NASA to Launch Craft to Unexplored Orbit for Moon Outpost

[Still Waters]

NASA is poised to send a tiny satellite to an unexplored trajectory around the Moon that might one day serve as an orbital home to astronauts on a planned lunar space station known as the Gateway. 

The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE), a microwave-sized spacecraft built by the company Advanced Space, is currently scheduled to launch into space from New Zealand on Monday, June 6. 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7w4bz/nasa-to-launch-craft-to-unexplored-orbit-for-moon-outpost

 

[Still Waters]

NASA satellite breaks from orbit around Earth, heads to moon

A satellite the size of a microwave oven successfully broke free from its orbit around Earth on Monday and is headed toward the moon, the latest step in NASA's plan to land astronauts on the lunar surface again.

It's been an unusual journey already for the Capstone satellite. It was launched six days ago from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula by the company Rocket Lab in one of their small Electron rockets. It will take another four months for the satellite to reach the moon, as it cruises along using minimal energy.

https://phys.org/news/2022-07-nasa-satellite-orbit-earth-moon.html

 

NASA: Contact lost with spacecraft on way to test moon orbit

NASA said Tuesday it has lost contact with a $32.7 million spacecraft headed to the moon to test out a lopsided lunar orbit, but agency engineers are hopeful they can fix the problem.

After one successful communication and a second partial one on Monday, the space agency said it could no longer communicate with the spacecraft called Capstone. Engineers are trying to find the cause of the communications drop-off and are optimistic they can fix it, NASA spokesperson Sarah Frazier said Tuesday.

The spacecraft, which launched from New Zealand on June 28, had spent nearly a week in Earth orbit and had been successfully kick-started on its way to the moon, when contact was lost, Frazier said.

https://phys.org/news/2022-07-nasa-contact-lost-spacecraft-moon.html