The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, was developed, built, and integrated by Terran Orbital in collaboration with Advanced Space. The project sets the stage for future lunar exploration by demonstrating operational capabilities in the NRHO.
CAPSTONE's mission is central to NASA's future lunar ambitions, providing critical data about operations in the NRHO around the Moon. This is the same orbit planned for Gateway, a proposed space station designed to provide astronauts access to the lunar surface in alignment with NASA's Artemis missions. The responsibility of CAPSTONE operations is shared between Terran Orbital and Advanced Space for NASA.
Since entering the NRHO, CAPSTONE has made significant strides beyond its primary mission objectives. The achievements include 28 successful orbits, seven on-orbit maneuvers, and 89 published orbit determination navigation solutions. The mission also collected more than 315,000 measurements from the Deep Space Network (DSN), including those taken from the Morehead State University site, marking the site's debut in supporting a mission. Furthermore, CAPSTONE endured six lunar eclipses, the longest lasting 74.32 minutes.
Marc Bell, Terran Orbital's Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO, commented on CAPSTONE's progress. "Terran Orbital is thrilled CAPSTONE completed the first six months of its primary mission. An extraordinary team developed a truly extraordinary spacecraft. We are grateful to Advanced Space for their partnership in developing CAPSTONE and we are thankful to NASA for pioneering the Artemis program. Together, we've embarked on the next era of lunar exploration."
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