AT&T and FirstNet Support NASA’s Artemis II Communications

AT&T announced that it is supporting NASA communications for the historic Artemis II Moon mission, extending the nearly 150-year track-record of supporting government connectivity.

Working side-by-side with NASA, AT&T is providing connectivity and on-site support for near-Earth and deep-space communications that help keep mission control and four astronauts connected as NASA’s Orion spacecraft travels nearly 250,000 miles into space and around the Moon.

“We knew NASA would be juggling countless priorities to support Artemis II, which is why we embedded with their team to anticipate their communications needs and support them every step of the way,” said Wes Anderson, president of Public Sector, AT&T. “Thanks to our long history of supporting government customers, we offer more than just connectivity – we bring the operational experience and hands-on partnership to help make sure everything is mission-ready.”

Launch preparation doesn’t happen overnight. Well before the countdown, AT&T worked with NASA to understand its network needs and connect NASA sites around the world, including major space centers and ground stations. We made technical upgrades where necessary to ensure mission-critical reliability and aligned communications support across several locations – including NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where AT&T staff were on site – to ensure immediate response to any issues around launch.

That work is ongoing: With practice runs and liftoff in the rearview mirror, our teams will continue to support Artemis II all the way through splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, and AT&T staff remain on site around the clock at Goddard, as well as NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Additional AT&T teams in Dallas, Chantilly, Va., and multiple international locations also continue to monitor the network, prepared to address any problems quickly and help keep the mission on track.

With tens of thousands of additional users and devices expected at the launch site, NASA public safety is using FirstNet, Built with AT&T – the only network built with and for America’s first responders. The FirstNet team coordinated closely with NASA Protective Services and Emergency Management Operations to help ensure they could reliably communicate with their teams across the massive Kennedy Space Center.

The FirstNet Response Operations Group™ (ROG), led by former first responders, helped those teams anticipate any “what-ifs” and make on-the-fly decisions. One key feature that sets FirstNet apart from commercial networks is its dedicated fleet of deployable network assets available to FirstNet agencies at any time upon request. Unlike commercial carriers, which must share their resources among all users, FirstNet’s assets are reserved exclusively for public safety. For the Artemis II launch, that included:

Additionally, AT&T Network Disaster Recovery (NDR) stationed its new NDR Connect and Care Trailer at NASA Kennedy’s Press Site to provide device charging to attendees.

Beyond supporting Artemis II, AT&T’s space legacy spans over six decades – from pioneering early satellite communications with Telstar to supporting NASA missions over the years, including the Apollo Moon landing.

That legacy is about to enter its next chapter: Later this year, FirstNet will offer beta satellite services, using an everyday smartphone to select first responders with AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellites. Plans are underway for a larger release in the future.

As we look ahead, AT&T remains dedicated to powering the next era of innovation – on Earth, in space, and beyond – connecting America to even greater possibilities.

Source: AT&T media announcement