The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE), a small CubeSat, about the size of a microwave oven and weighing just 55 pounds (25 kg), has left low Earth orbit and begun its solo journey to the Moon. After its launch on June 28, CAPSTONE orbited Earth attached to Rocket Lab’s photon upper stage, which guided CAPSTONE into position for its journey to the Moon. Photon’s engines fired seven times over the past six days at key moments to raise the orbit’s highest point to about 810,000 miles (1,300,000 km) from Earth before releasing the CAPSTONE CubeSat into its ballistic lunar transfer orbit to the Moon. The starship is now flown by teams in Advanced Space and Terran Orbital. CAPSTONE communicates with Earth via NASA’s Deep Space Network en route to the Moon. Now, 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 put CAPSTONE into near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon on November 13, 2022 The gravity-driven orbit will dramatically reduce the amount of fuel the CubeSat needs to reach its target orbit around the Moon. The NRHO is a significantly elongated eye, located at a precise point of balance in the gravitational pulls of Earth and the Moon. It offers stability for long-term missions like Gateway and requires minimal energy to maintain. CAPSTONE’s orbit also defines a location that is an ideal region for missions to the Moon and beyond. The orbit will bring CAPSTONE within 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of one lunar pole on its closest pass and 43,500 miles (70,000 km) of the other pole at its apogee every seven days, requiring less propulsion for spacecraft to fly by to and from the Moon. surface from other circular orbits. In the coming days, you can follow CAPSTONE’s journey live using NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System interactive 3D data visualization, virtually driving the CubeSat through a simulation of our solar system.
