Future missions carrying humans to the moon will require fast and resilient communication infrastructure to allow occupants to communicate between various orbiters, rovers, and stations—and to relay valuable data back to Earth. This work begins by examining the two core enabling technologies for space communications: radiofrequency and optical links. These approaches are compared in the context of recent and ongoing missions by NASA and private entities. We then propose a set of recommendations for lunar communications infrastructure to enable habitation. Three pillars unify the approach: scalable design and capabilities, resilience to environmental and cyber threats, and universal applicability to a wide range of mission profiles. The engineering efforts and areas of focus necessary to mitigate identified weaknesses and achieve the described capabilities are discussed. We conclude by highlighting the significance of several upcoming missions that will serve as milestones in proving the viability of optical links as dependable communications infrastructure.

中文翻译：

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月球上的激光器：开创性月球通信基础设施的建议

未来载人登月的任务将需要快速且有弹性的通信基础设施，以允许乘客在各种轨道飞行器、漫游车和空间站之间进行通信，并将有价值的数据转发回地球。这项工作首先检查空间通信的两种核心支持技术：射频和光链路。这些方法是在美国宇航局和私人实体最近和正在进行的任务的背景下进行比较的。然后，我们提出了一系列关于月球通信基础设施的建议，以实现居住。该方法由三大支柱统一：可扩展的设计和功能、对环境和网络威胁的抵御能力以及对各种任务的普遍适用性。讨论了缓解已发现的弱点和实现所描述的功能所需的工程工作和重点领域。最后，我们强调了即将到来的几项任务的重要性，这些任务将成为证明光链路作为可靠通信基础设施的可行性的里程碑。