{"id":11512,"date":"2021-08-17T01:27:12","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T17:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/launch-of-lunar-cubesat-moved-from-virginia-to-new-zealand\/"},"modified":"2021-08-17T01:27:12","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T17:27:12","slug":"launch-of-lunar-cubesat-moved-from-virginia-to-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/launch-of-lunar-cubesat-moved-from-virginia-to-new-zealand\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch of lunar CubeSat moved from Virginia to New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Artist\u2019s illustration of the CAPSTONE spacecraft near the moon. Credit: NASA\/Rocket Lab\/Advanced Space\/Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The launch of a miniature trailblazer probe for NASA\u2019s planned Gateway lunar space station has been moved from Rocket Lab\u2019s new launch pad in Virginia to the company\u2019s spaceport in New Zealand, officials recently announced.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, mission will test deep space navigation and communications technology in the vicinity of the moon. CAPSTONE will also demonstrate maneuvers to enter and operate in a near rectilinear halo orbit, an elliptical orbit around the moon that will be home to the Gateway, a critical piece of NASA\u2019s architecture to return humans to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

The Gateway is a mini-space station NASA intends to use as a staging point for crewed lunar landings later in the 2020s.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab won a $9.95 million NASA contract in February 2020 to launch the CAPSTONE mission aboard the company\u2019s Electron rocket, with an extra boost from Rocket Lab\u2019s Photon propulsion platform to send the small spacecraft toward the moon.<\/p>\n

At the time, NASA and Rocket Lab said CAPSTONE would take off from a new Electron launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, in early 2021. Rocket Lab announced Aug. 6 that CAPSTONE is now slated to launch from the company\u2019s operational launch base on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand in the fourth quarter of 2021.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab, which is headquartered in Southern California, did not say why the launch of the CAPSTONE mission moved from Virginia to New Zealand. The company intended to begin launching from Virginia in 2020.<\/p>\n

The new Electron launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport is located adjacent to the launch pad used by Northrop Grumman\u2019s much larger Antares rocket. The site lies on property owned by NASA\u2019s Wallops Flight Facility.<\/p>\n

Delays in NASA\u2019s certification of the Electron rocket\u2019s new autonomous flight safety system have kept Rocket Lab from beginning service from the Virginia launch base.<\/p>\n

In June, officials at Wallops said they hope to complete certification of the new autonomous flight safety system by the end of the year, enabling the first Rocket Lab launch from U.S. soil.<\/p>\n

The 55-pound (25-kilogram) CAPSTONE spacecraft will ride Rocket Lab\u2019s two-stage Electron launcher on its initial climb into space. Rocket Lab\u2019s Photon spacecraft platform, which also serves as an upper stage, will perform a series of orbit-raising burns and a final trans-lunar injection maneuver to send the CAPSTONE spacecraft toward the moon.<\/p>\n

\"\"
An Electron launcher lifts off in January from Rocket Lab\u2019s Launch Complex 1A in New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CAPSTONE will fly on a low-energy ballistic trajectory to the moon after separating from the Photon upper stage about a week after launch. The journey will take three-to-four months, according to NASA, before the spacecraft maneuvers itself into the planned near rectilinear halo orbit, passing as close as 1,000 miles (1,500 kilometers) and as far as 43,500 miles (70,000 kilometers) from the moon.<\/p>\n

The elongated orbit\u2019s advantages include the relative ease of entering and exiting the orbit. A spacecraft in a near rectilinear halo orbit also has a continuous view of Earth, ensuring a constant communications link with ground controllers. The orbit also gives lunar landers access to the moon\u2019s south pole.<\/p>\n

The CAPSTONE mission is led by Advanced Space, a small Colorado-based company. Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems of California is supplying the spacecraft bus, which is about the size of a microwave oven. CAPSTONE\u2019s hydrazine propulsion system is built by Stellar Exploration, also headquartered in California.<\/p>\n

CAPSTONE will be the first lunar mission launched by Rocket Lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlexible isn\u2019t a word usually used to describe lunar missions, but operating two launch complexes gives us the freedom to select a site that best meets mission requirements and schedule,\u201d said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab\u2019s founder and CEO. \u201cOur team is immensely proud to be launching one of the first pathfinding missions to support NASA\u2019s goal of delivering a sustainable and robust presence on the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

CAPSTONE\u2019s tech demo mission will last about six months.<\/p>\n

The next steps in preparing for CAPSTONE\u2019s launch include final assembly of the spacecraft, and shipment of the satellite from the United States to New Zealand in late September for integration with Rocket Lab\u2019s Photon upper stage and Electron launcher.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist\u2019s illustration of the CAPSTONE spacecraft near the moon. Credit: NASA\/Rocket Lab\/Advanced Space\/Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems The launch of a miniature trailblazer probe for NASA\u2019s planned Gateway lunar space station has been moved from Rocket Lab\u2019s new launch pad in Virginia to the company\u2019s spaceport in New Zealand, officials recently announced. NASA\u2019s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}