The countdown is on for Artemis II and its crew’s historic liftoff Wednesday evening. The mission will mark NASA’s first piloted flight to the moon in 53 years.

Attached to the Orion spacecraft the four astronauts will take around the moon, is a key piece of technology developed over decades in Lexington, Massachusetts.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Researchers and developers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory designed and built optical communication systems, which use lasers instead of traditional radio frequencies to transmit information.

“With laser communications, we’re able to deliver a lot more data with a lot less power and with much smaller terminals,” explained Jade Wang, Assistant Group Leader of Optical and Quantum Communications at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

The technology marks a major leap from the RF systems used during the Apollo missions decades ago. Researchers say those older systems created limits on how much and how reliably data could be sent back to Earth during flight.

“The in-flight instrumentation is a huge bottleneck [on newer spacecrafts], and without laser communications, all of that data that’s critical to the safety and the health of the astronauts wouldn’t be as readily available,” said Steve Gillmer, Assistant Group Leader of Structural and Thermo-Fluids Engineering at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

4K video in space

The new system is expected to provide a faster, more seamless flow of critical data, including 4K video upload and download as well as other capabilities. In a sense those grainy videos of the moon from the 60s and 70s will truly be a thing of the past. 

“The way I eventually described it to my friends was I was working to make communications in space more like, bring the internet so astronauts could view cat videos for instance, and to have the experience in space that they currently enjoy at home,” said Wang.

Beyond Artemis II, researchers say technology will play a vital role in the future of deep space exploration. NASA plans to have a moon-landing flight in 2028.

“Artemis is just the first step. Ultimately, we are hoping to send people to Mars for exploration there, and this same of technology is required to kind of provide the amount of data and services that we need for that kind of exploration,” Wang added.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is owned and operated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology but serves as the largest federally funded R&D tasked with developing advanced technology for the DoW, U.S. government agencies and non-DoW organizations such as NASA, the FAA, and NOAA.

Some families in Massachusetts are worried about a possible school bus driver strike this week.

Drivers for First Student, the largest school bus company in the country, could walk off the job Wednesday if they can’t reach a new deal by Tuesday night.

Wayland, Duxbury, Plymouth, Sudbury, Fitchburg, Leominster and Springfield are just some of the communities that use the bus service. According to the company, they represent more than 500 districts in 42 states plus Canada; Massachusetts and New Hampshire are among those states.

First Student is in national contract negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The union wants better retirement and medical benefits. The current deal expires on Tuesday. If they can’t agree on a new contract the union has authorized a potential strike starting Wednesday, April 1.

Local contracts include a no-strike clause, but the union’s national agreement may supersede local ones.

“Leominster Public Schools has no control over or influence in these negotiations,” Superintendent Robin Desmond wrote in a letter to parents Monday.

A First Student spokesperson said negotiations are continuing in good faith, but parents in Leominster are bracing for the worst.

“Not all parents can drive their kids in and out of school. The community is very dependent on transportation,” said Leominster parent Lyndsey Miller.

“They get released at 2:15 p.m., (for) a lot of parents’ work schedules that’s going to be hard to do,” said Corey Leighton, the parent of a high school student.

“It’s a broader problem, that’s for sure. So, I think parents will be understanding,” said Leominster parent Victor Novoa. “It would affect our work lives, and we’d have to balance the schedule.”

If your school district uses First Student and you have specific questions, reach out to your town’s school department.