NASA wants to experiment with a new orbit around the moon, which it hopes to use in the coming years to land astronauts on the lunar surface again.
So he sends a test satellite from New Zealand. The initial stages of the launch went according to plan late Tuesday, as the rocket carrying the satellite reached space.
If the rest of the mission is successful, the CAPSTONE CubeSat satellite – the size of a microwave only – will be the first to take the new path around the moon and send vital information for at least six months.
Technically, the new orbit is called an almost rectilinear halo orbit. This is an elongated shape of an egg, with one end passing close to the moon and the other far away from it.
Imagine stretching a rubber band from your thumb. Your thumb will represent the moon and your rubber band will represent the path of flight.
“Don’t go where the path can lead, go where there is no road, and leave a trail.” “Ralph Waldo Emerson.”
Ours pic.twitter.com/XoUHX81yHo
– @ NASA
“There will be balance. Balance. “Balance,” NASA wrote on its website. “This CubeSat for trail search will virtually be able to retreat and rest in a gravitational sweet spot in space – where gravity from Earth and the Moon interact to allow an almost stable orbit.
Eventually, NASA plans to place a space station called the Gateway in the orbital path from which astronauts can descend to the surface of the moon as part of its Artemis program.
Group efforts
For the satellite mission, NASA has partnered with two commercial companies. The California-based Rocket Lab launched a rocket carrying the satellite, which in turn is owned and operated by Colorado-based Advanced Space.
The mission was assembled relatively quickly and cheaply for NASA, with a total mission value of $ 32.7 million.
The launch of the 25-kilogram satellite into orbit will take more than four months and will take place in three stages.
First, Rocket Lab’s small Electron rocket, launched from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Just nine minutes later, the second stage, called Photon, separated and orbited the Earth. Over the next five days, Photon’s engines are scheduled to start periodically to increase their orbit farther and farther from Earth.
Six days after launch, Photon’s engines will start for the last time, allowing him to escape Earth’s orbit and head for the moon.
Photon will then release the satellite, which has its own small propulsion system but will not use much energy while traveling to the moon for four months, with several planned course adjustments along the way.
“Perfect electronic start!” Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck tweeted on Tuesday. “The lunar photon is in low Earth orbit.”
Rocket Lab spokesman Morgan Bailey said it was the most ambitious and complex mission she has ever undertaken and comes after more than two years of working with NASA and Advanced Space. She said this will be the first time Rocket Lab has tested its HyperCurie engine, which will be used to power the Photon.
“Certainly very difficult problems to solve along the way, but we brushed them off one by one and got to the start day,” Bailey said.
Bailey said that one of the advantages of orbit is that, in theory, the space station should be able to maintain constant communication with Earth because it will avoid lunar eclipses.
Add Comment