LONG BEACH, Calif.–( BUSINESS WIRE )–Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or the “Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, today announced that it has successfully deployed a pathfinding satellite for NASA that is guiding it to the Moon. The launch marks the successful completion of Rocket Lab’s first deep space mission, paving the way for the company’s upcoming interplanetary missions to Mars and Venus.
Owned and operated by Advanced Space on behalf of NASA, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) will be the first spacecraft to test a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. This is the same orbit designated for NASA’s Gateway, a lunar-orbiting outpost that will provide essential support for long-duration lunar missions by astronauts as part of the Artemis program.
Rocket Lab’s role in the mission took place in two phases. First, CAPSTONE was successfully launched into low Earth orbit by Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle on June 28. From there, Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft provided CAPSTONE’s space transportation, power, and communications. After six days of orbit-raising burns from the Lunar Photon’s 3D-printed HyperCurie engine, CAPSTONE was deployed on its ballistic lunar transfer trajectory to the Moon as planned at 07:18 UTC on 4 July. The mission was Rocket Lab’s fourth Electron launch this year, demonstrating the rocket’s continued reliability. In addition to enabling the launch, Rocket Lab designed, manufactured and operated the Lunar Photon spacecraft, successfully completing a highly complex deep space mission and demonstrating Rocket Lab’s growing capabilities as an end-to-end space company.
“The CAPSTONE mission marks the beginning of humanity’s return to the Moon through NASA’s Artemis program, and we are incredibly proud that Rocket Lab played a key role in that,” said Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Peter Beck. “The Rocket Lab team has been working on CAPSTONE with NASA and our mission partners for over two years, developing new small satellite technology in the form of the Lunar Photon spacecraft to make this mission possible, so it’s an amazing feeling after all that hard work and innovation to achieve mission success and guide CAPSTONE to the Moon. This was Rocket Lab’s most complex mission to date, and our team was incredible. We pushed Electron and Photon to their limits and proved that it is possible to do big missions with small spacecraft. We will now apply this innovative technology to more interplanetary travel, including our upcoming missions to Venus and Mars.”
With Rocket Lab’s role in the mission now complete, CAPSTONE’s solo journey to the Moon began. CAPSTONE will use its own propulsion and the Sun’s gravity to travel the rest of the way to the Moon, a four-month journey that will see CAPSTONE arrive in lunar orbit on November 13, 2022. The gravity-driven runway will dramatically reduce the amount of fuel needed on a CubeSat to reach the Moon. Advanced Space and Terran Orbital will manage the operation of the CAPSTONE satellite for the duration of its orbital life.
The CAPSTONE mission was Rocket Lab’s 27th Electron launch overall, but featured several significant technology news for the company, including:
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First deep space mission.
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First use of the Lunar Photon, a high-energy variant of the Photon spacecraft designed and built by Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab previously launched and continues to operate two variants of the Photon spacecraft into low Earth orbit.
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First collaborative mission between Rocket Lab and Advanced Solutions Inc, a Colorado-based flight software company acquired by Rocket Lab in late 2021.
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This is my first time using the FR-lite satellite radio, for the production of which Rocket Lab has an exclusive license agreement with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
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First mission in which the Electron second stage de-orbited on the same day as launch.
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First lunar trajectory planning and execution mission.
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At 300 kg (661 lbs) of payload mass, the mission was the heaviest Electron lift yet.
CAPSTONE was the first in a series of interplanetary missions for Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft, including the ESCAPADE mission to Mars in 2024 and Rocket Lab’s upcoming private mission to Venus.
Advanced Space of Colorado, a leading commercial space solutions company, owns the CAPSTONE satellite and manages the mission. CAPSTONE was designed and built by Terran Orbital. CAPSTONE development is supported by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate through the Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Advanced Exploration Systems within NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate supports the mission’s launch and operations. NASA’s Launch Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for managing the launch.
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Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with a proven track record of successful missions. We provide reliable launch services, satellite manufacturing, spacecraft components and on-orbit management solutions that make access to space faster, easier and more affordable. Headquartered 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-ton Neutron payload-class launch vehicle. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second most frequently launched US rocket annually and has delivered 147 satellites into orbit for private and public sector organizations, enabling operations in national security, scientific research, space debris reduction, Earth observation, climate monitoring and communications. Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft platform has been selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a private orbital launch pad located in New Zealand and a second launch pad in Virginia, USA, expected to become operational in 2022. To learn more, visit www. rocketlabusa.com.
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