The US space agency NASA launched a nanosatellite ‘CAPSTONE’ into outer space on June 23, part of a landmark mission to return humans to the Moon. CAPSTONE was launched from a launchpad along the eastern coast of New Zealand.
- CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) is currently in low-Earth orbit, and it will take the spacecraft about four months to reach its targeted lunar orbit.
- The satellite is trial-running an orbit for NASA’s “Gateway” space station – which will travel around the Moon and serve as a jumping off point for lunar exploration.
- The orbit passes within 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of the Moon at its closest point, before catapulting to 43,500 miles (70,000 kilometers) away at the furthest.
- Scientists hope the orbit will be super-efficient, using the pull of both the Moon and the Earth to minimize fuel use.
- At the Moon, CAPSTONE will enter an elongated orbit called a near rectilinear halo orbit, or NRHO.
- Once in the NRHO, CAPSTONE will fly within 1,000 miles of the Moon’s North Pole on its near pass and 43,500 miles from the South Pole at its farthest.
- It will repeat the cycle every six and a half days and maintain this orbit for at least six months to study dynamics.
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