CAPSTONE in orbit near the Moon.
Illustration by NASA / Daniel Rutter
The RocketLab Electron rocket launch launch window opens June 22, which will send a small spacecraft on a crucial NASA mission to orbit the Moon.
Called the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE), the small cubes, the size of a microwave oven, will be launched no earlier than June 25, 2022 after several delays.
Entering a completely new elliptical orbital path, never tested before, around the Moon, CAPSTONE will serve as a search engine for two of NASA’s most important human space missions: the Lunar Gateway space station and the Artemis program. of manned gazes at the surface of the Moon.
From where CAPSTONE will be launched
RocketLab will launch CAPSTONE on its Electron rocket and the Photon spacecraft from its LC-1 B launch site on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. You can follow the updates (and perhaps more delays) about the launch times on RocketLab’s Twitter channel.
When CAPSTONE will be released
The launch window opens on June 25, 2022. The target take-off time will change a few minutes before each day of the launch window.
CAPSTONE’s four-month journey
After six days in low Earth orbit starting at about 102 miles / 165 kilometers up and slowly increasing to 37,000 miles / 59,500 kilometers, CAPSTONE will be propelled toward the Moon at 24,500 mph / 39,500 km / h.
Despite this, CAPSTONE will take four months to reach its strange orbit, first reaching an altitude of 810,000 miles / 1.3 million kilometers from Earth, far beyond the Moon, before being thrown towards it.
Infographic depicting NRHO, Gateway’s unique almost rectilinear halo orbit
NASA
What will CAPSTONE do
CAPSTONE will test the stability of a new orbit around the Moon. Known as an almost rectilinear halo orbit, it is basically an elongated, oval-shaped elliptical orbit located at a precise equilibrium point between the gravities of the Earth and the Moon. The orbit will take CAPSTONE 1,000 miles from one lunar pole at its nearest step and 43,500 miles from the other pole at its maximum every seven days.
NASA wants to use this orbit for its Lunar Gateway space station, which it intends to mount over the next few years to help support its Artemis crew landings on the Moon.
The new orbit offers an unobstructed view of the Earth and good coverage of the lunar south pole, where Artemis III is scheduled to land two astronauts in 2024/2025 and eventually build a lunar base.
“CAPSTONE will be accurately controlled and maintained and will greatly benefit from the nearly stable physics of its nearly rectilinear halo orbit,” said Elwood Agasid, deputy director of the Small Spaceship Technology program at the Ames Research Center. NASA in Silicon Valley, California. “Burns will be programmed to give an extra boost to the spacecraft, as it naturally generates momentum; this requires much less fuel than a more circular orbit would require.”
The cubesat will also show a new navigation system that would allow spacecraft to determine their location relative to the Moon without relying on communications with Earth earth stations.
“This orbit has an added advantage of allowing Gateway to have optimal communications with future Artemis missions operating on the lunar surface and back to Earth,” Agasid said. “This could unlock new opportunities for future lunar exploration and science efforts.”
I wish you clear skies and open eyes.