(Bloomberg) – New Zealand is proclaiming its role in a plan to return humans to the moon, saying it will star in NASA’s Capstone mission that will test the orbit of a lunar space station.
Rocket Lab has announced that it will launch a satellite from Mahia, New Zealand, to test the lunar orbit of Gateway, an advanced site planned in orbit of the Moon that will provide astronauts access to the lunar surface. Separately, the New Zealand government said Monday it has signed an agreement with NASA to conduct new research to track spacecraft approaching and orbiting the Moon.
“The New Zealand space industry will star in NASA’s Capstone Moon mission,” said Andrew Johnson, manager of the New Zealand Space Agency. Launching into lunar orbit from New Zealand is “a significant milestone,” while new research “will become increasingly important as more countries and private actors send spacecraft to the moon,” he said.
NASA’s Artemis program plans to return humans to the lunar surface as early as 2025, renewing human exploration of the Moon and advancing toward Mars exploration. He plans to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon and explore the lunar surface more than ever.
Rocket Lab said it could launch the CubeSat satellite as early as Tuesday, with the launch window open until July 27th.
The New Zealand agreement with NASA will cause a research team led by the University of Canterbury, which includes collaborators from the University of Auckland and the University of New South Wales in Australia, to try to track spacecraft. space from the Tekapo and Canberra observatories.
Scientists intend to validate their observations and algorithms to predict the trajectories of spacecraft en route to the Moon and within their lunar orbits against data from NASA’s Capstone mission.
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