ROCKET LAB : CAPSTONE
MISSION DETAILS :
Image credits : Rocket Lab
NAME : CAPSTONE ( Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment )
PAYLOAD : CAPSTONE Spacecraft ( Attached to Lunar Photon )
DESIGNED AND BUILT BY : Tyvak Nano - Satellite Systems, Terran orbital corporations
OWNED AND OPERATED BY : Advanced Space on behalf of NASA
LAUNCH PROVIDER : Rocket Lab
LAUNCH VEHICLE : Electron
LAUNCH SITE : Launch Complex 1 , located on New Zealand's Mahia peninsula
LAUNCH DATE : 28 June 2022
TARGETED ORBIT - EARTH : Low earth parking orbit
TARGETED ORBIT - MOON :
Image credits: Rocket Lab
CAPSTONE MISSION OBJECTIVE :
CAPSTONE is a 12u cubesat Launched by Rocket Lab on June 28 , 2022 , on a mission to moon using a highly efficient transfer orbit . This mission is to support NASA' s Artemis program which will land the first woman and first person of colour on the moon . CAPSTONE is the first mission orbiting in such a unique orbit . On July 4 , 2022 , the lunar Photon performed maneuvers to increase the apogee of its orbit , reaching 70,000 kilometers before the final translunar injection burn. Rocket Lab's lunar Photon stage released CAPSTONE shortly after the seventh and final burn by the photon's HyperCurie engine that placed the spacecraft onto a ballistic lunar trajectory on its way to the moon .
CAPSTONE will take more than four months to go the moon , flying a low energy trajectory that will take it 1.2 million kilometers from the earth. That trajectory will minimize the propellant needed to enter lunar orbit in a maneuver scheduled for November 13, 2022 .
Image: CAPSTONE Spacecraft
CAPSTONE's primary objective is to test and verify the calculated orbital stability of the orbit chosen for Nasa's lunar Gateway around the moon , the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit . The Gateway is a small space station that will orbit around the moon to provide astronauts access to the lunar surface, it will act as a docking hub , science laboratory , etc for future lunar missions
Another objective of CAPSTONE is to test a navigation system that will accurately measure its exact position in cislunar space by interacting with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter without depending on ground stations for navigation support .
WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE UNIQUE ORBIT ?
Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit would enable a cislunar ( space between earth and moon ) space station ( gateway ) to save propellant for orbital corrections and avoid the blocking of sunlight by the moon from reaching the station's solar panels , and keeping Gateway without any communication glitches, keeping it always in contact with earth.
Image credits: nasa
The Near Rectilinear Halo orbit is balanced between the earth's and moon's gravity. The Gateway takes about 1 week to complete a orbit around moon . This orbit will periodically bring Gateway close enough to the lunar surface and provide easy access to the moon's south pole . Not too far and not that close to moon just in the right place for fuel efficiency and surface access.
CAPSTONE MISSION is paving the way for future lunar missions especially the Gateway space station , and expand the human race to be interplanetary species .
Image credits : Rocket Lab
NAME : CAPSTONE ( Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment )
PAYLOAD : CAPSTONE Spacecraft ( Attached to Lunar Photon )
DESIGNED AND BUILT BY : Tyvak Nano - Satellite Systems, Terran orbital corporations
OWNED AND OPERATED BY : Advanced Space on behalf of NASA
LAUNCH PROVIDER : Rocket Lab
LAUNCH VEHICLE : Electron
LAUNCH SITE : Launch Complex 1 , located on New Zealand's Mahia peninsula
LAUNCH DATE : 28 June 2022
TARGETED ORBIT - EARTH : Low earth parking orbit
TARGETED ORBIT - MOON :
Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit
Image credits: Rocket Lab
CAPSTONE MISSION OBJECTIVE :
CAPSTONE is a 12u cubesat Launched by Rocket Lab on June 28 , 2022 , on a mission to moon using a highly efficient transfer orbit . This mission is to support NASA' s Artemis program which will land the first woman and first person of colour on the moon . CAPSTONE is the first mission orbiting in such a unique orbit . On July 4 , 2022 , the lunar Photon performed maneuvers to increase the apogee of its orbit , reaching 70,000 kilometers before the final translunar injection burn. Rocket Lab's lunar Photon stage released CAPSTONE shortly after the seventh and final burn by the photon's HyperCurie engine that placed the spacecraft onto a ballistic lunar trajectory on its way to the moon .
CAPSTONE will take more than four months to go the moon , flying a low energy trajectory that will take it 1.2 million kilometers from the earth. That trajectory will minimize the propellant needed to enter lunar orbit in a maneuver scheduled for November 13, 2022 .
Image: CAPSTONE Spacecraft
CAPSTONE's primary objective is to test and verify the calculated orbital stability of the orbit chosen for Nasa's lunar Gateway around the moon , the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit . The Gateway is a small space station that will orbit around the moon to provide astronauts access to the lunar surface, it will act as a docking hub , science laboratory , etc for future lunar missions
Another objective of CAPSTONE is to test a navigation system that will accurately measure its exact position in cislunar space by interacting with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter without depending on ground stations for navigation support .
WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE UNIQUE ORBIT ?
Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit would enable a cislunar ( space between earth and moon ) space station ( gateway ) to save propellant for orbital corrections and avoid the blocking of sunlight by the moon from reaching the station's solar panels , and keeping Gateway without any communication glitches, keeping it always in contact with earth.
Image credits: nasa , Gateway
space station
There are several other orbits that were considered for the Gateway , the low lunar orbit is not fuel efficient because of the moon's gravity it requires more fuel to maintain and sustain the orbit , but it provided easy access to the lunar surface. The distant retrograde orbit is fuel efficient , it takes less fuel for orbital corrections and to maintain the orbit but it didn't provide a easy access to the surface .
There are several other orbits that were considered for the Gateway , the low lunar orbit is not fuel efficient because of the moon's gravity it requires more fuel to maintain and sustain the orbit , but it provided easy access to the lunar surface. The distant retrograde orbit is fuel efficient , it takes less fuel for orbital corrections and to maintain the orbit but it didn't provide a easy access to the surface .
Image credits: nasa
The Near Rectilinear Halo orbit is balanced between the earth's and moon's gravity. The Gateway takes about 1 week to complete a orbit around moon . This orbit will periodically bring Gateway close enough to the lunar surface and provide easy access to the moon's south pole . Not too far and not that close to moon just in the right place for fuel efficiency and surface access.
CAPSTONE MISSION is paving the way for future lunar missions especially the Gateway space station , and expand the human race to be interplanetary species .
Reference link :
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/completed-missions/capstone/
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/a-lunar-orbit-that-s-just-right-for-the-international-gateway
https://www.nasa.gov/gateway/overview
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