CAPSTONE Demonstrates Crosslink Capability with Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

CAPSTONE Demonstrates Crosslink Capability with Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 24, 2023

The CAPSTONE mission team has provided an update on the spacecraft's operations since performing the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) insertion maneuver on November 13th, 2022. The spacecraft has spent 154 days operating in the NRHO, completing 23 NRHO revolutions, and executing six Orbit Maintenance Maneuvers (OMM) using approximately 1.8 m/s of fuel.

Despite issues with a thruster valve, the team has maintained knowledge of the spacecraft state within the mission requirements using ground-based navigation tools and tracking measurements collected by the Deep Space Network. The spacecraft's tolerance for radiation impacts has also been tested and repeatedly validated over the past couple of months.

The mission team recently traveled to NASA's Johnson Space Center to provide lessons learned and as-flown information to teams involved in the Gateway and Artemis programs. These exchanges focused on information sharing consistent with two of the CAPSTONE mission objectives related to demonstrating NRHO operations and informing future lunar exploration requirements and operations.

Payload commissioning and evaluation have also continued over the past couple of months. The payload imager has been activated and taken its first set of pictures, with the team working to improve imager performance and configuration in the coming weeks. The crosslink demonstration with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission operations team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has also been progressing. Software updates after the first attempt in January were developed and deployed, with further challenges encountered and subsequently patched in March.

On April 7th, the relative positioning of the CAPSTONE and LRO spacecraft was favorable for a crosslink at a much-reduced range compared to previous attempts. Data collected by the LRO spacecraft demonstrated a strong signal and performance consistent with signal lock from LRO on the CAPSTONE generated signal. CAPSTONE telemetry indicates that the crosslink signal was returned to the spacecraft. The mission team is currently working to process telemetry and identify if the crosslink measurements were collected as expected.

In the coming weeks, a software update will be provided to the satellite that enables switching of the primary radio communications firmware, exposing the functionality to begin demonstration of the Cesium Atomic Clock (CSAC) enabled one-way uplink ranging. This demonstration will provide future missions with onboard knowledge of the state to enable autonomy in other spacecraft functions.

Overall, the CAPSTONE mission has been continuing to operate in its planned NRHO orbit, successfully executing OMMs and commissioning and evaluating its payload components. Its recent crosslink demonstration with LRO has also demonstrated strong signal performance and provided significant lessons learned for future crosslink activities at the Moon. As a pathfinder mission, CAPSTONE has continued to serve future NASA programs and advance the understanding and capabilities of lunar exploration requirements and operations.

Editor's note: This report was rewritten with AI assistance using the prompt "RULE Shakespeare" developed inhouse at SpaceDaily.com.