NASA has lost contact with CAPSTONE, a small satellite It left Earth’s orbit on July 4. CAPSTONE is a cube that weighs just 55 pounds and is headed to the Moon as part of NASA’s plan to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years.
The small satellite stopped communicating with engineers on July 4th, shortly after it sprang from the Electron rocket bus and exited Earth’s orbit. A NASA spokesperson said Space.com That the team has solid route information for CAPSTONE and that dealers are trying to reconnect with cubesat.
“If needed, the mission has enough fuel to delay a post-separation course correction maneuver by several days,” the spokesperson told the website.
CAPSTONE spent six days building its orbital speed with the Rocket Lab Electron booster, and it was finally deployed yesterday, on a path to the moon. The plan is for CAPSTONE to enter a near-straight orbit around the moon’s corona on November 13, serving as a testbed for NASA’s Artemis mission. With Artemis, NASA plans to install a space station called Moon Gate In lunar orbit, it serves as a permanent floating base for lunar visitors, with living quarters and a laboratory.
NASA plans to start the Artemis 1 mission between August 23 and September 6 With the deployment of the Orion unmanned module, which will orbit the moon and provide data on how the flight affects the human body. Next, four astronauts will take off for the lunar eclipse. Finally, after 2025, NASA plans to bring humans back to the moon again.
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