NASA re-establishes contact with CAPSTONE satellite after communication glitch scare

NASA has finally re-established contact with its CAPSTONE satellite after it suffered an anomaly in its communication sub-system on July 5. "Mission operators have re-established contact with NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft. Additional updates will be provided", the agency said in its update. Earlier on July 6, Advanced Space, one of NASA's mission partners and handler of CAPSTONE, said that the teams have decided to postpone the first maneuver to correct the satellite's course to the Moon. 

According to Advanced Space, the mission teams that were trying to get the communications back on started receiving signals from the spacecraft at around 7 pm yesterday. "The team worked subsequent recovery procedures to obtain telemetry from the spacecraft at approximately 8:18 AM MT (7:48 pm IST) and initial indications suggest the spacecraft systems are functioning properly", the company said in a statement.

After restoring the signal, the engineers confirmed that the satellite is "healthy and happy" and performed autonomously the entire time to remain properly pointed, maintain battery charge, and conduct a momentum desaturation maneuver. Earlier, updates revealed that the spacecraft functioned properly for about 11 hours after its deployment and went dark before the scientists were about to carry out the course-correcting maneuver. 

Meanwhile, Advanced Space said that the teams are confident to have completely cleared the issue and the orbital maneuver is now scheduled at 9 pm tonight. 

What's next for CAPSTONE?

The satellite, which is on a solo journey to the Moon, will fly for the next four months before it reaches its destination on November 13. Launched on June 28, CAPSTONE will test and verify the Non-rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon, which, according to NASA, is a gravitationally stable location. It is the same orbit where NASA has planned to install the Lunar Gateway, an orbital outpost around the Moon to support in-orbit experiments and Moon landings. 

The satellite, which weighs around 25 kg, will also test a navigation system developed by Advanced Space to measure positions without relying on ground stations. Notably, CAPSTONE's launch has kickstarted the new era of lunar exploration which will soon see the first woman and person of colour land on the Moon under NASA's Artemis program.