Rocket Lab is prepping for its maiden lunar mission that is slated to happen later this as a part of NASA’s Artemis program. The company said it will send its CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) CubeSat from its launch facility in New Zealand somewhere between October and December 2021.
The original plan was to start the mission from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, US, but many delays forced the firm to move operations to its current location. Rocket Lab will leverage its Electron rocket to ferry CAPSTONE on its way. Once in space, the Photon spacecraft will help place CAPSTONE in a lunar orbit.
Debut for Photon spacecraft as well
During its six-month mission, CAPSTONE will extract data that will help NASA with preparations for Lunar Gateway that will double as a space outpost for its upcoming Artemis missions. The satellite will confirm the propulsion system for holding the ideal lunar orbit and test the accuracy of navigation of spacecraft for positioning them more accurately.
The mission will also be the first time the company’s Photon spacecraft will be used this way, with Rocket Lab’s first lunar mission showcasing an expansion of its current business of sending small satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Robot Lab expanding business
“Our team is immensely proud to be launching one of the first pathfinding missions to support NASA’s goal of delivering a sustainable and robust presence on the moon,” said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab CEO.
Beck added, “We’ve teamed up with the NASA Launch Services Program on previous Electron missions to low-Earth orbit, so it’s exciting to be working with them again to go just a bit further than usual … some 380,000 km further.”
Previously, the company posted a video showing off “Rosie,” the robot capable of building launch vehicles. The company competes with the likes of SpaceX and Virgin Orbit to ferry small satellites into low Earth orbit. The robot does all the necessary marking, machining, and drilling, allowing Rocket Lab to prepare one launch vehicle every 12 hours before it’s gone into production for further work.
