NASA Delays CAPSTONE CubeSat Launch for a Day to Conduct Further System Checks, Mission Valuable for Gateway Station

NASA's CAPSTONE CubeSat was set to launch to the Moon from New Zealand on an Electron booster rocket on Monday at 6:00 AM EDT and then travel to a unique lunar orbit in a pathfinder mission for the Artemis program of the American space agency. However, Space.com reported that another delay prevented it from launching at the scheduled time.

The microwave-sized CubeSat is poised to set the stage for a lunar space station for NAA's next mission to bring astronauts back to the lunar surface after many decades.

(Photo : EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP via Getty Images)
NASAs Artemis I Moon rocket sits at Launch Pad Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 15, 2022.

New Schedules for CAPSTONE Cubesat Launch

NASA's Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) is a 55-pound CubeSat that is as big as a microwave oven designed to test a near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon.

Chris Baker from NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate explained that CAPSTONE would be launched to deliver the first spacecraft that will demonstrate the unique lunar orbit for the Gateway station for future Artemis program astronauts. The space agency hopes to return astronauts to the lunar surface in the mid-2020s using the Orion spacecraft, mega rockets, and private lunar landers.

However, its supposed launch on Monday was once again delayed. NASA said in a press release that Rocket Lab and its partners are standing down from the launch attempt for further system checks. The next launch opportunity will be on June 28, which means that CAPSTONE will arrive at its lunar orbit on November 13.

According to Space.com, the CAPSTONE mission will launch a Rocket Lab Electron booster and use the Photon stage of the company to help make its way to the lunar surface. This will be the first deep-space mission of Rocket Lab with Photon.

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Novel Orbit to the Moon for the Artemis Program

CAPSTONE will be following a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) that will bring the CubeSat within 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the Moon at its closest and as far as 43,500 miles (70,000 kilometers). It will allow the spacecraft to always face the Earth for uninterrupted communications, according to an earlier report from Space.com.

NASA's chief of the exploration mission planning office at the Johnson Space Center, Nujoud Merancy, said that the CAPSTONE mission is a valuable precursor for the Gateway station and Orion, the human landing system and the Artemis program as a whole. He added that NRHO enables access to the Moon, particularly its south pole, which is one of the important missions of the Artemis program.

It is expected to reach the NRHO in four months and then stay there for at least six months to test its unique orbit. CAPSTONE will perform a series of navigation and communications tests, wherein some involve the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that has been orbiting the Moon for 13 years since 2009.

CAPSTONE's launch has been delayed for months. It was originally scheduled to launch in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it to 2022. Also, NASA still has to conduct additional checks on the spacecraft and rocket before it is ready to be launched. The Advanced Space of Colorado oversees the launch with Terran Orbital's Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems of California, who built the CubeSat.