Westminster, CO (January 2022) Advanced Space LLC., a leading space solutions company, has entered into a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space Vehicles Directorate, and the Spacecraft Technology Division to share data collected from cislunar space through the CAPSTONE mission.
Not much human activity has touched the moon or its surroundings in the half-century since American Apollo astronauts traversed the lunar landscape, but new concerns about China’s interests and motives have leaders in Washington viewing with worry the vast void of cislunar space.
China’s rapid evolution as a global space player and its announced intention to join with Russia in building a joint science base on the moon, raise concerns about what that kind of activity could yield in terms of future capacity to act and potentially wage war in space.
NASA plans to return American astronauts to the moon for longer periods to a base of its own, as the U.S. gears up its competitive drive in space. And governments and private entities the world over are eyeing the moon as a potential source of mineral wealth or as a place to position communication or space transportation hubs.
Cislunar space—that vast void between terrestrial orbits and the moon—represents both an opportunity and a threat because it is not only empty, for the most part, but essentially indefensible. At least for now.
Westminster, CO (August 23, 2021) Advanced Space is pleased to be a part of the team led by the University of California, Berkeley, on the NASA Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission. Advanced Space has supported ESCAPADE’s mission design through many design cycles, seeking ways to make this new approach to planetary exploration successful. The Advanced Space team not only ensured ESCAPADE is set up for success but also performed under a tightly constrained schedule. ESCAPADE has now been confirmed by NASA in the Key Decision Point C review. This critical review assessed launch readiness based on the preliminary mission design; the confirmation means ESCAPADE will progress to launch. (more…)
In addition to testing a unique orbit for NASA’s lunar Gateway, Colorado small business Advanced Space is preparing to demonstrate a new approach for cislunar navigation.
As part of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission, scheduled to launch later this year on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, Advanced Space plans to show how the CAPSTONE cubesat can work with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to perform peer-to-peer navigation.
Westminster, CO (August 2, 2021) Advanced Space LLC., a leading commercial space solutions company, is overseeing the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, a NASA-supported mission to orbit the Moon. CAPSTONE is a small satellite, or CubeSat, that will be the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit that will support NASA’s Moon missions under Artemis.
(more…)Our recent award from NASA caught the attention of our local news, who said “it’s one small step to help bring man back to the moon, but a giant leap forward for the Colorado company and the state’s role in space exploration.”