The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced Tuesday that it has lost contact with a $ 32.7 million Capstone spacecraft headed to the moon to test a balanced lunar orbit. However, the agency’s engineers hope to be able to fix the problem.
This development comes after a successful communication and a second partial on Monday, the space agency said it could no longer communicate with the spacecraft called Capstone. NASA spokeswoman Sarah Frazier said Tuesday that engineers are trying to find the cause of the loss of communications, but are optimistic they can fix the problem.
The NASA spokesman stressed that the spacecraft, which was launched from New Zealand on June 28, had spent almost a week in Earth orbit and had successfully embarked on its path to the moon, then from which contact was lost.
The Capstone satellite is the size of a microwave oven and will be the first spacecraft to test this oval orbit. This is where NASA wants to organize its advanced Gateway site and Gateway will serve as a resting point for astronauts before they descend to the lunar surface.
The agency had previously invited to follow “CAPSTONE’s journey live by viewing NASA’s real-time interactive 3D data.” “At its nearest point, the orbit is 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the Moon; at its farthest point, it is 43,500 miles (70,000 kilometers).
The orbit was thought to be extremely fuel efficient, using the gravitational pull of both the Moon and Earth. As a springboard for a manned mission to Mars, NASA also intended to build a lunar base. The new orbit, officially known as an almost rectilinear halo orbit, is shaped like an extended egg, with one end passing close to the Moon and the other far away. From your thumb, imagine pulling a rubber band back and the rubber band would represent the flight path, and your thumb to the moon.
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