NASA Orion Audio System

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Supporting Human Spaceflight

For six decades, L3Harris has partnered with NASA to develop technology that's been critical to the evolution of human spaceflight. In fact, our technology has been part of every crewed NASA mission: from Project Mercury to Apollo, from the Space Shuttle era to the International Space Station (ISS) era, and now beyond – as part of NASA’s Artemis missions.

To the Moon and Beyond: L3Harris' NASA Orion Audio System

A Customized Communications Solution for the Next Stage of Human Spaceflight

NASA’s Artemis II mission marks a new era for human spaceflight. It’ll be the first crewed flight test of the world’s most powerful rocket, known as the Space Launch System (SLS), and the Orion spacecraft around the Moon.

Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the Orion spacecraft that will carry astronauts from Earth to lunar orbit and back, has tapped L3Harris to develop the audio system for the Artemis missions.

Our NASA Orion audio system will connect astronauts to each other, to mission control and to the world – ultimately enabling the nation’s return to the moon and preparing the way for human missions to Mars.

With Orion’s sights set on "the Red Planet" (i.e., Mars), this could be the farthest L3Harris’ crewed spaceflight technology has ever traveled in space.

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L3Harris’ NASA Orion audio system will play an important role in the Artemis missions. It will provide redundant internal and external crew communications, voice recording and playback, and the audio interface for search-and-rescue operations.

L3Harris' NASA Orion Audio Control Unit (ACU)

L3Harris' NASA Orion Audio Interface Unit (AIU)

The audio control unit (ACU) acts as the brains of the NASA Orion audio system, which features five voice channels for communication flexibility, low power consumption for increased efficiency and 13 alarms for real-time situational awareness.

Audio is critical to astronaut safety. The speaker unit (SU) is the component of the NASA Orion audio system that provides the audio.

The lightweight audio interface unit (AIU) clips onto the astronaut’s suit and incorporates a configurable, voice-activated feature for hands-free operation.

Designed for Mission Success

Our NASA Orion audio system solution – composed of an audio control unit, audio interface unit and speaker unit – is designed to withstand the unique demands of human spaceflight.

It's customized from the ground up, from the circuit cards to the network stack, in alignment with NASA’s exacting set of requirements to ensure that astronauts have the advanced communications capabilities required for mission success.

The system's thoughtful design can easily be integrated into any future human spaceflight mission, including reusable landers and commercial programs.

As the world anticipates the return of astronauts to the lunar surface, L3Harris’ NASA Orion audio system will be there to capture the historic mission.