By 
October 9th, 2024
CAPSTONE, NASA’s cis-lunar pathfinder CubeSat.
Image credit: NASA/Daniel Rutter
NASA’s CAPSTONE mini-spacecraft recently marked its 100th orbit in the near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO). This Moon mission has been awarded by NASA an extension of its mission after operating in its NRHO for 670-plus days.
CAPSTONE is now funded until December 2025.
CAPSTONE stands for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, a microwave oven-sized CubeSat weighing a modest 55 pounds.
Software smarts
Launched in June 2022 aboard a Rocket Lab Electron booster from New Zealand, CAPSTONE is owned and operated by Advanced Space of Westminster, Colorado.
Jeffrey Parker, chief technology officer of Advanced Space (left) explains the CAPSTONE mission to U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper over a full-size model of the spacecraft.
Credit: Advanced Space/Jason Johnson
The mission extension allows further demonstration of Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS) experiments, as well as showcasing a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence/machine learning software to detect anomalies and navigation data, and learn how to perform autonomous maneuvers.
NRHO is the locale of NASA’s cislunar Gateway space station. That outpost is to shore up long-term human exploration of the Moon, allowing crews to access the lunar south pole – an early priority zone for the space agency’s Artemis program.
Cross-link
Bradley Cheetham, Advanced Space’s President and CEO said in a statement: “In five years, CAPSTONE has gone from a bright idea by a small business to a mission that continues well past its expected end date.”
By extending CAPSTONE’s mission it also allows further collaboration with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. That partnership comes via a recently extended Space Act Agreement to evaluate, and when appropriate, conduct opportunities for cross-link data collection between the two spacecraft.
Credit: Advanced Space
Advanced Space will work with spacecraft operations partners at Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems (a Terran Orbital Corporation).
Advanced Space is the owner and operator of CAPSTONE for NASA and prime contractor for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Oracle project – designed to develop cislunar space situational awareness capabilities.
For more information on Advanced Space and the CAPSTONE mission, go to:
Posted in Space News
