NASA - CAPSTONE Mission patch.
Nov. 14, 2022
The CAPSTONE mission operations team confirmed that NASA’s CAPSTONE spacecraft arrived at its orbit at the Moon Sunday evening. The CubeSat completed an initial orbit insertion maneuver, firing its thrusters to put the spacecraft into orbit, at 7:39 p.m. EST.
Image above: CAPSTONE over the lunar North Pole: After arrival at the Moon, CAPSTONE will begin its 6-month-long primary mission. The mission will validate a near rectilinear halo orbit’s characteristics by demonstrating how to enter into and operate in the orbit. Image Credits: Illustration by NASA/Daniel Rutter.
CAPSTONE is now in a near-rectilinear halo orbit, or NRHO. This particular NRHO is the same orbit that will be used by Gateway, the Moon-orbiting space station that will support NASA’s Artemis missions. CAPSTONE is the first spacecraft to fly an NRHO, and the first CubeSat to operate at the Moon.
In the next five days, CAPSTONE will perform two additional clean-up maneuvers to refine its orbit. After these maneuvers, the team will review data to confirm that CAPSTONE remains on track in the NRHO.
Related articles:
CAPSTONE Completes Successful Maneuver, Teeing Up Moon Orbit
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/10/capstone-completes-successful-maneuver.html
CAPSTONE Teams Continue Work to Resolve Spacecraft Issue
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/09/capstone-teams-continue-work-to-resolve.html
Mission Team Determines Cause of Communications Issues for NASA’s CAPSTONE
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/07/mission-team-determines-cause-of.html
Following Communications Recovery, NASA’s CAPSTONE Prepares for First Maneuver
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/07/following-communications-recovery-nasas.html
NASA’s CAPSTONE on the way to the Moon
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/07/nasas-capstone-on-way-to-moon.html
CAPSTONE Launches to Test New Orbit for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/06/capstone-launches-to-test-new-orbit-for.html
Related link:
CAPSTONE: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/small_spacecraft/capstone
Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Sarah Frazier.
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