The CAPSTONE craft is on its way to the moon.
The cubesat was launched from the company's Launch Complex 1 on the Mhia Peninsula of New Zealand. The time in New Zealand is 9:55pm.
Bradley Smith, NASA's director for Launch Services Office, was present for the launch.
NASA plans to use the moon as a testing ground for its Gateway space outpost, which will be located in the middle of the ocean. It will take a while for CAPSTONE to reach its destination.
The Apollo missions traveled to the moon in a few days. The most powerful booster ever to fly was used to launch those spaceships.
The microwave-oven-sized CAPSTONE left our planet aboard the 59 foot tall (18 meter) Electron, which is designed to send small satellites to Earth. The scenic route is being taken by CAPSTONE.
The two-stage Electron's upper stage was used to integrate CAPSTONE into. After nine minutes after the launch, CAPSTONE and Photon separated from the upper stage into Earth's lower atmosphere.
It was a perfect electron launch. Peter Beck is the CEO of rocket lab. The lunar photon is located in a low earth environment.
The next five days will see a series of engine burns to increase the altitude of Photon. After six days after launch, Photon will perform one final burn, which will increase its speed to 24,500 mph, which will allow it to escape Earth and head for the moon. The rocket lab representatives wrote in the mission press kit that CAPSTONE would be deployed within 20 minutes.
Over the next few months, CAPSTONE will use its own thrusters to keep it on a low-energy trajectory towards the moon. The path of the cubesat will take it as far away as 810,000 miles from Earth.
CAPSTONE will be inserted into a near rectilinear halo around the moon on November 13th. Advanced Space leads the $30 million mission for NASA.
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CAPSTONE will be within 1,000 miles of one lunar pole and 43,500 miles from the other pole on its closest pass.
Spacecraft shouldn't have to burn a lot of fuel because of the balance of the moon and Earth's magnetic field. This is one of the main reasons that NASA has chosen it for the Gateway space station, a key part of the agency's Artemis program. Gateway will be a jumping off point for sorties, both crewed and uncrewed. The core elements of the small moon-orbiting outpost are planned to be launched by NASA.
No spacecraft has ever been to the moon so assumptions about its stability are correct. That is where Stone comes in. It will take at least six months for the cubesat to be assessed.
Nujoud Merancy, NASA's chief of the exploration mission planning office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a video aired during NASA's launch that the reason they're in this area is because it's stable and close to the moon.
The CAPSTONE mission will demonstrate innovative navigation solutions, including spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation and one-way ranging capabilities with Earth ground stations.
NASA has been circling the moon since 2009, and the tests will be done in conjunction with them.
It was the first deep-space mission for Rocket Lab. The California-based company aims to launch at least one life-hunting mission to Venus using electron and photon in the next few years.
There are other ways in which CAPSTONE is paving the way for private spaceflight. Advanced Space won a $20 million NASA contract to operate and develop the mission.
Commercial outfits are also involved. The CAPSTONE cubesat was built by two California companies. The mission was sent to the moon by rocket lab.
The liftoff was delayed multiple times for systems checks and other testing.
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