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NASA is working with industry to advance the next phase of cislunar infrastructure for the agency\u2019s Artemis program and Moon Base, including orbital assets and demonstrations. Under a contract awarded to Advanced Space, the agency\u2019s CAPSTONE 02 mission will demonstrate rendezvous and proximity operations, autonomous navigation, and cislunar communication capabilities while continuing to characterize the radiation environment at the Moon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The CAPSTONE 02 mission, targeted for launch in 2027, will use two small spacecraft in lunar orbit to facilitate these demonstrations to support future NASA lunar and deep space missions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s original CAPSTONE demonstration, short for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, became the first U.S. commercial mission to the Moon and the first spacecraft to operate in a near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon. This is a nearly stable orbit, thanks to the interactive pull of gravity from both the Earth and the Moon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mission successfully validated\u202fcommunications, networking, and autonomous navigation capabilities while gathering operational experience in cislunar space. The second CAPSTONE mission expands upon these accomplishments by transitioning from orbit validation to demonstrations that will inform future lunar exploration and infrastructure development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Christopher Baker<\/p>\n
Lead of the In\u2011Space Infrastructure portfolio within the Research and Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
NASA\u2019s CAPSTONE 02 mission will demonstrate advanced relative navigation technologies for rendezvous and proximity operations in cislunar space. These techniques are more sophisticated than those used in low Earth orbit and are designed to support NASA astronauts as they dock with Moon landers in cislunar orbit, enabling safe crew transfers to and from the lunar surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The demonstration will fly two identical spacecraft of approximately 400 kilograms (882 pounds) from Terran Orbital Systems, Inc. Mission operators will conduct a series of rendezvous and proximity operations and loitering \u2013 or formation flying \u2013 techniques in lunar orbit with each spacecraft to better understand the trajectories of the spacecraft under the simultaneous influence of Earth and Moon gravities, otherwise known as three-body orbits.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The CAPSTONE 02 mission will use ground tracking measurements, optical sensors, and celestial bodies to help one spacecraft locate and rendezvous with another. The mission will apply\u00a0 navigation strategies similar to those planned for Orion\u2019s approach to a lunar lander in deep space, helping NASA build confidence in these techniques for future exploration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft will have the ability to switch between \u2018chaser\u2019 and \u2018target\u2019 roles, testing a broad range of operational scenarios under a variety of environmental conditions in cislunar space. Transporting crew to the lunar surface from cislunar orbit depends on knowing how well navigation systems will perform during these operations. Since these conditions can\u2019t be fully recreated on Earth, they must be tested in space.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The CAPSTONE 02 mission also will serve as an operational testbed, enabling testing of three NASA-developed navigation software suites. Each software application will collect data during CAPSTONE 02\u2019s low energy transfer trajectory, which will take it from the Earth to beyond the Moon before settling into a lunar orbit. The spacecraft will carry an optical imaging payload from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to support the navigation demonstration as well as capture imagery of the Moon. In addition, the mission will further mature the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System navigation software that was first demonstrated on CAPSTONE as a method of determining spacecraft position relative to other spacecraft without relying on Earth-based tracking.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The suite of technologies on CAPSTONE 02 are designed to automate routine navigation tasks, reduce reliance on traditional space-to-ground data, and enable new mission concepts that may be derived from increased inter-satellite coordination. Additionally, the CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft are designed for cost-effective, rapid deployment, demonstrating a scalable and repeatable mission model.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis mission represents an important step in the maturation of cislunar capabilities,\u201d said Sean Fuller, Moon Base CAPSTONE manager. \u201cBy expanding on the lessons learned from CAPSTONE to demonstrate increasingly sophisticated operational concepts, CAPSTONE 02 lays the foundation for lunar infrastructure and commercial services that support Artemis, Moon Base, and future missions to deep space.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The CAPSTONE 02 mission is funded by NASA\u2019s Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate with support from the Research and Technology Mission Directorate. The mission is managed by Small Spacecraft & Distributed Systems, based at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley, within the Research and Technology Mission Directorate. NASA used a Small Business Innovation Research Phase III contract to fund the mission.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
To learn more about NASA\u2019s CAPSTONE mission, visit:\u00a0<\/p>\n