NASA seeks volunteer ground stations to track Artemis II lunar fly-by

NASA is inviting volunteer ground stations and qualified individuals to help track the agency’s next crewed Artemis mission, Artemis II, by capturing and reporting radio signals from the Orion spacecraft as it flies to the moon and returns.

Artemis II, tentatively scheduled for April 2026, is planned as a roughly 10-day mission that will carry four astronauts on a lunar fly-by. The mission will mark the first time humans have traveled beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo program. NASA said it is crowdsourcing Earth-side support to augment mission tracking and telemetry during the flight.

Volunteers will be asked to record and report on Orion’s S-band transmissions, a class of radio signals used for spacecraft communications and basic tracking. NASA’s notice specifies that applicants should have well-equipped ground stations and demonstrated experience in capturing and consistently monitoring S-band or similar signals. Selected volunteers must also be capable of generating and documenting one-way Doppler tracking data, which records frequency shifts in radio signals that indicate relative motion between the spacecraft and the receiver.

The Artemis II itinerary includes an initial orbit of Earth, a roughly four-day outbound transit to the moon, a lunar fly-by that will send the crew around the lunar far side, and a return leg to Earth. During those phases, ground-based S-band observations can provide supplementary data on spacecraft trajectory and signal health, according to the solicitation.

NASA said organizations and individuals interested in volunteering should apply through the government website noted in the agency’s public announcement. The solicitation outlines technical requirements for equipment, signal capture, data formatting and reporting procedures. Applicants are expected to demonstrate prior experience and the ability to provide consistent, documented one-way Doppler data over the mission’s tracking windows.

The request for volunteer tracking support follows NASA’s practice of using a global network of commercial, international and amateur assets to complement the agency’s own Deep Space Network and other tracking resources. Artemis II follows Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight that validated Orion and the Space Launch System on a trip beyond the moon. The Artemis program aims to return humans to lunar orbit and surface operations and to establish sustainable exploration capabilities in partnership with international and commercial partners.

NASA has not confirmed a final launch date for Artemis II and has said schedules remain subject to vehicle and ground-readiness milestones. The agency’s public solicitation provides the procedure and technical criteria for volunteers; interested parties are directed to the government posting for application instructions and deadlines.