CAPSTONE 02 will use twin 400-kilogrma spacecraft to test rendezvous and proximity operations in cislunar space. Credit: Terran Orbital
WASHINGTON — NASA has selected Advanced Space to fly a successor to a cislunar smallsat mission that will test rendezvous and proximity operations around the moon.
NASA announced July 24 it awarded a contract to Advanced Space for the CAPSTONE 02 mission, a pair of small satellites planned to launch in 2027.
The twin 400-kilogram satellites, built by Lockheed Martin subsidiary Terran Orbital, will operate in cislunar space. The spacecraft will test the ability to operate in proximity to one another under the influence of both terrestrial and lunar gravity, while also performing navigation and communications demonstrations and measuring the radiation environment around the moon.
The two spacecraft will perform rendezvous and proximity operations, or RPO, with the spacecraft switching between the target and the chaser. The spacecraft will carry an advanced imager from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that will be used for those RPO tests as well as for imaging the moon.
