A newly designed foldable phased-array transmitter can help make satellites lightweight, smaller, and cost-efficient to launch, report scientists at Tokyo Tech. The transmitter is made of stacked layers of liquid crystal polymer and incorporates flexible creases, which provide flexibility and deployability. The new design could make research and implementation of space technologies more accessible to private companies and startups.

There has been a recent shift in the space industry towards what is now called the "new-space era." The term refers to how space is no longer dominated exclusively by government agencies such as NASA but has instead become a playground for many private companies and startups interested in exploring and deploying space technologies.

The laser communications system for NASA's Artemis II mission arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for integration with the Orion spacecraft, which will carry astronauts around the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions.

On November 16, 2022, NASA launched the Artemis I mission, an uncrewed flight test that took the human-rated Orion spacecraft farther into space than any before. The next mission, Artemis II, will test all of Orion's systems needed for crewed spaceflight and set the stage for future missions to the lunar surface. The Artemis II mission will also test new and enhanced technologies including laser communication capabilities.

Orion's laser communications terminal is known as the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System, or O2O.

Laser communications systems, like O2O, provide missions with increased data rates, meaning they can send and receive more information in a single transmission compared to traditional radio wave systems, which most NASA missions use today.