Rocket Lab’s Mission To The Moon Is Getting Very Close
The Moon is a distant celestial body that offers a lot of unique opportunities. NASA is one agency that is currently working on returning humans to the surface of the Moon. However, before NASA can send humans, they are preparing for a large amount of infrastructure necessary. This includes the CAPSTONE mission that is set to launch just over a week from now.
Rocket Lab is a very big part of this mission as they will be using both Electron and Photon to send the payload on a trajectory towards the Moon. Over the past few months Rocket Lab has been preparing for this mission in many ways. Through this process, the company has also been providing consistent updates on this progress and what to expect.
As of right now, practically everything is ready for the long-awaited launch set for no earlier than June 13th. We watched Rocket Lab integrate the lunar Photon spacecraft with the upper stage of Electron only a few days ago. Here I will go more in-depth into the current progress, a mission overview, and what to expect in the coming days before the launch.
Recent Updates
With the mission date closing in, everyone involved including Rocket Lab is finishing a lot of the final tasks to prepare for the launch. Throughout this process, Rocket Lab has been providing updates on its progress and specific steps that have been finished. Just a few days ago on May 31st, Rocket Lab tweeted saying, “Next stop? Moon Photon Lunar has been integrated onto Electron’s upper stage adapter at Launch Complex 1! This small but mighty spacecraft will set CAPSTONE on ballistic lunar transfer for @NASA and @AdvancedSpace. This tweet included a short video of Photon being integrated. In the weeks prior, Rocket Lab received the CAPSTONE payload and worked to prepare everything for the launch.
In this case, the 55-pound pathfinding CubeSat, designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc., a Terran Orbital Corporation, and owned and operated by Advanced Space, will be the first spacecraft to test the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon, paving the way for future exploration of the lunar surface. Researchers expect this orbit to be a gravitational sweet spot in space – where the pull of gravity from Earth and the Moon interact to allow for a nearly stable orbit – allowing physics to do most of the work of keeping a spacecraft in lunar orbit. NASA has big plans for this orbit. The agency hopes to park bigger spacecraft – including the lunar-orbiting space station Gateway – in a NRHO around the Moon, providing astronauts with a base from which to descend to the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program. More specifically, the orbit will bring CAPSTONE within 1,000 miles of one lunar pole on its near pass and 43,500 miles from the other pole at its peak every seven days, requiring less propulsion capability for spacecraft flying to and from the Moon’s surface than other circular orbits.
CAPSTONE is expected to orbit this area around the Moon for at least six months to understand the characteristics of the orbit. Specifically, it will validate the propulsion requirements for maintaining its orbit as predicted by NASA’s models and gain operational experience, reducing logistical uncertainties. It will also demonstrate innovative navigation solutions including spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation and one-way ranging capabilities with Earth ground stations. For future lunar mission communications needs, the NRHO provides the advantage of an unobstructed view of Earth in addition to coverage of the lunar South Pole.
Mission Overview
Now that we know more about some of the recent progress that has been made, and part of the purpose of the mission, we can take a closer look at how Rocket Lab plans to reach the Moon and more. Rocket Lab launches typically deploy spacecraft to orbits between 500 – 1,200 km altitude above Earth’s surface. This time, they are combining Electron and Photon to send a spacecraft a little bit further than usual. Some 1.3 million km further. CAPSTONE will be launched to an initial low Earth orbit by Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle and then placed on a ballistic lunar transfer by Rocket Lab’s Lunar Photon spacecraft bus. Unlike the Apollo lunar missions of the 1960s and 70s, which took a free return trajectory to the Moon, this fuel efficient ballistic lunar transfer makes it possible to send CAPSTONE on its way to such a distant orbit using a small launch vehicle.
It all starts with Electron lifting off from Launch Complex 1 with CAPSTONE integrated onto the Photon spacecraft bus inside the fairing. Around nine minutes after lift-off, Electron’s second stage will separate from Photon, placing the spacecraft bus and its CAPSTONE payload into an initial low Earth orbit at an altitude of 165km. From this initial parking orbit, Photon’s HyperCurie engine will perform a series of orbit raising maneuvers over five days. The HyperCurie engine will ignite periodically to increase Photon’s velocity, stretching its orbit into a prominent ellipse around Earth. Six days after launch, HyperCurie will ignite one final time, accelerating Photon to 24,500 mph (39,500 km/h) enabling it to escape low-Earth orbit and set CAPSTONE on a course for the Moon. Within 20 minutes of the final burn, Photon will release CAPSTONE into space for the first leg of the CubeSat’s solo flight. CAPSTONE’s journey to NRHO is expected to take around four months from this point. CAPSTONE’s low-energy cruise will by punctuated by a series of planned trajectory correction maneuvers. At critical junctures, CAPSTONE’s team at Advanced Space’s mission operations center will command the spacecraft to fire its thrusters to adjust course. Assisted by the Sun’s gravity, CAPSTONE will reach an altitude of 810,000 miles (1.3 million km) from Earth – more than three times the distance between the Earth and the Moon – before being pulled back towards the Earth-Moon system. Once successfully inserted into the orbit, CAPSTONE is expected to remain there for at least six months, allowing NASA to study the orbit dynamics.
One of the most important aspects of this launch revolves around the Photon spacecraft and its modifications for this specific mission. After Electron launches CAPSTONE to an initial low Earth orbit, the
Photon spacecraft bus takes over. CAPSTONE will be integrated onto Photon, a spacecraft based on the heritage Electron Kick Stage. Photon provides in space propulsion, communications, power, and high-accuracy attitude determination and control, supporting CAPSTONE for six days after launch during the orbit raising maneuvers. Photon’s HyperCurie engine will provide the final push to help CAPSTONE escape Earth’s orbit, setting it on a ballistic lunar transfer to achieve the NRHO. While we have watched Photon and Electron’s kick stage multiple times, this mission is very unique and a big step for the future of Rocket Lab’s small-lift launch vehicle missions.
Rocket Lab plays a big part in this mission as the launch provider, however, CAPSTONE is part of a bigger and greater goal, with many different partners along the way. CAPSTONE’s development is supported by the Space Technology Mission Directorate via the Small Spacecraft Technology and Small Business Innovation Research programs at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The Artemis Campaign Development Division within NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate supports the launch and mission operations. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for launch management. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory supported the communication, tracking, and telemetry downlink via NASA’s Deep Space Network, Iris radio design and groundbreaking 1-way navigation algorithms. You also have companies like Advanced Space which are the owner and operators of the CAPSTONE mission. Developers of the proprietary CAPS, Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System, technology being demonstrated using peer-to-peer navigation.
CAPSTONE is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 2022 aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. With a highly ambitious schedule, CAPSTONE will demonstrate key commercial capabilities. NASA partners will test cutting-edge tools for mission planning and operations, paving the way and expanding opportunities for small and more affordable space and exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and other destinations throughout the solar system. The daily launch opportunity stretches from June 13th to June 22nd. Until then we will have to wait and see how the mission and the companies involved continue to prepare.
Conclusion
While it has been a long time since humans stepped foot on the Moon, this is set to change not long from now. However, before NASA puts any humans on the surface, they have a long list of smaller but equally important missions in preparation. One of these missions is CAPSTONE, launched by Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket and Photon spacecraft. The last few weeks have been very busy as the company preps for a launch not long from now. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.