The CAPSTONE probe is on its way to the moon.
After being in safe mode for a month after an engine burn, the microwave oven-sized CAPSTONE finally came to a halt.
NASA wrote in an update that the command executed Friday resulted in clearing a major hurdle in the return of the spaceship to normal operations. The planned NASA Gateway space station will support moon operations.
NASA said that one of the eight thrusters was partially open and causing a spin. Before the cubesat arrives at the moon in November, the team is moving forward with their recovery plan.
It will take NASA a long time to reach the moon.
NASA and the Colorado company Advanced Space said engineers now have command of yaw, pitch and roll to control the cubesat' after reviewing CAPSTONE's data.
In order to provide a better data connection to Earth, the solar array has been oriented to the sun and the antenna pointing has been adjusted.
The risks of this procedure alone were significant and more changes might be needed to prevent the partially open valve from interfering again with CAPSTONE's position in space.
NASA emphasized to test its stability ahead of Gateway's arrival in a few years, despite the fact that the spacecraft remains on track.
In its own CAPSTONE update on Friday, Advanced Space said that it had done a number of tests and simulations before attempting the recovery. The company said it is committed to helping the craft for upcoming critical events and to fix the valve to reduce the risk of future propulsive operations.
Advanced Space said that the CAPSTONE mission team is grateful for the public and private support they received.
A major glitch has been overcome by the CAPSTONE experiment, which was launched on June 28.
The spaceship went dark shortly after it left the bus. Engineers were able to address the issue the next day.
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