As part of the Artemis project, NASA is doing various studies to support its missions in the long term. One of the biggest plans of the space agency in this regard is to build a space station called Gateway in orbit of the Moon.
CAPSTONE put itself in safe mode
NASA continues its work at full speed for a new station that will orbit the Moon. However, as the Moon’s orbit has never been used before, the CAPSTONE satellite (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) was launched on June 28 this year to test the orbit.
NASA has given a new date for the Moon mission!
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Continuing on its way to enter the orbit of the Moon, CAPSTONE made its last successful maneuver on September 8th. However, after that, it has put itself in safe mode due to an unknown problem. The spacecraft needs one more knee maneuver to enter orbit scheduled for November 13.
NASA announced that the CAPSTONE satellite failed towards the end of its maneuver and put itself into safe mode. Stating that the operation team is in contact with the spacecraft and working on possible solutions, NASA stated that no result has been reached yet.
This is the second time CAPSTONE has been having issues since launch on June 28. Shortly after the launch, the connection between NASA and CAPSTONE was broken due to the problem in July. Communication with the satellite was restored a few days later. NASA explained that the problem was caused by a software error in the radio system.
This last situation looks quite different from the communication problem. The reason for the safe mode that the satellite entered to protect itself from possible damage continues to be investigated by NASA. We expect the problem occurring in CAPSTONE to be resolved shortly.
Assuming an important role for NASA’s Moon mission, let’s see if CAPSTONE can continue its mission. So what do you think about NASA’s Moon satellite CAPSTONE? You can share your views with us in the comments section.