NASA canceled plans to launch a small cubesat to the moon on Monday (June 27th) to have more time to test its rocket booster for flight.
The US space agency announced today that it is no longer focused on launching the new CAPSTONE cubesat to the moon on Monday on an electronic booster built by Rocket Lab. The mission, led by Advanced Space, was scheduled to launch from a site on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand at 6 a.m. EDT (1,000 GMT) on Monday.
“NASA, Rocket Lab and Advanced Space are abandoning an attempt to launch the CAPSTONE mission to the moon on June 27 to allow Rocket Lab to conduct final inspections of the systems,” NASA officials wrote in a June 26 update. new section). “Teams evaluate time and other factors to determine the date of the next launch attempt.”
Related: NASA CAPSTONE mission to the moon to go where no cubsat has gone before
The next possible launch date for the microwave-sized CAPSTONE is Tuesday, June 28, but NASA and its partners can launch the mission at any time before July 27 and still ensure that cubesat reaches the moon on November 13, the agency said. . The mission has been postponed several times since 2021, first due to problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later due to the need for more inspections of cubesat and its Rocket Lab booster.
The CAPSTONE, or Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, is a small, 55-pound (25-pound) spacecraft designed to test a new path around the moon called an almost rectilinear halo orbit. The orbit, which follows an extremely elliptical path around the moon, is the same that NASA hopes to use for its planned astronaut Gateway space station as part of the Artemis program.
As part of the mission, CAPSTONE will launch an electronic lab rocket booster and use the company’s Photon phase to help make its way to the moon. This is Rocket Lab’s first deep space mission with Photon.
NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) Cubesat is seen during assembly with the sun grilles unfolded. The 55-kilogram cubesat is the size of a microwave oven. (Image Credit: NASA / Dominic Hart)
If all goes well, CAPSTONE will be separated from his trip with Photon six days after the launch and will slowly make its way to the moon for about four months. After entering its final orbit, the spacecraft is expected to spend at least six months conducting navigation and communication experiments as part of its $ 30 million mission. It will fly about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) to the moon and 43,500 miles (70,000 kilometers) from the lunar surface.
“The next opportunity to launch within the current period is on June 28,” NASA officials wrote in the update. “The CAPSTONE trajectory design means that the spacecraft will arrive in lunar orbit on November 13, regardless of the launch date within the current period, which offers launch opportunities every day until July 27.”
Send Tariq Malik an email to tmalik@space.com or follow @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
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