CAPSTONE on Capitol Hill

Stop by the rotunda of The Russell Senate Office Building this week to learn more about the trailblazing spacecraft that will fly a new path to the Moon.

Terran Orbital Concludes Fleet Space CENTAURI-5 Bus Commissioning

CENTAURI-5 adds capacity, reduces signal delay, and provides additional network redundancy. The 3D printed metal patch antenna satellite is traveling to an expected altitude of 330 miles where it will orbit in the existing Centauri constellation operated by Fleet Space and Terran Orbital. Upgrades from the CENTAURI-4 payload include enhancements that mitigate the effects of radiation in LEO as well as direct communication links to ground stations and an extended S-band range, allowing uplink at standard ground station frequencies.

CubeSat Set to Demonstrate NASA’s Fastest Laser Link from Space

NASA primarily uses radio frequency to communicate with spacecraft, but with sights set on human exploration of the Moon and Mars and the development of enhanced scientific instruments, NASA needs more efficient communications systems to transmit significant amounts of data. With more data, researchers can make profound discoveries. Laser communications substantially increases data transport capabilities, offering higher data rates and more information packed into a single transmission.

Cubesats to the Moon

On the evening of Monday, June 13, in New Zealand, a Rocket Lab Electron rocket is scheduled to lift off from the company’s Launch Complex 1. That launch will look like many others by the company except for a prominent white NASA “worm” logo on the side of the booster, an indication that the launch is being performed for the space agency.

CAPSTONE | Electron

Rocket Lab will be launching the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The mission is comprised of one spacecraft which, over the course of many months, will travel to the Moon and enter a Near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO).