Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Rocket Lab Aims At Lunar Orbit Mission

Long Beach-based Rocket Lab says it has started payload integration to launch a mission into lunar orbit. According to the company, it has started payload integration on the CAPSTONE spacecraft, which is designed for lunar orbit. The company said the spacecraft was designed and built by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a Terran Orbital Corporation. The CAPSTONE cubesat--short for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment--will be testing what is called a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon, for future use by bigger spacecraft.