Following the latest update on CAPSTONE, Advanced Space, the mission owner and operator have released an update on the situation.
According to a SciTechDaily report, CAPSTONE experienced a problem that caused the spacecraft to slip outside the capacity of the onboard reaction wheels to regulate and counter. This took place during or shortly following a trajectory correction maneuver last week.
CAPSTONE Spacecraft Tumbling Through Space – Latest Work To Resolve Issue https://t.co/8u1swerFbW
— SciTechDaily (@SciTechDaily1) September 13, 2022
After this occurred, CAPSTONE attempted to communicate for 24 with the ground before any telemetry was recovered.
Following receipt of data, mission regulators found that the spacecraft was tumbling and the onboard computer systems were resetting periodically. Additionally, the spacecraft used more power than it was generating from its solar panels.
CAPSTONE in Safe Mode
The combined mission team, which comprises Advanced Space, Stellar exploration, Terran Orbital, and NASA, reestablished contact with CAPSTONE through the use of the Deep Space Network or DSN of NASA are reconfiguring the systems of the spacecraft to stabilize the situation while recovery plans are analyzed. CAPSTONE stays in safe mode.
Nevertheless, it is now power positive," which means it is producing more power from the solar panels than the system utilizes.
The navigation data gathered after the issue started the early-September trajectory correction maneuver was possibly completed or almost complete when the issue transpired.
As such, the spacecraft remains on the intended trajectory and is on course to its close rectilinear halo orbit on the Moon.
'Detumble' Operation
Whereas work continues to diagnose the cause of the issue, the team is preparing CAPSTONE to try to recover attitude control of the spacecraft through a "detumble operation."
Essentially, the detumble operation was demonstrated after separation from the launch upper stage a couple of months ago. If this operation is successful, it will give CAPSTONE control over its orientation.
This would enable it to orient the solar panels to the Sun to charge completely the batteries of the power used during the detumble.
After that, the spacecraft would orient to the ground and await further instructions. Such recovery operations will be evaluated further over the coming days.
The present data and analysis will guide recovery timing to maximize the plausibility of a successful spacecraft operation.
What is CAPSTONE?
A small CubeSat, a separate report from SciTechDaily roughly the size of a microwave oven and weighing only 55 pounds, will function as the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit part of CAPSTONE or Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment.
As a pathfinder for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting outpost that is part of the Artemis program of NASA, CAPSTONE will help reduce the risk for future spacecraft by validating innovative navigation tech technologies and verifying this halo-shaped orbit dynamics.
This orbit, formally known as an NRHO or near rectilinear halo orbit, is substantially elongated. Its location at a precise balance point in the Moon's and Earth's gravitational pulls provides stability for long-term missions like Gateway and needs minimal energy to maintain.
Related information about the CAPSTONE Mission is shown on NASA's YouTube video below:
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