NASA CAPSTONE update: Spacecraft going strong after second course-correction manoeuvre

Mission teams handling the CAPSTONE spacecraft successfully carried out the second trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM) on July 28 confirming that the spacecraft is on its way to the Moon. Advanced Space, one of the partners of NASA in the mission, revealed that the TCM was conducted in two stages, lasting 11 minutes and 15 minutes respectively, to allow the navigation software to recalibrate in order to make the full burn more accurate. 

The CAPSTONE spacecraft will undergo a total of six TCMs before it enters the non-rectilinear Halo orbit (NRHO) around the Moon. As demonstrated in the image below, the CubeSat was around 1.25 million kilometres from Earth and was moving at a speed of 267 m/s during the recent TCM. According to the schedule, the fourth manoeuvre will be conducted in mid-October whereas the fifth and sixth are targeted for early November, before the spacecraft enters NRHO on November 13. 

(Schedule of CAPSTONE's TCMs; Image: Advanced Space)

"This week’s maneuver confirmed the microwave-size spacecraft remains on its ballistic lunar transfer (BLT) to the Moon," Advanced Space said in an official statement. "The Advanced Space team continues to conduct flight dynamics analyses, orchestrate their designed maneuvers, and maintain spacecraft navigation with the Terran Orbital team commanding spacecraft activities."

Rocket Lab launches CAPSTONE

Exactly one month ago, Rocket Lab launched the CAPSTONE mission using its Electron rocket at 3:36 pm IST from the Mahia peninsula in New Zealand. Short for Cis-lunar Positioning System Technology Operation and Navigation Experiment, CAPSTONE is aimed to test the NRHO orbit, the same location decided for the installation of the Lunar Gateway. Weighing around 25 kg, the CAPSTONE is basically a CubeSat that will also test a navigational technology to reduce dependency on Earth-based communication systems. 

"This system will revolutionise the future of spacecraft navigation," Advanced Space said adding that it would also help reduce the costs of other missions. The spacecraft recently underwent a glitch as it lost contact with the mission control centers due to an anomaly in its communication sub-system 11 hours after its deployment. The contact was, however, established a day later and NASA confirmed that the spacecraft is in a healthy state.