Another Delay For Rocket Lab’s Mission To The Moon
Rocket Lab over the past few years has become one of the most popular launch providers within the space industry. This especially is the case for the small-lift launch vehicle market. Recently, the company has been working towards a long list of launches with NASA, other agencies, and many different companies. One of the most exciting however is the upcoming mission to the Moon.
As NASA prepares for Artemis, the agency is working with the commercial industry to help in different ways. An example is Rocket Lab’s upcoming launch with the CAPSTONE payload headed to the Moon’s orbit. However, while the mission was initially planned to launch in late May, has now continually been delayed till the end of June.
These delays are not ideal but it’s important that both NASA, Rocket Lab, and everyone involved is 100% ready before the launch. CAPSTONE is expected to play an important role in the future Moon space station Gateway and more. Here I will go more in-depth into some updates from Rocket Lab, NASA, and when we should expect to see this launch happen.
Recent Updates
In the last few weeks alone a lot has happened in regards to the CAPSTONE Mission and Rocket Lab’s progress towards the launch. This began earlier this month when Rocket Lab began integrating the CAPSTONE payload after receiving it. Specifically, on June 6th Rocket Lab tweeted saying, “Another step closer to the Moon! With support from teams at @AdvancedSpace, @NASA, and @TerranOrbital, CAPSTONE is being integrated onto Photon in preparation for lift-off.” This tweet included two images of the payload integration process. Not long after, NASA gave an update on the launch date which has been pushed back multiple times. On June 8th NASA tweeted mentioning, “LAUNCH UPDATE: #CAPSTONE is no longer targeting June 13 for its mission to the Moon. A revised schedule will be provided as soon as possible.” At the time of this tweet, the agency said that flight software was being updated. In addition, since arriving in New Zealand, CAPSTONE was successfully fueled and integrated with the Lunar Photon upper stage by teams from Rocket Lab, Terran Orbital, and Stellar Exploration. CAPSTONE and Photon were also encapsulated in the payload fairing.
The next important update came only a few days later on June 9th. Here Rocket Lab tweeted and said, “Going to the Moon is a team sport. We’re grateful to be on the dream team with @NASA, @AdvancedSpace, and @TerranOrbital as we work together to deploy the first spacecraft to a near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon.” Included with this tweet were multiple photos of some of the people involved surrounding the payload fairing, payload, and more. Getting closer to today, NASA gave us a more accurate timeline for the next launch opportunity of CAPSTONE. Specifically, on June 14th, only two days ago, the agency tweeted again this time saying, “LAUNCH UPDATE: We are currently targeting no earlier than June 25 for the launch of #CAPSTONE.” They provided a little bit of extra information on the delay but nothing that specifically tells us the reasons for the recent delays. Finally, Rocket Lab released one last update. On June 14th the company tweeted mentioning, “In August 2020 we launched our first Photon spacecraft to orbit. Less than two years later, a high-energy variant of our in-house designed and built Photon spacecraft is getting ready to set a course for the Moon.” This is a great example of how far the company has come and the importance of Photon towards Electron’s capabilities and launch opportunities. In terms of the launch, it has been delayed quite a few times now. The current date has been set for June 25th. Because no specific information was provided on the reasons for this delay, it’s hard to estimate whether it will just be delayed again or not. We will have to wait and see what the agency and companies involve say over the next few weeks.
CAPSTONE Highlights
With more information on the date and some of the recent progress being made on this mission, we can now take a closer look at what to expect and what makes this launch so special. Back in 2019, NASA awarded a $13.7 million contract to Advanced Space of Boulder, Colorado, to develop and operate a CubeSat mission to the same lunar orbit targeted for Gateway. Gateway is an orbiting outpost astronauts will visit before descending to the surface of the Moon in a landing system as part of NASA’s Artemis program. The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) is expected to be the first spacecraft to operate in a near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon. In this unique orbit, the CubeSat will rotate together with the Moon as it orbits Earth and will pass as close as 1,000 miles and as far as 43,500 miles from the lunar surface. Back when this mission was originally announced, NASA said that “The pathfinder mission represents a rapid lunar flight demonstration and could launch as early as December 2020.” This obviously is not the case for a host of different reasons but it helps show how long this project has been worked on.
CAPSTONE will demonstrate how to enter into and operate in this orbit as well as test a new navigation capability. This information will help reduce logistical uncertainty for Gateway, as NASA and international partners work to ensure astronauts have safe access to the Moon’s surface. It will also provide a platform for science and technology demonstrations.
“This is an exciting opportunity for NASA to aggressively push forward towards the Moon in partnership with several American small businesses as a vanguard to Artemis and sustained human presence beyond low-Earth orbit,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. “This mission is highly ambitious in both cost and schedule – and taking that deliberate risk is part of the objective of this mission – alongside the rapid technological advancement in cislunar navigation and the opportunity to verify orbital trajectory assumptions and retire unknowns for future missions.”
The 12-unit CubeSat is about the size of a small microwave oven. Onboard is a communications system capable of determining how far CAPSTONE is from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and how fast the distance between the two spacecraft is changing. The inter-spacecraft information will be used to demonstrate software for autonomous navigation, allowing future missions to determine their location without having to rely exclusively on tracking from Earth. “CAPSTONE offers a lot in a small package,” said Advanced Space CEO Bradley Cheetham. “Not only will it serve as a pathfinder for Artemis, but it will also demonstrate key exploration-enabling commercial capabilities. Our team will be pioneering state-of-the-art tools for mission planning and operations to enable growth in the number of future missions to the Moon, Mars, and throughout the solar system.”
Rocket Lab was eventually chosen as the launch provider because of the company’s reliability, cost, capabilities, and more. After launch, CAPSTONE will take approximately three months to enter its target orbit and begin a six-month primary demonstration phase to understand operations in this unique regime. The award to Advanced Space is through a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, a follow-on to earlier SBIR awards that developed CAPSTONE’s autonomous positioning and navigation system experiment. In reality, the CAPSTONE mission and project has a massive team behind it rather than just a few companies. The CAPSTONE team includes Advanced Space and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc. of Irvine, California. The project is managed by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology (SST) program within the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Based at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. Here, SST expands U.S. capability to execute unique missions through rapid development and demonstration of capabilities for small spacecraft applicable to exploration, science, and the commercial space sector. Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) within NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate will fund the launch and support mission operations. AES engages in activities focused on advanced design, development, and demonstration of exploration capabilities to reduce risk, lower life cycle cost and validate operational concepts for future human missions. NASA is trying very hard to make consistent progress towards landing humans back on the surface of the Moon. This mission may not have to do with the Space Launch System or a lunar lander, but it is very important to these future missions in more ways than one.
Conclusion
For weeks now a lot of us have been keeping up with Rocket Lab’s involvement and progress within this CAPSTONE mission. Electron has been responsible for a lot of impressive launches but the Moon is something else. This combined with the Lunar Photon and you end up with a fascinating small-lift launch vehicle. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.