NASA is set to launch its “CAPSTONE” spacecraft mission later this month to orbit the Moon, in preparation for a new lunar space station.
The vessel, which is the size of a microwave oven and weighs only 55 pounds, will leave the Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand, between 13 and 22 June.
It will test the stability of a halo-shaped orbit around the Moon before the Lunar Gateway, NASA’s advanced lunar site, uses it.
Lunar Gateway will one day serve as a “staging area” for landing humans on the moon and potentially as a jumping off point for missions to Mars.
In the photo, an artistic print of CAPSTONE orbiting the moon with the Earth in the background. The spacecraft will be launched this month, June 13-22
CAPSTONE on the lunar north pole: After reaching the moon, the spacecraft will begin a six-month mission to validate a special type of orbit.
CAPSTONE – Key Statistics
Type: CubeSat
Size: 13 x 13 x 25 inches
Weight: 55 lbs
Orbit: near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO)
Launch location: Mahia, New Zealand
Release date: June 13-22, 2022
The launch of CAPSTONE has been delayed again this week “not before June 13”, as it had previously been set for June 6.
Prior to that, the mission was scheduled for May 31, before being delayed for undisclosed reasons.
Rocket Lab, which will send the satellite into space with its Electron rocket, said on Twitter that more time was needed “to support the final launch and photon readiness checks.”
When ready, the small satellite will take off from the Rocket Lab’s Māhia Peninsula launch site on the North Island of New Zealand.
CAPSTONE is an abbreviation for “Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment”.
It is unique because it will travel in an elongated halo-shaped orbit, bringing it up to 1,000 miles and up to 43,500 miles from the lunar surface.
It will use its propulsion system to travel for about three or four months before entering orbit around the Moon. An orbit will occur every seven days.
Although it usually takes a few days for a spacecraft to reach the moon, CAPSTONE will take much longer, as it travels at a slower speed and has to travel a longer route to adapt to an unusual oval shape.
The American company Rocket Lab will send the CAPSTONE satellite into space with its Electron rocket (pictured)
CAPSTONE will fly with the Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand
Rocket Lab told Twitter this week that extra time was needed “to support the final release and Photon readiness checks.”
NASA will lose its landing date on the moon “several YEARS,” the control report says
A report by NASA’s inspector general said the US space agency will lose its goal of landing humans on the moon by the end of 2024 “several years”, just days after it was delayed. initial goal in 2025, citing excess costs and demands.
“Given the time it takes to fully develop and test HLS and the new space suits, we project that NASA will surpass its current schedule for landing humans on the moon by the end of 2024 in several years,” the IG wrote. in his report.
The report also notes that NASA is not properly estimating all the costs of the Artemis program and could spend up to $ 93 billion between fiscal year 2021 and 2025, if the $ 25 billion needed for Artemis is taken into account. missions beyond Artemis III.
‘Without capturing, accurately reporting and reducing the cost of the future [Space Launch System]”/ Orion, the Agency will face significant challenges in maintaining its Artemis program in its current configuration,” the report adds.
The strangely shaped orbit, officially called the near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), had never before been tested in space.
The path of the orbit is at a precise balance point of the gravity of the Earth and the Moon, which means that less energy is wasted.
“The stability of this orbit will allow CAPSTONE to behave almost as if it were held in place by the gravity of the Earth and the Moon,” Elwood Agasid of NASA’s Ames Research Center told The Next Web.
“It requires little energy to maintain the station or to maneuver into other lunar orbits [those between the earth and the moon]. ‘
CAPSTONE will orbit this area around the Moon for at least six months to understand “the characteristics of the orbit,” according to NASA.
The space agency said: “It will validate the power and propulsion requirements to maintain its orbit as predicted by NASA models, reducing logistical uncertainties.”
“It will also demonstrate the reliability of innovative spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation solutions, as well as communication capabilities with Earth.”
The first parts of Lunar Gateway will not be launched until November 2024 at the earliest, giving NASA plenty of time to evaluate the results of CAPSTONE.
Described as a vital component of NASA’s Artemis program, the Lunar Gateway will be a small space station orbiting the Moon, acting as a “multipurpose outpost.”
The official word is that NASA’s Artemis program will land the first woman and next man on the moon in 2025, although that could backfire again, NASA general researcher Paul Martin recently suggested.
Lunar Gateway, shown here above the moon in an artist’s print, is described as a “vital component” of NASA’s Artemis program.
NASA’s original date for re-landing humans on the moon was 2024, but last year delayed the date, largely blamed on the litigation of the Blue Origin firm of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Also this year, NASA will send mannequins into space as part of the Artemis I mission in August 2022.
Artemis I will pave the way for manned flights: Artemis II, which will launch in May 2024 and fly to the moon without landing, and Artemis III, which will actually land on the lunar surface.
Artemis III, which will launch “not before 2025”, will be the first to land humans on the moon in more than 50 years, from Apollo 17 in December 1972.
NASA’S MOON COVER: A VITAL PART OF THE ARTEMIS PROGRAM
NASA is working on a project to build the first lunar space station, called the Lunar Gateway, as part of a long-term project to send humans to Mars.
The manned spaceport will orbit the Moon and serve as a “gateway to deep space and the lunar surface,” NASA said.
The first modules of the station could be completed as early as 2024.
An international base for lunar exploration for humans and robots and a ladder for spacecraft is one of the top candidates to succeed the $ 100 billion International Space Station (ISS), the world’s largest space project to date. now.
Pictured: a diagram of the proposed Lunar Gateway space station
NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions are aimed at sending the first manned mission to the moon since 1972 “not before 2025.”
This was originally in 2024, but the costs and litigation of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company forced NASA to delay it for a year.
Finally, NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon in 2028 as a result of the Artemis mission.
The space agency hopes that this colony will discover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advances and lay the foundations for private companies to build a lunar economy.