NASA posts more than 800GB of Artemis II mission data online
The US space agency NASA has published over 800 gigabytes of images, video, audio and science data from the crewed Artemis II mission to the Moon. The archive includes crew-annotated images and footage of astronauts reporting impact flashes on the Moon's far side.
NASA, the US space agency, has this week posted more than 800 gigabytes of science data, images and video from the Artemis II mission, a crewed flight to the Moon. The material is available on a dedicated site called "Artemis II: Sights & Sounds of Science" and offers a broader look inside the mission than previously released footage.
The archive contains over 11,000 photos and videos, along with more than 8.5 hours of audio. It also includes images annotated by the crew, such as one marking the place where astronauts saw impact flashes on the far side of the Moon.
Impact flash observation
One of the standout items is a clip in which the Artemis II crew describes its observation of the flashes to the ground team in Houston. Impact flashes on the Moon have been observed before, but the ones seen on the far side this time may be the faintest ever detected by the human eye. The crew's excitement is clearly audible in the recording.
Supporting documents
Alongside the data release, NASA also issued three documents intended to help make sense of the unfiltered material: the Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report, the Artemis II Lunar Science Operations Report and the Artemis II Lunar Science Data User Guide.
The release gives the public access to raw data and the crew's work, rather than only a curated selection of images.
