NASA Announces New Spacecraft Technology Demonstration Mission at Moon

4 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) An artist’s rendering of NASA’s CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft in lunar orbit. The mission features two identical small spacecraft that will further mature technologies to support Artemis, Moon Base, and deep space exploration. Terran Orbital NASA is working with industry to advance the next phase of cislunar infrastructure for the agency’s Artemis program and Moon Base, including orbital assets and demonstrations.

S. commercial mission to the Moon and the first spacecraft to operate in a near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon.    The mission successfully validated communications, networking, and autonomous navigation capabilities while gathering operational experience in cislunar space.

  Achieving our most ambitious space exploration goals requires iterative, risk-tolerant demonstrations in partnership with industry. Technology development through flight testing is how we convert hard problems into the lasting capabilities needed for a permanent presence at the Moon. Christopher Baker Lead of the In‑Space Infrastructure portfolio within the Research and Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.

NASA’s CAPSTONE 02 mission will demonstrate advanced relative navigation technologies for rendezvous and proximity operations in cislunar space.   The demonstration will fly two identical spacecraft of approximately 400 kilograms (882 pounds) from Terran Orbital Systems, Inc.     The CAPSTONE 02 mission will use ground tracking measurements, optical sensors, and celestial bodies to help one spacecraft locate and rendezvous with another.

  Each CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft will have the ability to switch between ‘chaser’ and ‘target’ roles, testing a broad range of operational scenarios under a variety of environmental conditions in cislunar space. Transporting crew to the lunar surface from cislunar orbit depends on knowing how well navigation systems will perform during these operations.   The CAPSTONE 02 mission also will serve as an operational testbed, enabling testing of three NASA-developed navigation software suites.

Each software application will collect data during CAPSTONE 02’s low energy transfer trajectory, which will take it from the Earth to beyond the Moon before settling into a lunar orbit. The spacecraft will carry an optical imaging payload from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to support the navigation demonstration as well as capture imagery of the Moon.    The suite of technologies on CAPSTONE 02 are designed to automate routine navigation tasks, reduce reliance on traditional space-to-ground data, and enable new mission concepts that may be derived from increased inter-satellite coordination.