Flight

CAPSTONE

2022-06-28 · CAPSTONE 12U · flown

Flown CAPSTONE (2022 Electron→Photon).

Orbit-only lunar-orbit demo: no surface landing.

$13,700,000 public package award.

Stack

PrimeAdvanced Space

VehicleCAPSTONE 12U

Moon BaseCAPSTONE

Launch vehicleElectron / Lunar Photon

SiteNRHO

Themes

Comms & dataLinks, relays, surface networks, and compute: moving data between Earth, orbit, and the surface.

Power, structure & propulsionWhat makes the vehicle work: engines, tanks, structure, power, and avionics on the import stack.

Getting thereLaunch vehicles, transfer stages, and in-space refuel.

Lasers, mapping & navigationLidar, cameras, retroreflectors, and landing navigation.

Companies

Prime

Advanced SpaceCAPSTONE (Advanced Space / NASA)

Named suppliers

Terran OrbitalCAPSTONE 12U bus (Terran Orbital)

Stellar ExplorationHydrazine propulsion (Stellar Exploration)

Utah State University Space Dynamics LaboratoryIris radio + nav firmware (Space Dynamics Laboratory)

Tethers UnlimitedCross-link radio (Tethers Unlimited)

Orion Space SolutionsChip-scale atomic clock (Orion Space Solutions)

Rocket LabElectron + Photon launch (CAPSTONE)

NASACAPS nav (Advanced Space)

Jobs

CAPS nav (Advanced Space)

Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS) peer-to-peer navigation demonstrated on CAPSTONE relative to LRO. · Advanced Space · nasa.gov

CAPSTONE (Advanced Space / NASA)

CAPSTONE is a NASA CubeSat operated by Advanced Space: first spacecraft to fly and characterize NRHO (Gateway-class near-rectilinear halo orbit). · Advanced Space · nasa.gov

CAPSTONE 12U bus (Terran Orbital)

Terran Orbital designed and built the CAPSTONE 12U CubeSat platform flown to NRHO in 2022. · Terran Orbital · nasa.gov

Chip-scale atomic clock (Orion Space Solutions)

Orion Space Solutions provided the Chip Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) hardware on flown CAPSTONE for the Iris one-way DSN ranging / timing experiment. · Orion Space Solutions · nasa.gov

Cross-link radio (Tethers Unlimited)

Tethers Unlimited, Inc. · Tethers Unlimited · nasa.gov

Electron + Photon launch (CAPSTONE)

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket and Photon stage launched CAPSTONE toward its lunar halo orbit. · Rocket Lab · nasa.gov

Electron launch FFP for CAPSTONE (~$9.95M)

Rocket Lab Electron firm-fixed-price launch contract class ~$9.95M public for CAPSTONE (separate from Advanced Space CubeSat contract). · Rocket Lab · spacenews.com

Hydrazine propulsion (Stellar Exploration)

Stellar Exploration supplied the pump-fed monopropellant hydrazine propulsion system on the flown 2022 CAPSTONE 12U: trajectory correction, NRHO insertion, and stationkeeping. · Stellar Exploration · nasa.gov

Iris radio + nav firmware (Space Dynamics Laboratory)

Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory provided the Iris deep-space radio and navigation firmware on flown CAPSTONE, supporting DSN links and one-way radiometric experiments with the CSAC. · Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory · nasa.gov

Lunar Photon transfer stage (CAPSTONE)

Rocket Lab Lunar Photon raised CAPSTONE's orbit and sent it toward the Moon on the path to NRHO (2022). · Rocket Lab · rocketlabusa.com

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SLIM2023-09-07 · national

Sources

This is the public record. Companies and jobs a source named.

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