Jul 7, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
Commercially Owned Mission Supports Human Return to the Moon with Microwave-sized Spacecraft
Westminster, CO (July 7, 2022) Advanced Space LLC., a leading space tech solutions company, announced today that CAPSTONE – the spacecraft heading to the Moon for NASA – is healthy after successfully performing its first trajectory correction maneuver. This maneuver is a significant milestone for the mission as it represents the first of many maneuvers the spacecraft will conduct during the mission. The propulsion system is specifically optimized for precise maneuvers such as this. This maneuver is similar in size to the critical Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) Insertion Maneuver which will be conducted at the Moon on November 13th and thus serves as a test from which the team will learn to improve future operations. At time of execution, the spacecraft was approximately 465,000 km from the Earth (~13 times further than the GEO belt and ~81,000 km further than the Moon). The spacecraft had lost communications a couple of days ago, but the operations teams effectively and efficiently worked to resolve the issue and communication was restored approximately 43 hours after it was unexpectedly interrupted. The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment or CAPSTONE, began its solo journey to the Moon on July 4th as the first launch supporting Artemis missions. Advanced Space leads the CAPSTONE mission for NASA and is the first commercial and privately-owned spacecraft mission to the Moon. The microwave-sized CubeSat will verify and demonstrate operations within a unique and groundbreaking cislunar orbit that will support NASA’s Moon missions under Artemis. Further, the mission will demonstrate a novel spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation technology service called the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS) developed and implemented by Advanced Space. (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…)
Jun 28, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
Breakthrough Technology “Lighthouse” Allows Spacecraft to Communicate and Find Lunar Location in Ways Never Done Before in Space Exploration; Marks first Commercial & Privately Owned Spacecraft to Moon
Westminster, CO (June 28, 2022) Advanced Space LLC., a leading space tech solutions company with breakthrough navigational technology, today announced that its CAPSTONE spacecraft has been launched toward the Moon by Rocket Lab USA Inc. for NASA on June 28, 2022. The CAPSTONE mission will gather operational data ahead of the Artemis program that will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon. This milestone supports the first launch for NASA’s Artemis program and the first commercial and privately owned satellite to operate at the Moon. (more…)
