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June 3, 2022
Happy 5th Birthday Electron!
May 25th 2022 marked five years since our first Electron launch in 2017 with our inaugural mission called "It's A Test". Since then, we've launched 26 Electrons and deployed 146 satellites to orbit, acquired four industry-leading companies to expand our global team, built two new launch pads in two countries, launched our in-house designed and built Photon satellites, revealed plans to develop our launch launch vehicle Neutron, and so much more. We don't plan on slowing down any time soon!
First Mission patch
Our next mission, which will see us launch a spacecraft to the Moon for NASA, is just the start of the next five years of exciting Electron missions!
CAPSTONE - Charting a New Path to the Moon
Our next mission will see us launch a spacecraft a little bit further than all other Electron missions to date...some 1.3 million km further. In June we're launching the CAPSTONE satellite to a never-before-flown orbit around the Moon, blazing a new efficient deep space route that NASA hopes to use for future human spaceflight missions
Designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a Terran Orbital Corporation, and owned and operated by Advanced Space, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) CubeSat will be the first spacecraft to test the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. Researchers expect this orbit to be a gravitational sweet spot in space – where the pull of gravity from Earth and the Moon interact to allow for a nearly-stable orbit – allowing physics to do most of the work of keeping a spacecraft in orbit around the Moon. NASA has big plans for this unique type of orbit. The agency hopes to park bigger spacecraft – including the lunar-orbiting space station Gateway – in an NRHO around the Moon, providing astronauts with a base from which to descend to the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program.
CAPSTONE will be launched to an initial low Earth orbit by Electron, but from there we're putting our Photon Lunar spacecraft bus to the test for the first time. Over six days, Photon Lunar will raise CAPSTONE's orbit taking it further and further Earth, before finally setting it on a ballistic lunar transfer to continue a solo flight to the Moon.
Learn More About CAPSTONE: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/small_spacecraft/capstone
Animation above: The CAPSTONE mission is planned for launch no earlier than June 2022. Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite bus will deliver CAPSTONE into a trajectory toward the Moon. Animation Credits: Illustration by NASA/Daniel Rutter.
Mission To The Moon
Supporting NASA's mission to return humans to the Moon.
THE MISSION:
In June 2022 Rocket Lab will launch a CubeSat to the Moon. This historic pathfinding mission supports NASA’s Artemis program which will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.
Using our Electron rocket and new Lunar Photon upper stage, Rocket Lab will inject the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) CubeSat to a highly efficient transfer orbit to the Moon. CAPSTONE is owned and operated by Advanced Space in Westminster, Colorado, for NASA.
CAPSTONE’s primary objective is to test and verify the calculated orbital stability of a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit around the Moon, the same orbit planned for Gateway. NASA’s Gateway is a small space station that will orbit around the Moon to provide astronauts with access to the lunar surface. It will feature living quarters for astronauts, a lab for science and research and ports for visiting spacecraft. CAPSTONE will also test a navigation system developed by Advanced Space that will measure its absolute position in cislunar space using interaction with NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter without relying on ground stations for navigation support.
CAPSTONE is one of the first steps to learn how to operate more robust missions in this unique orbit, thus laying the groundwork for future exploration of our solar system.
We are opening access to deep space missions for small satellites.
Rocket Lab: https://www.rocketlabusa.com/
Images, Animation, Text, Credits: Rocket Lab/NASA:
Greetings, Orbiter.ch
