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Mahesh

01/07/22 06:30 AM IST

NASA launches microwave oven-sized satellite to pave way for humans to return to the Moon

In News 
  • NASA launched CAPSTONE, a microwave oven-sized CubeSat weighing just 55 pounds (25 kg).
About CAPSTONE 
  • CAPSTONE – Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, is designed to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit known as a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) which is significantly elongated, and is located at a precise balance point in the gravities of Earth and the Moon. This offers stability for long-term missions like Gateway.
  • CAPS (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System) is CAPSTONE’s autonomous navigation software
  • If tested successfully, the software will allow future spacecraft to determine their location without having to rely exclusively on Earth-based tracking.
  • For a spacecraft headed to the moon, CAPSTONE is inexpensive, costing just less than $30 million including the launch by Rocket Lab, a US-New Zealand company.
Source- Indian Express 

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