Jul 7, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
At approximately 9:30 AM MT this morning, the CAPSTONE spacecraft successfully executed its first trajectory correction maneuver on its way to the Moon and the spacecraft is in a healthy state.
This maneuver is the first statistical maneuver of the mission meaning it is designed to clean up expected dispersions from the launch vehicle injection and does not change the baseline transfer approach or timing of arrival at the Moon on November 13th. Operations on the Ballistic Lunar Transfer and in Earth-Moon three-body orbits (such as Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits or NRHOs) require precise maneuvers and knowledge of the spacecraft state (position and velocity). The CAPSTONE propulsion system was specifically designed and optimized for these precise maneuvers and the navigation system was built from the ground up to be efficient and scalable. All of this is supported by a uniquely qualified team of flight dynamics experts at Advanced Space with specialized focus on operations in cislunar space and multi-body orbital operations. (more…)
Jul 6, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
Over the last 24 hours, the CAPSTONE mission team has worked together to narrow down the likely cause of the communications systems anomaly discussed yesterday. The integrated mission team took time and care to work the problem, gaining information from various data sources, working with ground-based hardware to evaluate behavior in a controlled environment, and working to resolve the problem systematically. This work has included rapid engineering support and resources from many different mission partners. We are extremely grateful for this team effort and want to express our appreciation to all of those involved. (more…)
Jul 5, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
On July 4, 2022, CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) separated successfully from the launch vehicle and is heading to the Moon on behalf on NASA. The Advanced Space Operations Center and the Mission Operations Center at Terran Orbital are in full swing beginning mission operations with the DSN and mission partners. We are proud of the hard work the operations team has been doing. (more…)
Jul 4, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
First CubeSat, “Mini-Satellite” to Make Solo Flight the Moon Leaves Low-Earth Orbit and On To Test Unique Orbit; Transferring Mission from Launch Provider to Lunar Operations.
Westminster, CO (July 4, 2022) Advanced Space LLC., a leading commercial space tech company pioneering the pathfinder mission, spacecraft separated from Rocket Lab’s Photon upper stage today after its launch on June 28. The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft has orbited Earth while raising its position to be thrusted beyond low-Earth orbit on a trajectory to the Moon. (more…)
