During the Artemis II mission, data from the Orion spacecraft was transmitted to Earth by laser communication at a speed of up to 260 Mbps. One of the receiving terminals was created by Observable Space and Quantum Opus, and he worked under the leadership of the Australian National University.
The terminal used the telescope and Observable Space software to target the signal from Orion, as well as the Quantum Opus photonic sensor for data decoding. The cost of this complex was less than 5 millions of dollars, while specialized systems of this type can cost tens of millions.
During the flight around the moon, several receiving stations, including NASA facilities in California and New Mexico, as well as an experimental terminal in Australia, received 4K video from the mission. The location of the station in Australia was of particular importance, as laser communication requires line of sight and depends on weather conditions. NASA notes, that optical, i.e. laser, communication can transmit data 10-100 times faster, than traditional radio systems, which are still the main means of communication in space. That is why the agency is testing such technologies for future missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.
According to Observable Space estimates, Artemis II results show space-to-Earth laser communication is ready for scaling. The company says, that it opens the prospect of creating a global network of inexpensive ground terminals for receiving data from satellites of various types.
Source: https://techcrunch.com