* Originally in: SF SciFi -> Reality

I can't get Netflix to run smoothly in my house but NASA just sent a 4K
video stream from the Moon, thanks to AWS

Date:
Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:20:00 +0000

Description:
First-ever 4K video stream from the Moon to Earth represents major milestone, uses 260Mbps laser optics.

FULL STORY
Amazon Web Services the biggest cloud hyperscaler with a market
share equaling the combined share of both Microsoft and Google just helped
to enable the first-ever like 4K video stream from the Moon.

The company transmitted video footage from the Orion spacecraft by laser,
with an estimated 25 million people watching the coverage across NASA+, YouTube and Amazons own Prime Video platform. Not only is this the first time 4K video has ever been transmitted from the Moon to Earth, but its also major news for video transmission by laser optics instead of conventional radio.

Key to supporting the video transmission was NASAs Orion Artemis II
Optical Communications System (O2O) a laser-based terminal more than 20
years in the making that supports up to 260Mbps transfer speeds. In other words, fast enough for real-time 4K video and other crucial mission data.

Generally, streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video would recommend having internet speeds of 15-20Mbps to stream 4K video. With NASA and AWS opening up 260Mbps, more than enough buffer was available to continue transmitting other key telemetry, voice communications, mission data and other files.

Unlike traditional radio systems, optical communications promise much higher bandwidth and are better suited to transmitting much larger datasets, thus they are expected to become increasingly important as space exploration
pushes new boundaries.

In this case, laser transmissions were received by Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra, Australia, and NASAs White Sands Complex in New Mexico was responsible for processing and distributing signals. AWS, NASA, and ANU partnered and stood up the connection in a matter of weeks, for the cost of a laptop, the company declared .

All in, the video was transmitted an estimated quarter of a million miles, connecting viewers to the farthest humans ever to travel from Earth.

But Amazons partnership with NASA runs even deeper than this, with the
company hosting the official NASA+ streaming platform using AWS Elemental services. Amazon plays a crucial role in NASAs trajectory: Besides video, Amazons cloud infrastructure also proves instrumental to other core NASA operations. Its flight sciences team at the Johnson Space Center runs tens of thousands of trajectory simulations for every launch opportunity, producing
as much as 2-5TB of data per launch window.

Amazon proudly proclaimed that these simulations run on AWS GovCloud (US), enabling maximum security for sensitive data. Using a technique known as
cloud bursting, NASA is able to scale into hundreds of additional Intel
-based cloud instances on demand, allowing it to retarget and optimize trajectory in near real-time.

Mission control aside, Amazons huge video streaming success lays out the framework for future space missions, including the upcoming Artemis IV lunar landing which NASA hopes to get into the hands of 250 million live viewers.

Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/i-cant-get-netflix-to-run-smoothly-in-my-house-b ut-nasa-just-sent-a-4k-video-stream-from-the-moon-thanks-to-aws

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