NASA Releases Artemis II Data on Five Lunar Flashes

NASA released a preliminary Artemis II lunar-science dataset on October 7, making public more than 11,000 images and videos, about 814 gigabytes of observations, and roughly eight hours of crew audio. The material includes records of five faint flashes that astronauts saw during the mission’s April 6 lunar flyby and that NASA’s report identifies as likely meteoroid impacts. The flashes appeared as the Orion spacecraft passed the Moon’s far side, where the crew observed the surface during a period of darkness. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen marked the flashes’ locations on an image using a shared tablet. NASA’s preliminary assessment describes them as likely impacts from rocky fragments striking the lunar surface. The dataset includes crew photography, video, audio descriptions and handwritten annotations, as well as reports on the lunar science activities. It documents observations made during Artemis II’s April 1-10 journey to the Moon and back. NASA made the material available through its public planetary-science archive for further study.