The Invisible Network

At its core the NASA History Office ensures that, as we look forward to the Moon, Mars and beyond, we remember the lessons we’ve learned from our predecessors. The race to the Moon in the 1960s occurred against a very different backdrop than today's Artemis program — but both exhibit what humanity can achieve when we set ourselves to lofty aims.

At its core the NASA History Office ensures that, as we look forward to the Moon, Mars and beyond, we remember the lessons we’ve learned from our predecessors. The race to the Moon in the 1960s occurred against a very different backdrop than today's Artemis program — but both exhibit what humanity can achieve when we set ourselves to lofty aims.

There is perhaps no one better than Jim Garvin to outline the unique opportunities for research that the Artemis missions to the Moon could provide scientists on Earth. Jim is chief scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and a tireless champion for crewed exploration of the Moon.

Science fiction and science fact have long enjoyed a symbiotic relationship, with ideas in one prompting innovations in the other, and so on. Dan Curry, a filmmaker, artist and visual effects producer best known for his Star Trek work, shares his perspectives.

Faster-than-light communications might not be a possibility now — our current understanding of natural laws don’t allow for it. But who knows what innovations await us just beyond the horizon?

What does the Pony Express of the 19th century have in common with the internet and disruption-tolerant networking? They're all (for their times) innovative communications technologies that revolutionize the way we share data.

Without communications there is no exploration: To reveal the unknown, a spacecraft must be able to share its data. In a sense, today's space communications networks are like the roadways of ancient empires, allowing information to move across vast distances. But how might our satellite data highways evolve to enable exploration centuries from now?

For billions of years, the Earth and the Moon have danced together. Since the Apollo era, scientists have used lasers — a technology then in its infancy — to measure their waltz. Lasers have since played increasingly important roles in spaceflight. They may even play a part in keeping the next generation of lunar astronauts connected to home.

Amidst the grandeur of spaceflight, there is a tiny bit of technology that, if not for its major role, might otherwise go unnoticed: distress beacons. This NASA-developed search-and-rescue technology could be life-saving not just for astronauts, but for travelers across the globe as well.

Spacecraft near Earth have long relied on GPS signals for navigation, just as users on the ground might use their phones to navigate the highways. Farther away, navigation — and the math behind it — becomes a great deal more challenging.