NASA is seeking information from commercial providers on secondary communications capabilities to support the Artemis IV mission, specifically to enable high-rate data return from the Orion crew vehicle during lunar orbit. The mission is scheduled to launch no later than March 2028, with engineering hardware delivery needed by December 2026 and flight hardware delivery by March 2027 for externally mounted options, or fall 2027 for internally configured systems. The system must provide near continuous communication with a downlink of at least 12 Mbps and an uplink of at least 500 kbps, while integrating easily into the Orion vehicle. Performance of services will occur in lunar orbit, with the Orion spacecraft remaining there during the mission. No specific budget amount is mentioned in the description.

NASA is seeking information from commercial providers on secondary communications capabilities to support the Artemis IV mission, which will launch crew in the Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit no later than March 2028. The system must provide near continuous communication with a downlink of at least 12 Mbps (goal of 20-50 Mbps) and an uplink of at least 500 kbps, with ease of integration into Orion being critical due to the short timeline. Hardware delivery timelines vary by configuration: engineering hardware by December 2026 and flight hardware by March 2027 for externally mounted options, or flight hardware by fall 2027 for internally configured systems. The location for performance is lunar orbit, with Orion remaining there while crew transfer to and from the lunar surface via the Human Landing System. No specific budget amounts are mentioned in the description.