S8 Ep716: 4. The New Lunar Laser Race Guest: Rick Fischer. Rick Fischer explains how Artemis 2 demonstrated laser communications, providing denser data transmission than radio. This technology is essential for monitoring Chinese lunar activities as the race to the
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
4. The New Lunar Laser Race Guest: Rick Fischer. Rick Fischer explains how Artemis 2 demonstrated laser communications, providing denser data transmission than radio. This technology is essential for monitoring Chinese lunar activities as the race to the moon intensifies. (4)
1865 BRAZIL IRONCLAD
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| 1:00.5 | I'm John Bachelor, to the moon and back. Sounds like Jules Verne. No? It's NASA in action. Gordon Chang at Gordon G. Chang. |
| 1:09.9 | joins me as my colleague and co-host and friend. And Gordon and I are old enough to remember the last trip to the moon. That was late 1972 as my memory. |
| 1:12.7 | Richard Nixon had just been re-elected, |
| 1:21.0 | and the Vietnam War was deep into a catastrophe. The Soviet Union was dominating Eurasia. The Chinese communists were persecuting their own people elaborately, and Mao was on the trail for more and more genius fantasy delusion sadism. However, |
| 1:33.1 | the U.S. did successfully reach the moon and made many landings, including one heroic, Apollo 13, |
| 1:41.0 | which didn't land, but exercised the skills of NASA. And then the long pause. |
| 1:49.3 | Finally, a delivery system. NASA goes back to space, back to leaving Earth, low Earth orbit, |
| 1:57.7 | back to circumnavigating the moon, although not in orbit, and back to returning. |
| 2:03.8 | There is something new here. |
| 2:05.3 | I learned from Rick Fisher of International Assessment and Strategy Center. |
| 2:09.1 | So far from saying, been there, done that, why are we doing this? |
| 2:13.2 | There's something called laser communication, and that provides the ability to communicate, perhaps, |
| 2:20.2 | in a fashion that would provide video and remembering that the road ahead can include, |
| 2:27.3 | maybe in our lifetime, certainly in the 21st century, a moon colony and beyond. So, Rick, |
| 2:33.2 | what is laser communication? How does it work and how did they use |
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