Powered by the upper stage of the Electron rocket for six days, the CAPSTONE probe was successfully ejected this morning after a final maneuver. It begins its long journey to the Moon and its “NRHO” orbit. An unprecedented success for RocketLab and an auspicious start for NASA.
Now the 25 kg probe is on its own.
The Moon in sight
After the successful takeoff from the Mahia launch site in New Zealand on June 28, all that remained was to send the small CAPSTONE probe to the Moon. A task assigned to the upper stage of the Electron rocket, named “Lunar Photon”. And as for the launch, it was the company Rocket Lab which took care of its remote control during the six days of maneuver.
Photon, with the small CAPSTONE probe on top, was launched into low Earth orbit. Each maneuver therefore contributed to gradually increasing its trajectory in an ellipse… Until the last ignition this morning of its “HyperCurie” engine. The orbit, which then accumulated to almost 70,000 km altitude, was extended to pass in the groove of the trajectory of the Moon.
A few minutes later, the Lunar Photon successfully completed its mission, ejecting CAPSTONE. The small 25 kg probe, on the right trajectory, extended its solar panels and began to communicate with the teams on the ground.
Small vehicle, big maneuvers
It will take another four months for CAPSTONE to orbit the Moon in its very special NRHO orbit (Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit), November 13. Its initial ellipse will take it beyond the Moon, and until then it will take several firings of its tiny thrusters, but the first phase of the mission up to this so-called “trans-lunar injection” maneuver has worked perfectly.
A joy and a source of pride for the Rocket Lab teams, based in New Zealand but also at the headquarters in Long Beach (California), which had never before conducted missions of this kind. The company has great ambitions on this subject in the near future, promising in the future exploration missions ” low-cost in the earthly neighborhood. Rocket Lab also has a planned mission to Venus, financed with private funds. A new way to visit nearby objectives?
Soon the “real” Artemis missions
Now it’s up to NASA to seize the opportunity with CAPSTONE. The probe is under his responsibility, and it goes without saying that as the first (very small) stone of the Artemis program, the results are eagerly awaited.
Above all, there are a lot of other more risky missions that are in the process of being finalized in public-private partnerships: the American agency wants to convince politicians that the delays that are coming to an end have borne fruit and that the investments made worth. It will also pass through a lunar orbit for a very small vehicle of 25 kg by 40 x 30 cm…
On the same subject :
A Cygnus to do everything! The NG-17 cargo ship left the space station yesterday
Source : NASA
4