Wish to be a part of an area mission from Earth? NASA seeks volunteers

If you’ve ever needed to be a part of an area mission, it’s possible you’ll lastly get that likelihood—with out leaving Earth.

According to its website, NASA is looking for “volunteers to passively track the Artemis II Orion spacecraft as the crewed mission travels to the Moon and back to Earth.”

The mission, targeted for no later than April 2026, will mark the first crewed flight of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft.

This opportunity builds on a similar effort during Artemis I in 2022, when 10 volunteers, including international space agencies, academic institutions, commercial companies, nonprofits, and private citizens, successfully tracked the uncrewed Orion spacecraft thousands of miles beyond the Moon.

Using ground antennas, participants received Orion’s signal and measured changes in its transmitted radio waves.

With Artemis II, NASA aims to better understand commercial and community tracking capabilities as it leans more heavily on industry partnerships. The mission will still rely on NASA’s Near Space and Deep Space Networks for primary communication and tracking during launch, orbit, and reentry.

“By offering this opportunity to the broader aerospace community, we can identify available tracking capabilities outside the government,” Kevin Coggins, deputy affiliate administrator for NASA’s SCaN program, stated. “This data will help inform our transition to a commercial-first approach, ultimately strengthening the infrastructure needed to support Artemis missions and our long-term Moon to Mars objectives.”

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