- \n
- Electron Flight 21 UPDATES<\/li>\n
- Rocket Lab Electron Forum Section<\/li>\n
- L2 Master Section<\/li>\n
- Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\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. We\u2019ve teamed up with the NASA Launch Services Program on previous Electron missions to low Earth orbit, so it\u2019s exciting to be working with them again to go just a bit further than usual\u2026some 380,000 km further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally scheduled to launch from Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, United States, the continuous delays in the certification of Rocket Lab\u2019s Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) by NASA has prompted the shift to New Zealand.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/NSF-2020-04-30-00-08-43-187.jpg\")
<\/p>\nElectron vertical at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 in Virginia \u2013 via Rocket Lab<\/p>\n
An Autonomous Flight Termination System is a GPS-guided system designed to destroy a rocket automatically if it veers off trajectory during its flight. The system makes flight termination decisions by using redundant computers that track the launch vehicle using GPS and on-board sensors, combined with software-based rules that identify where the rocket can fly safely. This autonomy eliminates the need of a traditional flight termination infrastructure which involves a human making a decision to terminate a mission if the launch vehicle veers off course and is crucial for increasing launch frequency as the system reduces the turnaround time between missions.<\/p>\n
Rocket Lab has been flying Electron rockets with AFTS since the \u201cRunning out of Fingers\u201d mission in December 2019, but for it to fly from Virginia, the system has to be certified by NASA\u2019s Wallops Flight Facility. Peter Beck, CEO and Co-Founder of Rocket Lab, said in an earlier press call, \u201c[AFTS] is taking a lot longer than we all expected, but keeping an eye on the longer term prize [of AFTS at Wallops\u2019 range].\u201d<\/p>\n
Rocket Lab is one of only two American companies to fly with the autonomous flight termination system, the other being SpaceX.<\/p>\n
The CAPSTONE Mission<\/p>\n
Owned and operated by Advanced Space of Colorado, CAPSTONE, or the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, is a CubeSat launching to the Moon\u2019s Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO). This special orbit is at a precise balance point in the gravities of Earth and the Moon that allows an unobstructed view of Earth in addition to coverage of the Moon\u2019s poles.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/capstone-and-orion-render.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCAPSTONE and Orion symbolically together in NRHO \u2013 via Mack Crawford for NSF\/L2<\/p>\n
NRHO will be used to maintain communications with mission control on Earth at all times, unlike a low Lunar orbit where communication interruptions take place at the far side of the Moon.<\/p>\n
Since this orbit will also be used by the Gateway lunar space station, Orion spacecraft, and Human Landing System (HLS) landers, CAPSTONE\u2019s main objective is to reduce the risk for future Artemis missions by validating the navigation technologies and the dynamics of this unique orbit.<\/p>\n
The development of this satellite was facilitated by NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate via the Small Spacecraft Technology Program at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California.<\/p>\n
The CubeSat will be launched aboard the Electron rocket and initially placed into an elliptical low Earth orbit, before using the interplanetary version of Rocket Lab\u2019s kick stage and satellite bus, known as Photon, to place the CubeSat on a Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) trajectory. This TLI burn will use the kick stage\u2019s 3D printed HyperCurie engine.<\/p>\n
After the deployment of CAPSTONE, the satellite will use its onboard monopropellant hydrazine system powered propulsion system to enter the NRHO, while the Photon will continue on its own trajectory to conduct a lunar fly-by. The journey is expected to take around three to four months.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/gateway-render.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Gateway station in NRHO, with a visiting Orion spacecraft, Dragon XL cargo spacecraft, and Starship HLS lander \u2013 via Mack Crawford for NSF\/L2<\/p>\n
Once reaching orbit and entering its operational phase, CAPSTONE \u2014 as part of its six month primary mission \u2014 will validate the propulsion requirements for maintaining this type of orbit as predicted by models. It will also test the accuracy of a new type of spacecraft to spacecraft navigation system. The results of these tests will help support crewed missions to the lunar surface and the Gateway space station by reducing logistical uncertainties for such future expeditions.<\/p>\n
CAPSTONE is set to be the first mission to the Moon under the Artemis program. Also scheduled for late-2021, although likely to slip into early-2022, is the uncrewed Artemis 1 test flight of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.<\/p>\n
The first uncrewed Moon landings under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program will follow in 2022, alongside development of the SpaceX Starship Human Landing System, which will include an uncrewed landing demonstration. This will all precede the first crewed Artemis landing on the Artemis 3 mission, no earlier than 2024.<\/p>\n
(Lead photo of an Electron rocket vertical at LC-1A in New Zealand \u2013 via Rocket Lab)<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Zealand is now set to host the first launch of the Artemis Program, as Rocket Lab is now planning to launch the CAPSTONE mission from their operational launch pad at Launch Complex 1 on the M\u0101hia Peninsula. This is the first lunar mission for Rocket Lab, currently scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter […]<\/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":[304,1814,545,7845,2384,190,7544,544],"class_list":["post-24900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-artemis","tag-capstone","tag-electron","tag-lc-1","tag-mahia","tag-nasa","tag-photon","tag-rocket-lab"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24900"}],"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=24900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}