NASA canceled plans to send a small cub to the moon on Monday (June 27th) to give the Rocket Lab amplifier more time to test for flight.
The US space agency announced today that it no longer plans to launch a new spacecraft on Monday. CAPSTONE cubes Electronic amplifier built by the Moon Rocket laboratory. The mission, led by Advanced Space, was scheduled to launch from a platform on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT) on Monday.
“NASA, Rocket Lab and Advanced Space are withdrawing from the launch attempt on June 27 for the CAPSTONE mission. ay To allow Rocket Lab to carry out final inspections of systems, “NASA officials wrote In the June 26 update (opens in a new tab). “Teams assess the weather and other factors to determine the date of the next attempt.”
Related: NASA’s CAPSTONE lunar mission is to go to a place where no cubes have gone before
The next possible release date for the microwave-sized CAPSTONE is Tuesday, June 28, but NASA and its partners can begin the mission at any time before July 27, and still do. cubesat Reaches the Moon in November. The agency reported. Mission repeatedly delayed Since 2021, first due to problems with the COVID-19 pandemic, and then due to the need for more inspections on the cubesat and its Rocket Lab amplifier.
The CAPSTONE, or Cislunar Autonomous Placement System Technology Operations and Navigation Experience, is a small, 55-pound (25-pound) spacecraft designed to test a new path around the moon. close to a linear halo orbit. The orbit, which follows an extremely elliptical path around the moon, is the orbit that NASA hopes to use as planned. Gateway space station For astronauts as part of the Artemis program.
As part of the mission, it will be launched at the CAPSTONE missile laboratory electronic amplifier and use the company’s Photon phase to help you get to the moon. This is Rocket Lab’s first deep space mission with Photon.
If all goes well, CAPSTONE will leave the Photon trip six days after launch and slowly head to the Moon for about four months. After the final orbit, the spacecraft is expected to spend at least six months performing navigation and communication experiments as part of a $ 30 million mission. It will fly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) to the moon and 43,500 miles (70,000 kilometers) from the moon’s surface.
“The next launch will take place on June 28,” NASA officials said in a statement. “CAPSTONE’s trajectory design means that the spacecraft will reach lunar orbit on November 13, regardless of the launch date in the current period, which offers daily launches until July 27.”
Send an email to Tariq Malik tmalik@space.com or follow it @tariqjmalik. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.
