Nichols Martin
Rocket Lab is preparing to launch a 55-pound satellite developed by Advanced Space to help NASA test technologies with the potential to facilitate safe navigation for lunar exploration.
The launch service provider said Friday its Electron rocket and Photon spacecraft will fly the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment or CAPSTONE from New Zealand to the moon in the fourth quarter.
The CAPSTONE CubeSat will demonstrate navigation technologies and gather data on the cislunar orbit’s dynamics. It will also seek to help lessen logistical challenges for future missions by validating propulsion requirements.
The Photon vehicle will separate from an Electron rocket after reaching elliptical low Earth orbit and fly independently with the 3D printed HyperCurie engine. Photon will then release CAPSTONE to the moon and perform a solo lunar fly-by on an independent trajectory, marking the rocket’s first-ever use as a trans-lunar injection stage.
CAPSTONE will embark on a three-to-four-month trip to the moon then enter a near rectilinear halo orbit, which resides over the lunar poles. The satellite’s primary mission will last for a total of six months.
“We’ve teamed up with the NASA Launch Services Program on previous Electron missions to low Earth orbit, so it’s exciting to be working with them again to go just a bit further than usual…some 380,000 kilometers further,” said Peter Beck, CEO at Rocket lab.
NASA’s LSP, operating from Kennedy Space Center, manages CAPSTONE’s launch activities.
