NASA’s CAPSTONE cubesat reaches final orbit around the moon

November 22, 2022

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NASA’s tiny CAPSTONE spacecraft has settled into its ultimate lunar orbit, shifting into the operational phase of its pioneering moon mission.

CAPSTONE, which is concerning the dimension of a microwave oven, arrived at the moon on Nov. 13, turning into the primary cubesat ever to take action. The probe quickly carried out two engine burns to refine its orbit and has now launched into its six-month mission on the moon, NASA officers introduced on Monday (Nov. 21)

That mission facilities on validating the presumed stability of a lunar near-rectilinear halo orbit, a extremely elliptical path that may also be utilized by Gateway, the small space station that NASA plans to construct as a part of its Artemis program.

“Missions like CAPSTONE enable us to cut back danger for future spacecraft, giving us an opportunity to check our understanding and display applied sciences we intend to make use of sooner or later,” Jim Reuter, affiliate administrator for NASA’s House Know-how Mission Directorate, said in a statement (opens in new tab).

Associated: Why it took NASA’s tiny CAPSTONE probe so long to reach the moon

CAPSTONE may also take a look at two new applied sciences that might assist future moon probes decide their place in space extra independently. One is a chip-scale atomic clock and the opposite is navigation software program developed by Superior House, the Colorado-based firm that owns CAPSTONE and is working it for NASA.

CAPSTONE (brief for “Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Know-how Operations and Navigation Experiment”) launched atop a Rocket Lab Electron booster on June 28.

The liftoff despatched CAPSTONE on a circuitous, extremely fuel-efficient trek to the moon, which did not go completely easily.

For instance, CAPSTONE lost contact with its handlers on July 4, shortly after the cubesat separated from Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft bus. The moon probe additionally started to tumble and went into a protective safe mode throughout an engine burn on Sept. 8.

However the mission crew solved each of these issues, getting CAPSTONE to its vacation spot and setting it up for the work to come back.

“We have now been working up to now since we began the corporate over 11 years in the past. Entering into this orbit on the moon validates a lot arduous work and grit by the mixed CAPSTONE mission operations crew,” Bradley Cheetham, principal investigator for CAPSTONE and CEO of Superior House, stated in the identical assertion.

“The capabilities we have now demonstrated and the applied sciences nonetheless to be matured will assist future missions for many years to come back,” he added.

Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a e book concerning the seek for alien life. Observe him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).

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