Engineers were able to contact the small CubeSat on Wednesday after it stopped communicating with the deep space network on Tuesday. The DSN is NASA’s network of radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, as well as some orbiting Earth. The CubeSat is the Operations and Technological Navigation Experiment of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System, also known as CAPSTONE. The satellite left Earth’s orbit on Monday, marking an important milestone in its planned four-month trip to the moon. Connection difficulties forced the mission team to delay the first satellite trajectory correction maneuver initially scheduled for July 5, NASA said. These are a series of corrections planned to increase the accuracy of the transfer from orbit to the Moon.
After CAPSTONE successfully left Earth orbit, it began charging its battery on board using solar arrays, according to a NASA update.
CubeSat is awaiting trajectory correction and is staying on the global course planned for its lunar ballistic transfer, NASA said.
Leaving Earth’s orbit
The satellite will depend on its own propulsion and the gravity of the sun for the rest of its journey. Gravity will allow the CubeSat to use much less fuel to reach its destination.
The mission was launched aboard the Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand on 28 June.
The goal of CubeSats is to enter an elongated orbit, which is an almost rectilinear halo orbit, around the Moon for at least six months for research purposes.
The satellite’s orbit will take the spacecraft 1,000 miles (1,609.3 kilometers) from one lunar pole to its nearest step and 43,500 miles (70,006.5 kilometers) from the other pole every seven days.
The mission team expects the satellite to be able to maintain its orbit, which could allow the agency to launch and place an advanced lunar site called Gateway. The advanced site would play a crucial role in NASA’s Artemis program by providing future spacecraft with an efficient path to and from the moon’s surface.
In addition, the small satellite will also test its communication capabilities. The orbit offers a view of the Earth while providing coverage to the lunar south pole, which is the scheduled landing point for Artemis astronauts in 2025.
The CubeSat will also communicate with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft that has been orbiting the Moon for 13 years. It will act as a reference point for the satellite and allow scientists to measure the distance between the CubeSat and the LRO, as well as where CAPSTONE is in the sky.
Space enthusiasts can track the satellite’s journey using NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System.