Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “The Company”), a leading space and launch systems company, has successfully launched CAPSTONE, a microwave-sized satellite designed to test a new orbit around. the Moon for NASA.
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Rocket Lab’s electron launch vehicle takes off from launch complex 1 for the CAPSTONE mission to the moon for NASA (Photo: Business Wire)
CAPSTONE was launched at 09:55 UTC on June 28 on an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. The mission was to launch the 27th Electron from Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote.
Designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a Terran Orbital Corporation, and owned and operated by Advanced Space on behalf of NASA, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) CubeSat will be the first spacecraft to test the Near. Halo Rectilinear Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. This is the same orbit destined for NASA’s Gateway & CloseCurlyQuote, a multipurpose station in orbiting the Moon that will provide essential support for long-term astronaut lunar missions as part of the Artemis program.
“Today’s launch was a major step in the return of humanity & CloseCurlyQuote to the Moon and a testament to the determination, determination and innovation of the hundreds of people behind CAPSTONE,” said Rocket founder and CEO Lab, Peter Beck. “Rocket Lab was founded to open up access to space and enable innovative missions like this that go beyond the limits of what is possible with small satellites. Although CAPSTONE & CloseCurlyQuote’s journey to the moon has just ended. to begin with, we are proud to have delivered CAPSTONE to space safely. ”
Thanks to a flawless launch of an Electron rocket into low Earth parking orbit, CAPSTONE is now in a stable orbit connected to the Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote Photon Lunar spacecraft bus: a high-capacity interplanetary spacecraft which will provide space transportation to activate CAPSTONE. a course for the Moon. From the initial parking orbit where CAPSTONE is now, Photon Lunar & CloseCurlyQuote’s HyperCurie engine will perform a series of orbit elevation maneuvers for five days. The HyperCurie engine periodically ignites to increase the speed of Photon & CloseCurlyQuote, stretching its orbit into a prominent ellipse around the Earth. Six days after launch, HyperCurie ignites for the last time, accelerating Lunar Photon to 24,500 mph (39,500 km / h) and putting it into lunar ballistic transfer. In 20 minutes after this final recording, Photon will launch CAPSTONE into space for the first leg of the CubeSat & CloseCurlyQuote solo flight. CAPSTONE & CloseCurlyQuote’s trip to NRHO is expected to take about four months from this point. With the help of the gravity of the Sun & CloseCurlyQuote, CAPSTONE will reach a distance of 963,000 miles from Earth, more than three times the distance between Earth and the Moon, before being thrown into the Earth-Moon system. This winding track follows dynamic gravitational contours in deep space.
Unlike the Apollo lunar missions of the 1960s and 1970s, which made a free return trajectory to the Moon, this fuel-efficient ballistic lunar transfer allows CAPSTONE to be deployed to such a distant orbit using a small launch vehicle. Although this gravity-driven track takes longer to reach the Moon, it will drastically reduce the amount of fuel CAPSTONE will need to reach lunar orbit.
The CAPSTONE & CloseCurlyQuote journey can be followed live by viewing real-time interactive 3D data from NASA & CloseCurlyQuote. Starting approximately one week after launch and throughout the CAPSTONE & CloseCurlyQuote mission, you can travel virtually alongside the CubeSat with the eyes of NASA & CloseCurlyQuote at
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+ About Rocket Lab Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with an established history of mission success. We offer reliable launch services, satellite manufacturing, spacecraft components and in-orbit management solutions that make access to space faster, easier and more affordable. Based in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small orbital launch vehicle and the Photon satellite platform and is developing the 8-tonne Neutron payload class launch vehicle. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s electron launch vehicle has become the second most recently launched rocket in the United States and has delivered 147 satellites into orbit for public sector organizations. and private, allowing operations in national security, scientific research and space. waste mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring and communications. Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s Photon spacecraft platform has been selected to support NASA’s missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three launch sites at two launch sites, including two at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a second launch site in Virginia, USA, which is expected to become operational in 2022. To obtain more information, visit www. rocketlabusa.com.
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