NASA CAPSTONE Launches Successfully – Will Test New Lunar Orbit for Artemis Moon Missions

CAPSTONE is attached to Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon, an interplanetary third stage that will send CAPSTONE on its way to deep space. Shortly after launch, Lunar Photon separated from Electron’s second stage. Over the next six days, Photon’s engine will periodically ignite to accelerate it beyond low-Earth orbit, where Photon will release the CubeSat on atrajectory to the Moon. CAPSTONE will then use its own propulsion and the Sun’s gravity to navigate the rest of the way to the Moon.

“Delivering the spacecraft for launch was an accomplishment for the entire mission team, including NASA and our industry partners. Our team is now preparing for separation and initial acquisition for the spacecraft in six days,” said Bradley Cheetham, principal investigator for CAPSTONE and chief executive officer of Advanced Space, which owns and operates CAPSTONE on behalf of NASA.

At the Moon, CAPSTONE will enter an elongated orbit called a near rectilinear halo orbit, or NRHO. Once in the NRHO, CAPSTONE will fly within 1,000 miles of the Moon’s North Pole on its near pass and 43,500 miles from the South Pole at its farthest. It will repeat the cycle every six and a half days and maintain this orbit for at least six months to study dynamics.

“CAPSTONE is a pathfinder in many ways, and it will demonstrate several technology capabilities during its mission timeframe while navigating a never-before-flown orbit around the Moon,” said Elwood Agasid, project manager for CAPSTONE at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “CAPSTONE is laying a foundation for Artemis, Gateway, and commercial support for future lunar operations.

During its mission, CAPSTONE will provide data about operating in an NRHO and showcase key technologies. The mission’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System, developed by Advanced Space with support from NASA’s

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

CAPSTONE Launches to Test New Orbit for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions'Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.' - Ralph Waldo Emerson Our CAPSTONE mission has launched to test a new type of lunar orbit, blazing a trail that will help take Artemis missions to the Moon: RocketLab Congrats! It was a beautiful launch! 🚀👏 RocketLab Leave trash everywhere RocketLab Awesome launch...💓💯👌
Source: NASA - 🏆 672. / 51 Read more »

NASA’s CAPSTONE Launch to Moon Delayed – Spacecraft Will Be First To Fly Unique Lunar OrbitNASA, Rocket Lab, and Advanced Space are standing down from the June 27 launch attempt for the CAPSTONE mission to the Moon to allow Rocket Lab to perform final systems checks. The mission was slated to launch on Monday, June 27, aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company's Launch Complex
Source: SciTechDaily1 - 🏆 84. / 68 Read more »

Why it'll take NASA's tiny CAPSTONE probe so long to reach the moonCAPSTONE launched today (June 28) but won't arrive in lunar orbit until Nov. 13. ! 💝 💯 👏 🎉 🙏 🚀 👍 🤖 🎅 ✝ 🌝 ! Space: 2099 - Artemis Alliance. Spoiler alert, it’s not because it was launched for New Zealand, well done RocketLab
Source: SPACEdotcom - 🏆 92. / 67 Read more »

NASA hopes New Zealand launch will pave way for moon landingNASA wants to experiment with a new orbit around the moon that it hopes to use in the coming years to once again land astronauts on the lunar surface. We apparently landed 6 missions on the Moon 50 years ago, and you are saying we need to pave way again... what happened to the humankind and overall 'progress'? QueenOliviaStR How about instead of a moon landing it pave the way to ...oh! I don't know? Um? Universal Healthcare for the American Citizens? Huh?
Source: physorg_com - 🏆 388. / 55 Read more »

How to watch NASA's groundbreaking CAPSTONE launchHere's everything you need to know about when and how to watch the historic launch of NASA's CAPSTONE spacecraft.
Source: BGR - 🏆 234. / 63 Read more »