NASA plans to launch the first part of the Gateway, a key part of the Artemis program for lunar exploration, in 2024. However, NASA wants to learn more about lunar NRHO first. This is where CAPSTONE is needed.
A spacecraft the size of a microwave oven will study NRHO on a mission designed to last at least six months. CAPSTONE will also perform some communication and navigation tests. Some of them coincide with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the moon since 2009.
Currently CAPSTONE has yet to perfect its path around the moon. “Two smaller corrective maneuvers will be performed this week to ensure the spacecraft is confirmed in a complex lunar orbit,” a representative from Colorado Advanced Space Corporation, which owns CAPSTONE and operates the cubesat for NASA. /2022) ).
CAPSTONE’s path to lunar orbit is a bit bumpy. The probe was launched atop Rocket Lab’s Electron thruster on June 28. The cubesat embarks on an energy-efficient 4.5-month cycle that follows the contours of gravity.
The CAPSTONE team briefly lost contact with the probe on July 4, just after it detached from the Rocket Photon Lab spacecraft bus. They quickly identified and fixed the problem by getting CAPSTONE back on track the next day.
CAPSTONE had even more problems two months later. The probe suffered a failure during a track correction engine burnout on 8 September.
