The Electron rocket of the company carrying the CAPSTONE mission took off from New Zealand on June 28, 2022.
Rocket laboratory
Rocket Lab launched a small spacecraft aimed at the moon from its New Zealand facility early Tuesday, a mission that is the first for both the company and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The company’s Electron rocket carried a special version of its Photon satellite platform, which carries a 55-kilogram spacecraft the size of a microwave oven called the CAPSTONE.
“Perfect electronic start!” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck tweeted on Tuesday.
CAPSTONE, short for “Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment,” is a low-cost mission that is the first launch of NASA’s Artemis lunar program.
Priced at just $ 30 million, NASA hopes the mission will confirm that a certain type of lunar orbit is suitable for the Gateway lunar space station, which the agency aims to launch later this decade.
The success of Gateway does not depend on these data, explained Christopher Baker of NASA, executive director of the technology program for small spacecraft, to CNBC before the launch. But, he added, CAPSTONE allows the agency to justify its orbital calculations “in actual data” and provide “operational experience in Halo’s near-linear orbit.”
Currently in orbit around the Earth, Photon will start its engine several times in the coming days before sending the CAPSTONE spacecraft on a trajectory that will take about four months to reach the moon. Once there, CAPSTONE will remain in orbit around the moon for at least six months to collect data.
The CAPSTONE spacecraft is mounted on the company’s lunar photon.
Rocket laboratory
CAPSTONE is also the first Rocket Lab mission to go into deep space – beyond the company’s typical low-Earth orbit goal.
NASA turned to a small group of companies to implement CAPSTONE. In addition to Rocket Lab’s Electron and Photon rocket, Colorado-based Advanced Space developed and will operate CAPSTONE while two California companies built the small spacecraft and provided its propulsion system, Terran Orbital and Stellar Exploration, respectively.
“Every major component here actually comes from a company that has received a small business award from the government over the past 10 years to develop the technology used for this mission,” said Baker of NASA.
“We’re very interested in how we can support and use US trade opportunities to improve what it’s capable of – and one of the things we’ve really been pushing for over the years has been how to expand small spacecraft beyond the lower Earth. orbit to challenging new destinations, “Baker added.
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