NASA satellite Capstone is en route to orbit around the moon

NASA’s Capstone cubesat, launched into space by Rocket Lab last week on an Electron rocket, has broken out of its orbit around Earth and headed for the moon. The satellite should have reached the moon by November.

The rocket was launched on June 28 from Rocket Labs launch site in New Zealand. Over the past six days, the rocket performed several ignition maneuvers. The last of these had to send the rocket stage with the 25 kg satellite on board towards the moon, which it succeeded. “It’s a project that has taken us about two and a half years and it’s incredibly difficult to execute,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told AP news agency. “So to see that spacecraft on its way to the moon is absolutely amazing.”

NASA wants to put a space station into orbit around the moon as part of the Artemis mission. That space station, the Lunar Gateway, should eventually become the base for manned missions to the lunar surface. That’s why Capstone is an important first step. It is sent to Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit; that’s the same elliptical orbit around the moon where the Lunar Gateway will eventually fly. No spacecraft has ever entered that orbit. If the rest of the mission is successful, the Capstone satellite will send back important information about orbit for months, such as how much fuel a spacecraft needs to stay in that orbit.

capstone. Source: NASA