After repeated delays, the CubeSat the size of a microwave oven known as CAPSTONE can finally begin its long journey to the moon. With this launch, NASA aims to begin the first chapter of its ambitious Artemis program and lay the groundwork for what would be the first in human history: a manned platform in orbit around the Moon.
Before the manned platform, which the agency calls “Gateway,” can be launched, NASA is first testing a single, highly elliptical orbit around the Moon. This is where CAPSTONE, or Experiment in navigation and technological operations of the Cislunar autonomous positioning system, enters. CubeSat will travel along this exact orbit (called an almost rectilinear halo orbit) for six months, collecting important data for NASA scientists.
To get there, CAPSTONE will be launched aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company’s site on the remote Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand. It’s “the highest mass and highest performance Electron has had to fly by a certain margin,” Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, told TechCrunch earlier this week.
Rocket Lab developed a variant of its Photon spacecraft called “Lunar Photon” specifically for this mission. This spacecraft will perform a series of maneuvers to get CubeSat into the correct path to the moon.
CAPSTONE is also the result of the important contributions of other actors in the sector. In particular, Advanced Space developed, owned and operated CAPS; Tyvak International built the CubeSat platform; Stellar Exploration provided the spacecraft propulsion system; and Tethers Unlimited provided the radio communications system.
The space agency initially aimed to launch on Monday, but had to push it one day to “allow Rocket Lab to perform the final checks on the systems,” NASA said in a blog post. If the mission is delayed again, there’s no reason to worry: Rocket Lab has launch opportunities every day until July 27, and CAPSTONE’s trajectory design means it will reach the moon on November 13. , regardless of when it is in the launch window. part of the Earth.
NASA’s YouTube channel shows a live launch webcast starting at 5:00 am EST, with the launch aimed at 5:55 am EST.