The last lunar radio silence

There is an important moment of the Artemis II mission, it was the radio silence, passing through the far side of the Moon meant a cut in communications with the Earth, which is physically logical, the astronauts had 3474 km in diameter of lunar mass between them and the mission control signal on Earth, the cut in communications lasted about 40 to 41 minutes, about 10 minutes less than during the Apollo missions and ended with a response from the astronauts of the Artemis mission saying, "Houston, we welcome you."

It was a moment of tension, just like what was experienced with the Apollo missions, although why the radio silence, we are in the 21st century, NASA could not have organized a triangulation of communications using satellites, since it is something that NASA plans to do, but it is still underway, it could not be done for this mission.

On this occasion, NASA's LRO lunar satellite was also not in a position to serve as a link, but and China, because we know that China has placed some relay satellites around the Moon to have communications with its missions on the far side, NASA's official explanation is that those satellites were not available or compatible for Artemis II, the truth is that NASA did not ask China for help either because it did not consider it important, although it is also possible that NASA did not want to get into a political mess and that since In 2019 there is a law that limits direct space cooperation with China.

The important thing is that this will be one of the last times that we will experience lunar radio silence, NASA wants to develop a communications network that allows the exploration of the hidden side of the Moon, although before that it is possible that the mini constellation of five lunar satellites that the European Space Agency will send will be seen in operation, the first will be launched in 2028 and this mini costellation will be completed in 2030.

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