For the first time, a small rocket will launch a private spacecraft to the Moon

[smp]

From Ars Technica:
"The space agency is financially supporting the privately built satellite, named CAPSTONE, with a $13.7 million grant. It is scheduled to launch on an Electron rocket as early as Saturday from New Zealand. Developed by a Colorado-based company named Advanced Space, the spacecraft itself is modestly sized, just a 12U cubesat with a mass of around 25 kg. It could fit comfortably inside a mini-refrigerator."

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/06 ... -the-moon/

Good luck!

smp

[GCoyote]

Interesting plan for lunar transfer and a novel orbit. The propellant saving trajectory makes this a case of "better, slower, cheaper".

[Johnny Carter]

I read this this morning, very interesting things going on these days.

[Unitron48]

Interesting mission! CAPSTONE launched today: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/caps ... n-missions.

Looking forward to updates!

Dave

[Unitron48]

Latest on CAPSTONE:

"Advanced Space LLC, the commercial aerospace company that owns and operates the CAPSTONE mission bound for the Moon in support of NASA will separate from the Rocket Lab Lunar Photon vehicle on Monday, July 4 2022 to begin it's journey via Ballistic Lunar Transfer to arrive at the Moon in November."

Dave

[helicon]

Thanks for the update Dave!

[Unitron48]

CAPSTONE mission is Moon-bound, after less rocketry than expected! The full article is here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... ar-AAZcPRM.

"NASA and commercial space outfits Rocket Lab and Advanced Space have collectively announced that the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment – CAPSTONE – mission has left Earth orbit and is on its way to Luna.…The CAPSTONE mission plan called for the satellite to launch from New Zealand atop a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle, then enter Earth orbit before a series of eight burns accelerated it to over 40,000km/h – enough to escape our planet's gravity and send it towards the Moon."

It's on its way!!

Dave

[smp]

Thanks for this latest update, Dave!

smp

[Unitron48]

Bad news: NASA Has Lost Contact With CAPSTONE, Its Latest Lunar Mission: https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-has-los ... sion-64325.

"The CAPSTONE mission is experiencing communication issues with the Deep Space Network, a troubling development for the NASA mission which just broke orbit on July 4. The spacecraft was expected to perform its first trajectory correction maneuver on July 5 but this has now been postponed."

Hope they can find and fix the problem.

Dave

[smp]

Thanks for the update, Dave.
Let's keep our fingers crossed for a good result!



smp

[Ylem]

Contact re-established!

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2022/07/ ... tablished/

Yeah

[Unitron48]

That's good news! Hope that was the last of the problems!!

Dave

[Unitron48]

Latest on CAPSTONE: https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2022/10/ ... oon-orbit/.

- CAPSTONE is no longer in safe mode following an issue in early September that caused the spacecraft to spin

- Successfully completed a trajectory correction maneuver on Thursday, Oct. 27, teeing up the spacecraft’s arrival to lunar orbit on Nov. 13

Go CAPSTONE Go!!

Dave

[smp]

Here’s hoping for the best!

smp

[Ylem]

Excellent

[SparWeb]

What a crazy orbit!
It was drawn with one of those spirograph toys I had when I was a kid.