CAPSTONE in orbit near the Moon: Once released from Rocket Labs Photon satellite bus, CAPSTONE will use its propulsion system to take a trip for around 3 months prior to participating in orbit around the Moon. Credit: Illustration by NASA/Daniel Rutter
NASAs CAPSTONE spacecraft showed up at its orbit at the Moon Sunday night, as validated by the CAPSTONE mission operations group. The microwave oven– sized CubeSat finished a preliminary orbit insertion maneuver, firing its thrusters to put the spacecraft into orbit, at 7:39 p.m. EST (4:39 p.m. PST).
CAPSTONE, short for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, is now in a near-rectilinear halo orbit, or NRHO. This particular NRHO is the very same orbit that will be utilized by Gateway, the Moon-orbiting spaceport station that will support NASAs Artemis objectives. CAPSTONE is the first spacecraft to fly an NRHO, and the very first CubeSat to operate at the Moon.
In this animation, the prepared trajectory for CAPSTONEs near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) is revealed in red. Without a correctly executed insertion maneuver, CAPSTONE will fly by the Moon without making it into orbit, as revealed in blue.
In the next five days, CAPSTONE will perform 2 extra clean-up maneuvers to fine-tune its orbit. After these maneuvers, the group will review data to verify that CAPSTONE remains on track in the NRHO.
Weighing simply 55 pounds, CAPSTONE serves as the very first spacecraft to evaluate a special, elliptical lunar orbit. This makes it a pathfinder for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting station that belongs to NASAs Artemis program. In this function, CAPSTONE will assist lower danger for future spacecraft by confirming innovative navigation technologies and confirming the dynamics of this halo-shaped orbit.
CAPSTONE, short for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, is now in a near-rectilinear halo orbit, or NRHO. In this animation, the prepared trajectory for CAPSTONEs near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) is revealed in red. Without an effectively performed insertion maneuver, CAPSTONE will fly by the Moon without making it into orbit, as shown in blue.