Nikon and NASA are putting a mirrorless camera on the Moon

Nikon is working with NASA to make a mirrorless camera that astronauts will use during the agency’s incoming Artemis III mission to document their return to the Moon. On Thursday, NASA announced that it had entered a Space Act agreement with Nikon to develop the Handheld Universal Lunar Camera (HULC), a camera system designed to capture imagery in low light and survive the harsh lunar environment.

The crewed Artemis III mission — which will launch “no earlier than September 2026” — aims to explore the lunar south pole, a region of the Moon that contains water ice within permanently shadowed craters. That makes it an area of scientific interest, but the extreme lighting and temperature conditions pose particular technical challenges for operating equipment within the lunar south pole region.

Nikon’s full-frame Z9 flagship has already been used in thermal, vacuum, and radiation testing before the agreement, with a modified version of the camera forming the base of the HULC system alongside Nikkor lenses. The HULC design also implements thermal blankets designed by NASA to protect the camera from dust and extreme temperatures and modified electrical components to minimize potential issues caused by radiation. A custom grip with modified buttons has been used to make it easier for suited crew members to operate the camera system while wearing gloves.

According to Nikon, its cameras have been aboard every crewed space flight since the 1971 Apollo 15 mission, which carried a modified Nikon Photomic FTN. However, mirrorless cameras — a type of digital camera that doesn’t reflect images into viewfinders via mirrors like DSLRs do — didn’t exist when we last sent astronauts to the Moon on the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. Crew members instead used modified large-format cameras that lacked viewfinders entirely, requiring photographs to be taken at chest level.

Not only will the HULC have a viewfinder but also the Nikon Z9’s onboard video capabilities will enable Artemis crew members to capture both still imagery and video on a single device. Apollo crew members had to use separate cameras for photography and video, such as the remotely operated TV camera used to film the Apollo 17 lunar takeoff, with most camera equipment remaining on the Moon’s surface to this day.