NASA Restores Contact With CAPSTONE Spacecraft – Prepares for Trajectory Correction Maneuver [* AC F
upstart writes:
NASA Restores Contact With CAPSTONE Spacecraft - Prepares for Trajectory Correction Maneuver:
The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, is a CubeSat that will fly a unique orbit around the Moon intended for NASA's future Artemis lunar outpost Gateway. Its six-month mission will help launch a new era of deep space exploration. Credit: NASA Ames Research Center
Mission crews for NASA's Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) have re-established contact with the spacecraft via NASA's Deep Space Network after experiencing communications problems.
Data downloaded from CAPSTONE indicate that the spacecraft is in good health and that it operated safely on its own when it was not in communication with Earth. Teams are preparing to perform CAPSTONE's first trajectory adjustment maneuver as early as 11:30 a.m. EDT (8:30 a.m. PDT) on July 7. It will more accurately target CAPSTONE's transfer orbit to the Moon. CAPSTONE is still on schedule to arrive in lunar orbit on November 13, as originally planned.
See Yesterday's story: NASA Loses Contact With Just-Launched Spacecraft Headed Toward Moon
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