Recent NASA CubeSat Challenges
upstart writes:
CAPSTONE satellite suffers comms issue, is now working again:
NASA's CAPSTONE satellite, in an experimental orbit around the moon, has been experiencing communications problems but is now back and running as it should be. The small CubeSat was designed to test out an experimental fuel-efficient orbit around the moon to pave the way for future moon-based infrastructure.
CAPSTONE has experienced several problems on its way to the moon. Shortly after its launch in July 2022, NASA lost contact with the satellite due to a problem with the radio system, but contact was reestablished after a few days.
[...] Since then, CAPSTONE has completed 12.5 orbits of the moon, which is well past its original objective of six orbits. This is important as it helps demonstrate the feasibility of this orbit for future missions like the planned Gateway lunar space station.
However, the satellite has been having more problems this year, with a communications issue beginning last month. Fortunately, that issue has now been fixed.
[...] Now, the team is getting the satellite ready for its next job: testing out a navigation system called Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System, or CAPS. The idea is to use data from both CAPSTONE and another moon-orbiting spacecraft, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, to identify the exact position of a satellite in space using an approach called cross-link. Another test will be of a new data type for sending data using an onboard atomic clock.
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