Moon: NASA loses contact with probe that tested a new route

The NASA On Tuesday, he said he lost contact with the probe capstone who was heading to color.

After the successful deployment and commissioning of the spacecraft on July 4, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System technology operations and navigation experiment (capstone) had connection problems while communicating with the Deep Space Network,” according to a statement by NASA Tuesday.

What happens with CAPSTONE?

The ship, after a delay, set out on June 28 towards color To test a new route that was, in theory, more efficient and less demanding.

However, shortly after deployment from the Rocket Labs Electron rocket to complete its operation, engineers on the ground lost all communications with Capstone.

Spokesman NASA Tell Space.com That the team has strong information about the course capstone And the controllers are trying to reconnect with her.

“If needed, the mission has enough fuel to delay a post-separation course correction maneuver by several days,” he said.

Your task is very important

capstone It is a cube that weighs only 24 kilograms and is oriented towards color As part of a plan NASA For humans to return to their surface for the first time in more than 50 years.

The spacecraft is testing the same orbit that will be used by Gateway, which will be the next lunar orbital station in NASA, It will serve as an outpost for Artemis astronauts visiting the satellite’s surface later this decade.

The plan is to capstone Enter into an approximately straight halo orbit around color On November 13.

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