Photon will deploy NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) cubesat.
CAPSTONE launched aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.
CAPSTONE will test communication capabilities with Earth from the near rectilinear halo orbit while providing coverage for the lunar south pole.
Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems of Irvine, California, a Terran Orbital company, provided the CubeSat platform for Capstone.
CAPSTONE will test communication capabilities with Earth from a near rectilinear halo orbit that provides a clear view of Earth while also providing coverage for the lunar south pole.
CAPSTONE will test autonomous navigation software called CAPS, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System, using direct measurements with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Terran Orbital designed and built the CAPSTONE satellite and produced its hardware, assembled and tested the spacecraft, and integrated the satellite for launch.
The CAPSTONE launch was scheduled to take place from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula as early as 10:00 a.m. UTC / 6:00 a.m. EDT / 3:00 a.m. PDT on 2022-06-27.
Terran Orbital designed and built the CAPSTONE spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis program.
CAPSTONE is planned to launch no earlier than 2022-05-31 aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand.
Rocket Lab will begin payload integration of CAPSTONE with the Electron rocket and Photon spacecraft bus ahead of the launch window opening on 2022-05-31.
Around ten minutes after liftoff on Electron, Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft bus with CAPSTONE attached will separate from the rocket and carry out a series of orbit-raising maneuvers that stretch its orbit into a prominent ellipse around Earth.
CAPSTONE was designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a Terran Orbital Corporation.
CAPSTONE and several missions under NASA’s Artemis program will provide cislunar mission profiles that military operators plan to use to practice xGEO object tracking.
Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite bus will deliver CAPSTONE into a trajectory toward the Moon.
Rocket Lab will begin payload integration of CAPSTONE with the Electron rocket and Photon spacecraft bus ahead of the launch window opening on 2022-05-31.
CAPSTONE will be launched to an initial low Earth orbit by Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle and then placed on a ballistic lunar transfer by Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft bus.
The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) is a cubesat designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a Terran Orbital Corporation, and owned and operated by Advanced Space.
Approximately ten minutes after liftoff on Electron, Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft bus with CAPSTONE attached will separate from the rocket and carry out a series of orbit-raising maneuvers.
Terran Orbital Corporation shipped the CAPSTONE satellite to a launch site on the Māhia Peninsula of New Zealand.