By NASA on July 6, 2022
The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, is a CubeSat that will fly a single orbit around the Moon destined for NASA’s future Artemis lunar gateway. Its six-month mission will help launch a new era of deep space exploration. Credit: NASA Ames Research Center
Mission operators have re-established contact with NASA’s CAPSTONE spacecraft.
Crews from NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPSTONE) Navigation and Operation Experiment mission have re-established contact with the spacecraft through NASA’s deep space network after experiencing communications problems. The data downloaded from CAPSTONE indicates that the spacecraft is in good health and that it was operating safely on its own when it was not in communication with Earth. Teams are preparing to perform the first CAPSTONE trajectory adjustment maneuver as early as 11:30 am EDT (8:30 am PDT) on July 7th. It will more precisely orient the transfer orbit of CAPSTONE to the Moon. CAPSTONE is still scheduled to reach lunar orbit on November 13, as originally planned.
CAPSTONE communicates with Earth through NASA’s deep space network.
Meanwhile, the CAPSTONE team continues to work actively to fully establish the root cause of the problem. Ground tests suggest that the problem was triggered during the start-up activities of the communications system. The team will continue to evaluate the data leading to the communications problem and monitor the status of CAPSTONE.
The mission team, led by Advanced Space, initially re-established contact with CAPSTONE at 9:26 am EDT (6:26 am PDT) on July 6th. The signal confirmed that CAPSTONE was in the expected location, as predicted from CAPSTONE’s First Contacts data on July 4th. The team began recovery procedures and began receiving telemetry data from the spacecraft at 10:18 am EDT (7:18 am PDT).
Following its launch on June 28, CAPSTONE orbited Earth connected to Rocket Lab’s upper stage Photon, which maneuvered CAPSTONE into position for its journey to the Moon. Photon engines fired seven times during the first six days at key moments to elevate the highest point in orbit to about 810,000 miles (1,300,000 km) from Earth before releasing the CAPSTONE CubeSat in its lunar ballistic transfer trajectory to the Moon.