<\/p>\n The added capability is expected to provide a greater data capacity from Orion to NASA’s mission control in Houston, which may include high-definition live video from orbit. The mission is currently scheduled for the second half of 2027, and will also include another sizable contribution from SpaceX<\/a>: a Starship rocket.<\/p>\n SpaceX currently operates more than 10,000 Starlink spacecraft in LEO, which provide satellite internet coverage across nearly the entire globe to commercially-available wireless terminals about the size of a laptop. Combined, those more than 10,000 and counting satellites<\/a> are equipped with over 25,000 lasers currently in operation in LEO to maintain the network’s interconnectedness, according to a NASA update<\/a>.<\/p>\n The company previously demonstrated the Starlink constellation’s use as a communication relay network during the privately funded Fram2 mission that launched the first human into a polar orbit around Earth<\/a> in 2025. SpaceX frequently utilizes its high-data capabilities to stream high-definition live views of its Falcon 9<\/a> and Starship rocket launches from orbit.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Artemis III is the third in a program of NASA<\/a> missions with the goal of returning astronauts to the moon<\/a> and establishing a permanent base on its surface. Artemis III is designed as a practice run for NASA’s Orion capsule to rendezvous and dock with the program’s commercial lunar lander vehicles, Starship<\/a>, and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon spacecraft, in low Earth orbit<\/a> (LEO). That’s a lot closer to home compared to the Artemis II mission that NASA launched in April of this year.<\/p>\n
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