Sep 10, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
The CAPSTONE spacecraft was executing a planned trajectory correction maneuver Thursday evening, September 8th. We have since obtained telemetry that confirms the vehicle suffered an anomaly near the end of the planned maneuver and is currently in safe mode. The CAPSTONE mission team has good knowledge of the state and status of the spacecraft. The anomaly resolution has been enabled by the exceptional support of the team at NASA’s Deep Space Network. The mission operations team is in contact with the vehicle and working to resolve the anomaly. As resolution efforts progress, more updates will be provided. The spacecraft remains on its planned course to the Moon.
Aug 26, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
First Ever Commercial Satellite to Fly this distance from Earth – Moon Mission for NASA continues to make history.
Westminster, CO (August 26, 2022) Advanced Space LLC., a leading space tech solutions company with breakthrough navigation technology, applauds their team and mission partners as apogee is achieved for its CAPSTONE mission commissioned by NASA. Apogee, the furthest point at which the microwave-sized small satellite is from Earth, is at 1,531,949 km or 951,909 miles away from Earth at around 1:35:52 pm MT on Friday, August 26th. The dominance of the Sun’s gravitational pull has served as one of the guiding forces to allow the extreme distance of the spacecraft. This is one of the features of the ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) – the transfer method being used by CAPSTONE to reach the unique orbit around the Moon. The CAPSTONE spacecraft will now head towards the Moon. The CAPSTONE mission will test the lunar Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO), the intended orbit for Gateway, a lunar space station that will support NASA’s Artemis program. CAPSTONE has contributed insights and shared data with Artemis 1 secondary payloads that will assist them in their mission operations. (more…)
Aug 11, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission, Community
CAPSTONE Mission is acknowledged for cutting-edge efforts of recent and ongoing technical innovation for Small Satellites
Have you heard? We won Small Satellite Mission of the Year! It’s been a long journey from concept to launch, and we still have quite a journey ahead of us as we continue to the Moon, but CAPSTONE could not have gone so far without the support of our community. (more…)
Aug 5, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission, Community
Congratulations KPLO on yesterday’s launch! We’ll see you out there!
CAPSTONE will be leading KPLO by around 1 month on its way to the Moon. As more missions head to the Moon, safety and transparency are key. We are working with partners to make sure operations in cislunar space are sustainable for the long term.
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Jul 27, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
Spacecraft remains on target to test navigation technology and lunar operations to support NASA’s Moon missions under Artemis programs
It is hard to believe we launched CAPSTONE almost a month ago. We have encountered many variables that have kept this mission exciting, and the mission operators have been active. The Advanced Space Astrodynamics and Navigation Engineers have been busy for years leading up to this and just as busy this last month as CAPSTONE flies. An assumption may be that a small satellite means less work but in actuality the effort is just as great if not more so. Small satellites with small budgets and size restrictions require more creativity and calculated steps to ensure precision and execution through the process. (more…)
Jul 12, 2022 | CAPSTONE Mission
CAPSTONE achieved another positive milestone today after the spacecraft executed the second scheduled trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) today at approximately 9:30 am MT. The spacecraft burn was relatively small as it consumed ~35 grams of fuel. The purpose of the maneuver completes the corrective actions of the spacecraft separation from the Lunar Photon – a necessary and routine step to ensure the transfer trajectory remains on track. Even though this was a small maneuver, this further validates the spacecraft design, which was optimized for precise orbital operations. (more…)
