NASA reveals new date for scrapped CAPSTONE mission bound for Moon's unique orbit

NASA's CAPSTONE mission, bound for the Moon, will now launch no earlier than June 25, the agency revealed in a new update. The launch was initially scheduled for June 6 but has been delayed twice ever since the first launch window announcement. A week ago, NASA scrapped the mission for the second time as it scrapped the launch on June 13 again. So far, the agency has not revealed the reason behind the delay. 

"NASA, Rocket Lab, and Advanced Space are currently targeting no earlier than June 25, 2022, for the launch of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE)", NASA officials said in a blog post. 

CAPSTONE set to pave way for Artemis

According to NASA, the CAPSTONE mission, wherein a CubeSat weighing 25 kilograms and no bigger than a microwave oven, will be launched into a highly elliptical path around the Moon. This path is called the near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) which will be occupied by the Lunar Gateway, and is an extremely important part of the Artemis Program. This Gateway, more like a space station, will be installed in the NHRO to act as a connecting point between the Moon and the Earth and support science experiments and human landing on the lunar surface.

Since no spacecraft has ever been sent to examine this orbit, NASA says that CAPSTONE will "help reduce risk for future spacecraft by validating innovative navigation technologies and verifying the dynamics of this halo-shaped orbit". CAPSTONE will collect data near the Moon as it drifts as far as 76,000 kilometres from the lunar surface and comes as close as 3,400 kilometres over the lunar north pole in a week.

Currently, the CubeSat is at Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 (LC-1) on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand, awaiting launch aboard the Electron Rocket. For Rocket Lab, this mission is extra special as it would be the company's first-ever launch beyond the low-Earth orbit (LEO). Interestingly, the company will be using Electron, which is just 59 feet tall, making it the smallest rocket to attempt a lunar endeavour.