Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, today announced that it has successfully developed a pathfinder satellite for NASA, putting it on a course to the Moon. The deployment marks the successful completion of Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s first deep space mission, paving the way for the Company’s upcoming interplanetary missions to Mars and Venus.
This press release contains multimedia. See the full version here: Rocket Lab Lunar Photon spacecraft with CAPSTONE satellite onboard (Photo: Business Wire) The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE), owned and operated by Advanced Space on behalf of NASA, will be the first spacecraft to test Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. This is the same orbit intended for NASA’s Gateway&CloseCurlyQuote, an orbiting outpost on the Moon that will provide essential support for long-term lunar missions by astronauts as part of the Artemis program. Rocket Lab’s role in the mission took place in two phases. First, CAPSTONE was successfully launched into low Earth orbit by Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle&CloseCurlyQuote on June 28. From there, Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s Lunar Photon spacecraft provided space transportation, power and communications to the CAPSTONE. After six days of orbiting burns from Lunar Photon&CloseCurlyQuote’s 3D printed HyperCurie engine, CAPSTONE was deployed to its lunar transfer ballistic orbit to the Moon as scheduled at 07:18 UTC on July 4th. The mission was Rocket Lab’s fourth Electron launch this year, demonstrating the rocket’s continued reliability. In addition to delivering the launch, Rocket Lab designed, built and operated the Lunar Photon spacecraft, successfully completing a highly complex deep mission and demonstrating Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s growing capabilities as an end-to-end space company. “The CAPSTONE mission marks the beginning of humanity’s return to the Moon through NASA’s Artemis program, and we are incredibly proud that Rocket Lab played a key role in this,” said Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Peter Beck. “The Rocket Lab team has been working on CAPSTONE with NASA and our mission partners for over two years, developing new small satellite technology in the form of the Lunar Photon spacecraft to make this mission possible, so it’s an incredible feeling to finally . this hard work and innovation to mission success and establish CAPSTONE on a course to the Moon. This was Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s most complex mission to date and our team was incredible. We pushed Electron and Photon to their limits and proved that it is possible to do big missions with small spacecraft. We will now apply this groundbreaking technology to more interplanetary travel, including our upcoming missions to Venus and Mars.” With Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s role in the mission now complete, CAPSTONE&CloseCurlyQuote’s solo journey to the Moon has begun. CAPSTONE will use its own thrust and the Sun’s gravity to navigate the rest of the way to the Moon, a four-month journey that will see CAPSTONE reach lunar orbit on November 13, 2022. The gravitational pull will be dramatically reduced the amount of fuel the CubeSat needs to reach the Moon. Advanced Space and Terran Orbital will manage the operation of the CAPSTONE satellite during its orbital life. The CAPSTONE mission was Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s 27th electron launch overall, but featured several important technological firsts for the Company, including:
First deep space mission. First use of the Lunar Photon, a high-energy variant of the Photon spacecraft designed and built by Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab previously launched and continues to operate two variants of the Photon spacecraft into low Earth orbit. First joint mission between Rocket Lab and Advanced Solutions Inc, a Colorado-based flight software company acquired by Rocket Lab in late 2021. This is my first time using the FR-lite satellite radio for the manufacture of which Rocket Lab has an exclusive license agreement with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The first mission where the Electron&CloseCurlyQuote second stage was displaced on the same day as the launch. First mission planning and execution of lunar orbits. With a payload mass of 300 kg (661 lb), the mission was Electron’s heaviest lift to date.
CAPSTONE was the first in a series of interplanetary missions for Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s Photon spacecraft, including the ESCAPADE mission to Mars in 2024 and Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s upcoming private mission to Venus.
Advanced Space of Colorado, a leading commercial space solutions company, owns the CAPSTONE satellite and operates the mission. CAPSTONE was designed and manufactured by Terran Orbital. The development of CAPSTONE is supported by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate through the Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA’s Ames Research Center&CloseCurlyQuote in California&CloseCurlyQuote in Silicon Valley. Advanced Exploration Systems within NASA’s Human Exploration Missions and Operations Directorate support launch and mission operations. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for launch management.
+ Images & Video Content
+ About Rocket Lab
Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with an established track record of mission success. We provide reliable launch services, satellite manufacturing, spacecraft components and on-orbit management solutions that make access to space faster, easier and more affordable. Based in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small launch vehicle and Photon satellite platform, and develops the Neutron 8-ton payload launch vehicle. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second most frequently launched US rocket annually and has delivered 147 satellites into orbit for private and public sector organizations, enabling operations in national security, scientific research and space. debris mitigation, earth observation, climate monitoring and communications. Rocket Lab&CloseCurlyQuote’s Photon spacecraft platform has been selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch sites at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a second launch site in Virginia, USA, which is expected to become operational in 2022. To learn more, visit www. rocketlabusa.com.
See the original version on businesswire.com:
