NASA restores communication with moon-bound spacecraft

(CN) — NASA said it has restored communication with a recently launched spacecraft that's ferrying a satellite to an elliptical orbit around the moon as part of a long-term program to send people back to the moon and eventually to Mars.

"Mission operators have re-established contact with NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment," or Capstone, the space agency said Wednesday.

Contact with the spacecraft was reestablished a day after NASA said that as a result of the communications issues, Capstone’s first trajectory correction maneuver, which had been for early Tuesday, had been delayed. That maneuver is the first in a series designed to make small corrections to increase the accuracy of the transfer orbit to the moon. The spacecraft remained on the overall intended ballistic lunar transfer while awaiting this trajectory correction, according to Tuesday's statement.  

The rocket carrying the satellite was launched last week from New Zealand. The satellite is expected to take about four months to reach its targeted lunar orbit. Once beyond low-Earth orbit, the final remaining part of the rocket will release the satellite on a trajectory to the Moon, and Capstone will then use its own propulsion and the sun’s gravity to navigate the rest of the way to the moon. This gravity-driven track will dramatically reduce the amount of fuel the satellite needs to get to the moon, NASA said last week.

Capstone is part of NASA's Artemis program to return people to the moon in 2024 and to further explore the moon and eventually Mars down the road.

The microwave oven–sized CubeSat, weighing 55 pounds, is the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit. It will be a pathfinder for a moon-orbiting outpost that is part of the Artemis program, and will help reduce the risk for future spacecraft by validating new navigation technologies and verifying the dynamics of the halo-shaped orbit, according to NASA.

The orbit is located at a precise balance point between the gravities of Earth and the moon and offers stability for long-term missions like the Gateway Moon outpost and requires minimal energy to maintain. Capstone’s orbit also establishes a location that is an ideal staging area for missions to the Moon and beyond, according to NASA. The orbit will bring Capstone within 1,000 miles of one lunar pole on its near pass and 43,500 miles from the other pole at its peak every seven days, requiring less propulsion capability for spacecraft flying to and from the Moon’s surface than other circular orbits.

Follow @edpettersson

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit