CAPSTONE in orbit near the moon.
Illustration by NASA / Daniel Rutter
On Monday, the launch window is open until June 22 for RocketLab’s Electron rocket, which will send a small spacecraft on a crucial NASA mission into lunar orbit.
Called the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE), the small cubesat – the size of a microwave oven – will launch no earlier than June 25, 2022 after several delays.
Entering a completely new, never-before-tested elliptical orbit around the moon, CAPSTONE will serve as a guide for two of NASA’s most important human space flight missions, the Lunar Gateway and the Artemis crew program to the moon’s surface.
Where will CAPSTONE start
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 keep track of updates (and maybe more delays) on launch time on RocketLab’s Twitter channel.
When CAPSTONE will start
The launch window opens on June 25, 2022. The target take-off time will be shifted a few minutes earlier each day from the launch window.
A four-month trip to CAPSTONE
After six days in low Earth orbit, starting from about 102 miles / 165 kilometers upwards and slowly rising to 37,000 miles / 59,500 kilometers, CAPSTONE will move to the moon at a speed of 24,500 miles / h / 39,500 km / h .
However, it will take CAPSTONE 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 pulled back to it.
Infographics depicting NRHO, the unique almost rectilinear orbit of the Gateway
NASA
What will CAPSTONE do?
CAPSTONE will test the stability of a new orbit around the moon. Known as an almost rectilinear orbit of the halo, it is basically an elongated elliptical orbit in an oval shape, located at the exact point of balance between the gravities of the Earth and the Moon. The orbit will bring CAPSTONE within 1,000 miles of one lunar pole in its near passage and 43,500 miles from the other pole at its peak every seven days.
NASA wants to use this orbit for its Lunar Gateway space station, which it intends to assemble over the next few years to help land on the moon with an Artemis crew.
The new orbit provides an unobstructed view of the Earth and good coverage of the lunar South Pole, where Artemis III is to land two astronauts in 2024/2025 and eventually build a lunar base.
“CAPSTONE will be precisely controlled and maintained and will benefit greatly from the near-stable physics of its near-rectangular halo,” said Elwood Agassid, deputy program manager for small spacecraft technology at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. California. “The burns will be scheduled to give the spacecraft an extra boost, as it naturally gains momentum – it requires much less fuel than a more circular orbit would require.”
Cubesat will also demonstrate a new navigation system that will allow spacecraft to determine their position relative to the moon without relying on communications with Earth’s ground stations.
“This orbit has the added bonus of allowing the Gateway to have optimal communication with future Artemis missions operating on the lunar surface as well as back to Earth,” Agassid said. “This could unlock new opportunities for future lunar science and research efforts.”
I wish you clear skies and open eyes.
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