A new Moon-to-Earth satellite for communications is currently under development from one of the notable space companies in the industry, Lockheed Martin, with its goals to bring connections to and from the home planet from the natural satellite. It will be a feature that future astronauts making their way to the Moon would enjoy, with an available method of communication off-world.
Lockheed Martin calls this new satellite "Parsec," and it would soon debut a constellation of satellites around the lunar orbit that would help in communicating with the planet.
Parsec, a Moon-to-Earth Communications Satellite from Lockheed Martin
Under the new commercial company from Lockheed Martin, Crescent, comes a new communications satellite to aid the Moon-to-Earth connections in the future with a satellite called "Parsec." In the company's press release, Lockheed claims to bring "uninterrupted communications" between the Earth and the Moon in future missions.
Not only would Parsec service certain parts of the lunar surface, but it also aims to deliver communications to the Moon's far side, enabling better exploration in the area.
Crescent, under Lockheed Martin, aims to provide the Parsec service for the Moon missions' critical position, timing, and navigation services to help it better communicate to the home base.
Lockheed Martin's Communication Satellite for the Moon
The new commercial company from Lockheed would provide an Infrastructure-as-a-service platform starting with Parsec, alongside its operations in the future. The company said that it would launch the first nodes of the satellite by 2025.
"Crescent is well positioned to serve the upcoming wave of lunar science and exploration missions, including NASA's crewed Artemis moon landings," said Crescent CEO Joe Landon.
The Moon Mission Coming Soon
When NASA went ahead to launch the SLS Rocket and the Orion toward the Moon late last year, it gave the agency the insight and information they need to assess what its development needs more in terms of improvement. It is important to note that the agency's rocket is also not in its 100 percent state, but this actual test launch will help them be ready for the actual Artemis mission.
One of the most notable discoveries of the space agency is that there is a communications weakness in the Artemis-1 flight which the home team and the rocket experienced. In fact, there was a moment when the rocket went dark before regaining its systems to confirm that the rocket is still in shape for its return to the planet.
With a pending Moon mission that would attempt to bring humans back to the Lunar surface, everything should be ensured to avoid any problems or risks to the astronauts and spacecraft. Lockheed Martin's Parsec would be an ideal solution here, as it could ensure communications in its journey to the Moon, as well as the astronauts' stay on the natural satellite.