The Capstone Launch Will Kick Off NASA’s Artemis Moon Program

A small probe will soon be able to see a special elliptical path around the moon. The Gateway will be a staging point for the astronauts and gear that will be traveling as part of the Artemis lunar program. The launch of this small yet powerful path finding probe will be the beginning of the Artemis mission.

The Cislunar is the name of the plucky little spaceship. On June 27th, it will be atop a rocket that will blast off from New Zealand. Between then and July 27 it will have other opportunities if it cannot launch that day. The liftoff was supposed to take place earlier this month, but was delayed due to the flight software update.

We are really looking forward to it. It will be the first CubeSat to be deployed to the moon. stone will be a good place to start to understand what the fuel and control requirements are for maintaining the moon's position.

Smaller satellites are usually less expensive than larger ones. A standard unit is about 4 inches on a side. A trio joining together to form a configuration about the size of a loaf of bread is what many CubeSats have. There are at least four of those combined. Everything is designed to fit in a small box, with the electronics and microcontrollers in charge of navigation, power, and data handling. Solar panels are extended from both sides of the box.

There have been a lot of spaceships that have gone to the moon. It has a positioning system that makes it possible for NASA and its commercial partners to determine the exact location of the spaceship while it is in lunar orbit. At a virtual press conference in May, Bradley Cheetham, CEO of Advanced Space, said that people take for granted thatGPS provides that information. The moon isn't covered by the gps system. The Deep Space Network is an international system of giant antenna managed by NASA. The navigation system that will be provided by Capstone will take advantage of the lunar observatory. The pair will communicate with each other and measure the distance between them.

The trip to the moon will take three months and will be done on a roundabout route. The astronauts will travel on a direct path over the next few days. In the course of a week, Capstone will be separated from the moon by over 40,000 miles. The advantage of this path is that it balances the pull of the Earth, moon, and sun, which will be important for the Gateway station.