The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, is a CubeSat that will fly in a single lunar orbit destined for the future gateway of NASA’s Artemis lunar outpost. His six-month mission will help usher in a new era of deep space exploration. Credit: NASA Ames Research Center
On Friday, October 7, members of the CAPSTONE team successfully performed an operation to stop the spacecraft’s rotation. This removes a significant obstacle in returning the spacecraft to normal operations.
Following the course correction maneuver scheduled for 8 September, CAPSTONE HAD A PROBLEM This puts the spacecraft in safe mode. I soon discovered that a The spacecraft was turning Exceeds the ability of the onboard reaction wheels to control and repel. According to the spacecraft data, the most likely cause was a valve-related problem in one of the spacecraft’s eight thrusters. A partially open valve means that a faulty impeller generates thrust whenever the propulsion system is under pressure. After an extensive review of the telemetry and simulation data, the mission team conducted several tests on the spacecraft in order to formulate a plan to stop the spacecraft’s rotation despite this problem.
On Friday morning, the recall orders were carried out. The maneuver appears to have been successful, according to CAPSTONE’s initial telemetry and observation data, which indicate that the spacecraft stopped spinning and regained full control of the three-axis position. This means that the CAPSTONE position can be controlled without unplanned rotations. CAPSTONE has now turned its solar panels towards the sun to maximize energy production. It also changed the pointing of its antennas to provide better data communication with the ground.
The risks of this anomaly and the recovery process were significant, and the team worked intensively and collaboratively to mitigate these risks. Over the next few days, the team will continue to monitor the condition of the spacecraft and make necessary changes to procedures in order to account for and mitigate the effects of the partially open thrust valve. In order to reduce the risks of future maneuvers, the mission team will also try to design possible solutions to this problem with the valves.
CAPSTONE remains on track to enter a target corona orbit near the Moon on November 13.
CAPSTONE – short for Cislunar Autonomous GPS Technology Operations and Navigation Experience – is owned by Advanced Space on behalf of
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