Rocket Lab will launch the CAPSTONE spacecraft to a unique lunar transfer orbit using the Electron launch vehicle and Lunar Photon spacecraft bus, charting a new path for NASA's Moon-orbiting space station to be used by Artemis astronauts.
CAPSTONE will be launched to an initial low Earth orbit by Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle and then placed on a ballistic lunar transfer by Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft bus. Unlike the Apollo lunar missions of the 1960s and 70s, which took a free return trajectory to the Moon, this fuel efficient ballistic lunar transfer makes it possible to deploy CAPSTONE to such a distant orbit using a small launch vehicle. Standing at just 59 feet tall, Electron is the smallest rocket to attempt a launch to the Moon.
#CapstoneCrew #spaceapporg #rocketlab #Moon #Electron #Space #May #Artemis #NASA #AppskoolEdu
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/missions/next-mission/
A microwave oven–sized CubeSat weighing just 55 pounds will serve as the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit as part of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE). As a pathfinder for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting outpost that is part of NASA’s Artemis program, CAPSTONE will help reduce risk for future spacecraft by validating innovative navigation technologies and verifying the dynamics of this halo-shaped orbit.