is the grainy images from the 1960s into high-definition video coming from places like the Moon,” Professor Bennet said. Australia will continue its involvement in future Artemis missions, including a planned lunar rover in 2030.