Rocket Lab successfully deploys the CAPSTONE satellite into lunar transfer orbit for NASA, charting a new path to the moon. CAPSTONE is testing an orbit of the Moon that never flew and is the first mission in NASA’s Artemis program and CloseCurlyQuote.
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a leading space and launch systems company, announced today that it has successfully deployed a research satellite for NASA, placing it in heading for the moon. The deployment marks the successful completion of the first deep space mission of Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote, paving the way for the Company & CloseCurlyQuote’s upcoming interplanetary missions to Mars and Venus.
This press release includes multimedia. See the full press release here:
Rocket Lab lunar photon spacecraft with integrated CAPSTONE satellite (Photo: Business Wire)
Owned and operated by Advanced Space on behalf of NASA, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) will be the first spacecraft to test the near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) around the moon. This is the same orbit destined for the NASA & CloseCurlyQuote catwalk, an advanced place in orbit of the Moon that will provide essential support for long-term astronaut lunar missions as part of the Artemis program.
The role of Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote in the mission was developed in two phases. First, CAPSTONE was successfully launched into low Earth orbit by Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s electron launch vehicle on June 28th. From there, Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s Lunar Photon spacecraft provided transportation, energy, and communications in space to CAPSTONE. After six days of burns to lift the orbit by Lunar Photon & CloseCurlyQuote’s 3D-printed HyperCurie engine, CAPSTONE was deployed on its ballistic lunar transfer trajectory to the Moon as planned at 07:18 UTC on July 4. . The mission was Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s fourth Electron launch this year, demonstrating the continued reliability of the Rocket & CloseCurlyQuote. In addition to providing the launch, Rocket Lab designed, manufactured and operated the Lunar Photon spacecraft, successfully completing a very complex deep space mission and demonstrating the growing capabilities of Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote as an end-to-end spacecraft. .
“The CAPSTONE mission marks the beginning of humanity’s return to the moon through NASA’s Artemis program and we are incredibly proud that Rocket Lab has played a key role in this,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck. ”The Rocket Lab team has been working on CAPSTONE with NASA and our mission partners for more than two years, developing a new small satellite technology in the shape of the Lunar Photon spacecraft to make this possible. mission, so after all, it’s an amazing feeling. this hard work and innovation to achieve the success of the mission and put CAPSTONE on the way to the Moon. This has been the most complex mission of Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote to date and our team has been amazing. We pushed Electron and Photon to their limits and showed that it is possible to do large missions with small spaceships. We will now apply this innovative technology to more interplanetary travel, including our upcoming missions to Venus and Mars. ”
With the role of Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote in the mission now completed, CAPSTONE & CloseCurlyQuote’s solo journey to the Moon has begun. CAPSTONE will use its own propulsion and gravity from the Sun to navigate the rest of the way to the Moon, a four-month journey that will cause CAPSTONE to reach its lunar orbit on November 13, 2022. The gravity-driven track it will be spectacular. reduce the amount of fuel the CubeSat needs to reach the Moon. Advanced Space and Terran Orbital will manage the operation of the CAPSTONE satellite during its orbital life.
CAPSTONE’s mission was to launch Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s 27th Electron in general, but it included several important technological innovations for the company, such as:
- First mission in deep space.
- First use of Lunar Photon, a high-energy variant of the Photon spacecraft designed and built by Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab was previously launched and continues to operate two variants of low Earth orbit of the Photon spacecraft.
- First collaborative mission between Rocket Lab and Advanced Solutions Inc., a Colorado-based flight software company acquired by Rocket Lab in late 2021.
- For the first time FR-lite satellite radio is used which Rocket Lab has an exclusive licensing agreement with the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University to manufacture.
- First mission where the second stage of Electron & CloseCurlyQuote exorbitant the same day of launch.
- First mission planning and executing lunar trajectories.
- With 300 kg (661 lb) payload mass, the mission was Electron & CloseCurlyQuote’s heaviest lift to date.
CAPSTONE was the first in a series of interplanetary missions for Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s Photon spacecraft, including the ESCAPE mission to Mars in 2024 and Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s next private mission to Venus.
Advanced Space of Colorado, a leading commercial space solutions company, owns the CAPSTONE satellite and operates the mission. CAPSTONE was designed and built by Terran Orbital. The development of CAPSTONE is supported by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Management through the Small Space Ship Technology Program at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California. Advanced exploration systems within NASA & CloseCurlyQuote’s Human Exploration Mission and Operations Directorate support launch and mission operations. NASA & CloseCurlyQuote’s launch services program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for managing the launch.
+ Images and video content
+ About Rocket Lab
Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is a state-of-the-art space company with a well-established track record of mission success. We offer reliable launch services, satellite manufacturing, spacecraft components and in-orbit management solutions that make access to space faster, easier and more affordable. Based in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small orbital launch vehicle and the Photon satellite platform and is developing the 8-tonne Neutron payload class launch vehicle. Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s electron launch vehicle has become the second most recently launched rocket in the United States and has delivered 147 satellites into orbit for public sector organizations. and private, allowing operations in national security, scientific research and space. waste mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring and communications. Rocket Lab & CloseCurlyQuote’s Photon spacecraft platform has been selected to support NASA’s missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus. Rocket Lab has three launch sites at two launch sites, including two at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a second launch site in Virginia, USA, which is expected to become operational in 2022. To obtain more information, visit www. rocketlabusa.com.
View the source version on businesswire.com: