NASA CAPSTONE satellite stopped responding

NASA has lost contact with its CAPSTONE satellite, which does not bode well for its Artemis mission.

NASA has lost contact with CAPSTONE, a small satellite that left Earth’s orbit on July 4th. CAPSTONE is a 25kg cubic satellite heading for the Moon as part of NASA’s project to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time in over 50 years.

NASA lost contact with its CAPSTONE satellite

The small satellite lost contact with engineers on July 4, shortly after it was launched from an Electron rocket and left Earth orbit. A NASA spokesperson told Space.com that the team has all the necessary trajectory information for CAPSTONE and is trying to re-establish contact with its satellite.

“If necessary, the mission will have enough fuel to delay the initial trajectory correction maneuver after separation by a few days,”the spokesman said.

This does not bode well for his Artemis mission.

CAPSTONE spent six days picking up speed in orbit aboard the Rocket Lab Electron launcher, and finally deployed on July 4, heading for the Moon. CAPSTONE is due to enter a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon on November 13, which will test NASA’s Artemis mission. With Artemis, NASA wants to place a space station called the Lunar Gateway in lunar orbit that will serve as a floating base for lunar visitors, fully equipped with living quarters and a laboratory.

NASA plans to launch its Artemis 1 mission between Aug. 23 and Sept. 6 with the deployment of an unmanned Orion module that will orbit the moon and provide data on how the flight might affect the human body. After that, four astronauts will go to the Moon’s satellite. Finally, sometime after 2025, NASA will send men and women back to the moon.