So he sends a test satellite from New Zealand. The initial stages of the launch went according to plan late Tuesday, with the rocket carrying the satellite reaching space. If the rest of the mission is successful, the CAPSTONE CubeSat satellite – about the size of a microwave oven – will be the first to take the new orbit around the moon and send back vital information for at least six months. Technically, the new orbit is called an almost straight halo orbit. It is a flattened egg shape with one end passing close to the moon and the other away from it. Imagine stretching a rubber band behind your thumb. Your thumb would represent the moon and the rubber the flight path. “Do not go where the path can lead, go where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Our mission pic.twitter.com/XoUHX81yHo – @ NASA “It will have balance. Poise. Balance,” NASA wrote on its website. “This CubeSat path will be practically able to kick and rest in a gravitationally sweet spot in space – where gravity from Earth and the Moon interact to allow an almost steady orbit.” Eventually, NASA plans to put a space station called the Gateway in orbit, from which astronauts can land on the Moon as part of the Artemis program.
Team effort
For the satellite mission, NASA partnered with two commercial companies. The California-based Rocket Lab has launched the rocket that carries the satellite, which in turn is owned and operated by Colorado-based Advanced Space. The mission was assembled relatively quickly and cheaply for NASA, with a total mission cost of $ 32.7 million. The transfer of the 25 kg satellite into orbit will take more than four months and will take place in three stages. First, Rocket Lab’s small Electron rocket was launched from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. Just nine minutes later, the second stage, called Photon, split and orbited the Earth. Over the next five days, Photon engines are scheduled to periodically ignite to orbit farther and farther away from Earth. Six days after the launch, the Photon cameras will be launched for the last time, allowing it to escape Earth’s orbit and head for the moon. Photon will then release the satellite, which has its own small propulsion system, but which will not use much energy as it travels to the moon for four months, with some scheduled course corrections along the way. “Perfect electron launch!” Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck tweeted on Tuesday. “The lunar photon is in low Earth orbit.” Rocket Lab spokesman Morgan Bailey said it was the most ambitious and complex mission he has undertaken to date and comes after more than two years of working with NASA and Advanced Space. He said it would be the first time the Rocket Lab would test the HyperCurie engine used to power Photon. “Certainly a lot of difficult problems that need to be solved along the way, but we have solved them one by one and we have reached the start day,” Bailey said. Bailey said one of the advantages of the orbit is that, in theory, a space station should be able to maintain constant communication with Earth because it will avoid an eclipse of the moon.
title: “Nasa Rocket Launches To Test New Orbit For Moon Missions " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-03” author: “Andy Walker”
So he sends a test satellite from New Zealand. The initial stages of the launch went according to plan late Tuesday, with the rocket carrying the satellite reaching space. If the rest of the mission is successful, the CAPSTONE CubeSat satellite – about the size of a microwave oven – will be the first to take the new orbit around the moon and send back vital information for at least six months. Technically, the new orbit is called an almost straight halo orbit. It is a flattened egg shape with one end passing close to the moon and the other away from it. Imagine stretching a rubber band behind your thumb. Your thumb would represent the moon and the rubber the flight path. “Do not go where the path can lead, go where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Our mission pic.twitter.com/XoUHX81yHo – @ NASA “It will have balance. Poise. Balance,” NASA wrote on its website. “This CubeSat path will be practically able to kick and rest in a gravitationally sweet spot in space – where gravity from Earth and the Moon interact to allow an almost steady orbit.” Eventually, NASA plans to put a space station called the Gateway in orbit, from which astronauts can land on the Moon as part of the Artemis program.
Team effort
For the satellite mission, NASA partnered with two commercial companies. The California-based Rocket Lab has launched the rocket that carries the satellite, which in turn is owned and operated by Colorado-based Advanced Space. The mission was assembled relatively quickly and cheaply for NASA, with a total mission cost of $ 32.7 million. The transfer of the 25 kg satellite into orbit will take more than four months and will take place in three stages. First, Rocket Lab’s small Electron rocket was launched from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. Just nine minutes later, the second stage, called Photon, split and orbited the Earth. Over the next five days, Photon engines are scheduled to periodically ignite to orbit farther and farther away from Earth. Six days after the launch, the Photon cameras will be launched for the last time, allowing it to escape Earth’s orbit and head for the moon. Photon will then release the satellite, which has its own small propulsion system, but which will not use much energy as it travels to the moon for four months, with some scheduled course corrections along the way. “Perfect electron launch!” Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck tweeted on Tuesday. “The lunar photon is in low Earth orbit.” Rocket Lab spokesman Morgan Bailey said it was the most ambitious and complex mission he has undertaken to date and comes after more than two years of working with NASA and Advanced Space. He said it would be the first time the Rocket Lab would test the HyperCurie engine used to power Photon. “Certainly a lot of difficult problems that need to be solved along the way, but we have solved them one by one and we have reached the start day,” Bailey said. Bailey said one of the advantages of the orbit is that, in theory, a space station should be able to maintain constant communication with Earth because it will avoid an eclipse of the moon.
