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{"id":9340,"date":"2022-07-06T15:28:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T15:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/07\/06\/nasa-is-having-a-hard-time-communicating-with-its-new-tiny-lunar-spacecraft\/"},"modified":"2022-07-06T15:28:13","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T15:28:13","slug":"nasa-is-having-a-hard-time-communicating-with-its-new-tiny-lunar-spacecraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/07\/06\/nasa-is-having-a-hard-time-communicating-with-its-new-tiny-lunar-spacecraft\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA is having a hard time communicating with its new tiny lunar spacecraft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/7\/6\/23190459\/nasa-capstone-artemis-moon-lunar-orbit-communications<\/a>
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NASA is having trouble establishing contact with its new CAPSTONE spacecraft, a tiny probe that just launched from Earth to test out a new orbit around the Moon. Because of these communication issues, NASA had to delay a planned maneuver<\/a> of the vehicle that would help refine its path to deep space. The agency is still trying to reestablish contact.<\/p>\n

CAPSTONE is the first mission of NASA\u2019s Artemis program, the agency\u2019s efforts to eventually send humans back to the Moon. As part of this lunar return, NASA plans to build a new space station in the Moon\u2019s orbit. But the orbit NASA wants to use is a unique one; it\u2019s a particularly elongated path that\u2019s never really been used by a spacecraft before. CAPSTONE is meant to serve as a pathfinder mission<\/a>, with the spacecraft inserting itself into that orbit and giving NASA some operational experience before the agency starts to build out its new station.<\/p>\n

About the size of a microwave oven, CAPSTONE launched from New Zealand on June 28th on top of a small Electron rocket operated by the aerospace company Rocket Lab. To give CAPSTONE an extra push to the Moon, Rocket Lab used a special booster called Photon, which stayed attached to the satellite after the initial launch and periodically raised the satellite\u2019s orbit. CAPSTONE finally detached from Photon on July 4th, and in the first 11 hours after separation, it seemed to work fine, according to Advanced Space<\/a>, which manufactured and operates the spacecraft. CAPSTONE deployed its solar panels and began charging its onboard batteries.<\/p>\n

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