An Argentine microsatellite that traveled into space as part of the United States’ Moon exploration mission Artemis II established communication 70,000 kilometers away from Earth, marking a national record. This means it has reached “the largest distance from which an Argentine space mission has transmitted data till now,” said the National Space Activities Commission (CONAE, by its Spanish initials) in an X post. “This milestone confirms the robustness of our technology and the country’s ability to innovate, explore, and overcome new challenges in space,” CONAE said. Argentina’s ATENEA is one of four satellites that were launched inside the Artemis II spaceship to be released into space. Now, from space, ATENEA will carry out survey, testing and validation tasks related to space radiation, silicon photomultipliers (a type of light detector), GPS data, and long-range communication links for future deep-space exploration programs.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald April 04, 2026 01:18 UTC