Rocket Lab-launched CAPSTONE Spacecraft Enters Lunar Orbit
November 14 2022 - 04:27PM
Business Wire
Almost five months after a successful launch by
Rocket Lab, the CAPSTONE spacecraft has reached its lunar
destination - a unique orbit around the Moon where the future
Gateway space station will support NASA's Artemis missions
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the
Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, is
celebrating the successful arrival of the Electron-launched,
Photon-deployed CAPSTONE spacecraft to lunar orbit. Following an
initial orbit insertion maneuver on Sunday, CAPSTONE will perform
clean-up maneuvers over the next several days to complete insertion
into its target orbit. CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning
System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) has been
travelling in space for almost five months following a successful
launch by Rocket Lab on June 28, 2022.
CAPSTONE is owned and operated by Advanced Space; CAPSTONE’s
primary mission is to test a unique, elongated lunar orbit,
formally known as near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), as a
pathfinder for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting space station that is part
of NASA’s Artemis program which will ultimately pave the way for
human exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond.
CAPSTONE was launched to low Earth orbit from Rocket Lab’s
Launch Complex 1 on June 28 on the Electron launch vehicle. From
there, Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft carried out a series of
obit raising maneuvers over six days, pushing CAPSTONE deeper into
space before conducting a final maneuver to place CAPSTONE on a
ballistic lunar transfer. This maneuver saw CAPSTONE travel more
than 1.5 million kilometers from Earth before looping back to be
captured by the Moon’s gravity and reaching its final planned
destination in near rectilinear halo orbit. Rocket Lab’s role in
the mission was successfully completed on July 4th with the
injection of the spacecraft onto the ballistic lunar transfer
designed by Advanced Space. Advanced Space and Terran Orbital
managed operations of CAPSTONE for the remainder of the
spacecraft’s solo journey to lunar orbit.
“Congratulations to the many teams behind mission success for
CAPSTONE. This is a monumental day for small spacecraft science and
exploration,” said Rocket Lab Founder and CEO Peter Beck. “After
delivering a successful launch and deployment for CAPSTONE almost
five months ago, we’ve watched with bated breath as CAPSTONE drew
closer to lunar orbit. Throughout that time the teams at Advanced
Space and Terran Orbital have shown relentless dedication,
culminating in mission success today. We’re cheering CAPSTONE on as
it now transitions into the next phase of operations in lunar
orbit.”
To learn more about Rocket Lab’s role in the CAPSTONE mission,
visit: www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/lunar/
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+ About Rocket Lab
Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with
an established track record of mission success. We deliver reliable
launch services, satellite manufacture, spacecraft components, and
on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier and more
affordable to access space. Headquartered in Long Beach,
California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small
orbital launch vehicle and the Photon satellite platform and is
developing the large Neutron launch vehicle. Since its first
orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch
vehicle has become the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket
annually and has delivered 152 satellites to orbit for private and
public sector organizations, enabling operations in national
security, scientific research, space debris mitigation, Earth
observation, climate monitoring, and communications. Rocket Lab’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 pads 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.
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+ Rocket Lab Media Contact Mike Atchue
media@rocketlabusa.com
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