NASA’s CAPSTONE spacecraft has completed its six-month mission, successfully capturing images of the moon through a new revolutionary technology. The first satellite to operate at the moon led a mission to collect information for future lunar exploration.
CAPSTONE, short for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, is a class of satellites called CubeSat, a square-shaped small satellite originally designated to fly on rockets for launches.
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“Using the gathered data, the team will look to improve subsequent crosslink demonstrations and continue to work towards demonstrating operational feasibility,” an Advanced Space press release states. “In the future, additional data types will be demonstrated and incorporated into CAPS to deliver navigation knowledge to users in orbit and on the surface of the Moon.”
The mission, led by Advanced Space, a space tech solutions company, took place in a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) and will now prepare to advance to the enhanced mission phase, lasting 12 months.
The test was performed on May 9 when CAPSTONE sent a signal to another spacecraft, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), to determine the distance and relative velocity between them. LRO then sent the signal back to CAPSTONE to be converted into a measurement. The result demonstrated an "ability to collect measurements that will be utilized by CAPS software to determine the positioning of both spacecraft," NASA said.
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— Future Spaces (@SpacesFuture) May 18, 2023
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Throughout the mission, the spacecraft completed 28 orbits and 7 maneuvers over 6 lunar eclipses, according to an Advanced Space press release.
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“The spacecraft also captured its first images of the Moon, showing the lunar surface near the Moon's North Pole as CAPSTONE made a close approach to the Moon on May 3,” a NASA statement reads.
To support missions in the future, continued operations will focus on increasing effectiveness and automation by the flight dynamics system.