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Mission Overview
On June 28, 2022 Rocket Lab launched the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment ( CAPSTONE ) spacecraft for NASA and Advanced Space. On July 04, 2022, Rocket Lab's Lunar Photon spacecraft completed a trans lunar injection and successfully deployed CAPSTONE on its mission to the Moon.
Designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a Terran Orbital Corporation, and owned and operated by Advanced Space on behalf of NASA, CAPSTONE will be the first spacecraft to test the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. This is the same orbit intended for NASA’s Gateway , a multipurpose Moon-orbiting station that will provide essential support for long-term astronaut lunar missions as part of the Artemis program.
CAPSTONE’s primary objective is to test and verify the calculated orbital stability of a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit around the Moon, the same orbit planned for Gateway. NASA’s Gateway is a small space station that will orbit around the Moon to provide astronauts with access to the lunar surface. It will feature living quarters for astronauts, a lab for science and research and ports for visiting spacecraft. CAPSTONE will also test a navigation system developed by Advanced Space that will measure its absolute position in cislunar space using interaction with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter without relying on ground stations for navigation support.
CAPSTONE is one of the first steps to learn how to operate more robust missions in this unique orbit, thus laying the groundwork for future exploration of our solar system.
Learn more about the CAPSTONE mission:
www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/lunar/
www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/small_spacecraft/capstone
https://nasa.tumblr.com/post/683165720838864896/capstone-testing-a-path-to-the-moon
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NASA’s Return to the Moon Starts With Launching a 55-Pound CubeSat
NASA has grandiose plans for sending astronauts back to the moon. Those start with a microwave-size private spacecraft about to lift off.
By Kenneth Chang
Nov. 13, 2022: NASA confirmed that CAPSTONE had begun its orbit of the moon.
June 27, 2022: NASA announced the launch of CAPSTONE is now targeted for 5:55 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. Coverage on NASA Television will begin at 5 a.m.
In the coming years, NASA will be busy at the moon.
A giant rocket will loft a capsule with no astronauts aboard around the moon and back, perhaps before the end of summer. A parade of robotic landers will drop off experiments on the moon to collect reams of scientific data, especially about water ice locked up in the polar regions. A few years from now, astronauts are to return there, more than half a century since the last Apollo moon landing.
Those are all part of NASA’s 21st-century moon program named for Artemis, who in Greek mythology was the twin sister of Apollo.
As soon as this week, a spacecraft named CAPSTONE is to launch as the first piece of Artemis to head to the moon. Compared to what is to follow, it is modest in size and scope.
There won’t be any astronauts aboard CAPSTONE. The spacecraft is too tiny, about as big as a microwave oven. This robotic probe won’t even land on the moon.
But it is in many ways unlike any previous mission to the moon. It could serve as a template for public-private partnerships that NASA could undertake in the future to get a better bang for its buck on interplanetary voyages.
“NASA has gone to the moon before, but I’m not sure it’s ever been put together like this,” said Bradley Cheetham, chief executive and president of Advanced Space, the company that is managing the mission for NASA.
The tiny CAPSTONE spacecraft will orbit the moon in a stable and efficient path called a near-rectilinear halo orbit.
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Capstone, NASA's First Cubesat, Reaches Moon to Show Artemis the Way
The small satellite successfully entered a unique lunar orbit on Sunday.
- Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
An illustration of Capstone in lunar orbit.
While NASA eyes a planned launch of its first big Artemis moon mission early Wednesday, a tiny cubesat has officially arrived at the moon to serve as a pathfinder for upcoming stages of the agency's lunar program.
Capstone , short for the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, is the size of a microwave oven and designed to circle the moon via an eccentric elliptical orbit (formally known as a near rectilinear halo orbit) that's never been flown by a spacecraft before.
Capstone is checking out the route in advance of NASA's plans to build a space station dubbed Gateway to ply the same orbit. The Gateway will be a waypoint for astronauts in the Artemis program, designed to get humans back on the moon, and it will house equipment and supplies for trips to the lunar surface.
The small satellite performed its initial orbit insertion maneuver, firing its thrusters at 4:39 p.m. PT Sunday to enter the special orbital path, which will allow it to circle the moon along a very fuel efficient route, relying instead on the gravitational pulls of the moon and Earth to stay on course.
It's expected to take about a week for mission engineers to confirm and fine-tune the path of Capstone after orbital insertion.
Capstone's journey to the moon has been tumultuous. The compact craft lost communications with Earth for a while in July and later suffered a major technical glitch that sent it tumbling out of control. The team was eventually able to get it oriented and back on track.
"What this Capstone team has overcome to date has been incredible," said Bradley Cheetham , principal investigator for Capstone and chief executive officer of Advanced Space, in a statement. Advanced Space is a Colorado company that owns and operates Capstone for NASA.
"Overcoming challenges is the purpose of a pathfinding mission," Cheetham added.
Capstone is scheduled to fire its thrusters only once every six and a half days to maintain its orbit, if that's needed. The goal is to stay in its orbit for at least six months so engineers can learn more about what will be required to keep Gateway and other spacecraft on such a path for many years.
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CAPSTONE working well more than a year after launch
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Cheetham described as “phenomenal” his company’s relationship with NASA’s Gateway program, which predates development of CAPSTONE. “The teamwork between analysis for Gateway and planning for CAPSTONE has been almost seamless,” he said, with an exchange of information that has both supported planning for Gateway and operations of CAPSTONE. “That back and forth has been like it’s almost one team.”
Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science... More by Jeff Foust
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