The NASA CAPSTONE mission has had mixed success. After the successful launch of the Rocket Lab Electron rocket and the launch of the satellite into space, the mission failed.
After launch, CAPSTONE spent nearly a week orbiting the planet to build up enough momentum to travel to the Moon. But shortly after the satellite broke free of Earth’s gravity well, the control center lost contact with the spacecraft. It took NASA specialists almost a day to restore communication.
Although the situation was worrying, NASA took into account the possibility of difficulties.
“If necessary, the mission will have enough fuel to delay the initial post-separation trajectory correction maneuver for several days,” a NASA spokesman said on Monday.
Now the 25-kilogram CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) satellite is scheduled to make a 4-month flight to the Moon. It should reach the target point by November 13, and then should take the planned circololunar halo orbit (NRHO).
The main purpose of the mission is to test and verify the calculated parameters of this orbit, which has never been used in practice before. According to calculations, in such an orbit, the attraction of the Earth and the Moon “balance”, which ensures its stability with minimal fuel requirements for correction. If all goes according to plan, the satellite will spend six months in orbit. Going forward, this orbit is planned to be used to host the Gateway manned station as part of Project Artemis .
The orbit of the future lunar station Gateway will be tested by an experimental cubesat
Source: Engadget
