Since the launch of the Capstone probe in mid-June, NASA has not been able to rest. The agency recently reported a loss of communication with a spacecraft that had already left Earth orbit. Luckily, she was soon found. and everything seemed to be going well … At least until the last days.
NASA and Colorado Advanced Space confirmed that Capstone went into safe mode on September 8th. What is safe mode? Well, it’s just a feature. allows the Capstone system to use only the most necessary functions. This can also be found on computers and allows you to quickly track down problems with your hardware.
What prompted Capstone to go into safe mode? at the moment, it seems the answer is still a mystery. The only thing NASA has to say is that “the mission operations team is in communication with the spacecraft and is working on a solution using the Deep Space Network.” The link to the latter lies in how the probe can communicate with Earth.
Let’s remember that Capstone is one of the first steps of the Artemis mission.. Yes, the one that promises to take humans to the moon, and which has also run into trouble with recent launch attempts. Why does it seem so hard to get back to the moon when we’ve already been there? There is a reason, and we tell you about it here.
What are the consequences of the problem that the Capstone probe has encountered?
The anomaly that put Capstone into safe mode did not go unnoticed. In fact, according to representatives of Colorado Advanced Space, the company managing the mission, this failure “caused the pointing speed of the vehicles to go beyond the capabilities onboard jet wheels for control and countermeasures.
Capstone tried to contact NASA for about 24 hours before any telemetry was received. While, the ship was not in a stable configurationit had no positive power and periodically rebooted.
At this time, the ship appears to have changed its state, and the crew continues to try to find the problem. The probe is now known to contain positive energy. That is, your solar panels produce more energy than they consume. At that time, the team is working to improve the thermal situation at Capstone and is initiating an adjustment operation.
If the maneuver is successful, the vehicle will control its attitude again, orienting the solar arrays towards the sun to fully recharge the batteries from the energy used during the maneuver.
The ship will then orient itself on the ground and wait for further instructions. These recovery operations will be evaluated in the coming days.
Expanded Space Colorado
Capstone is expected to reach its final destination on November 13th.. Once in lunar orbit, the probe will experiment with navigation and communications on our natural satellite. This procedure is a key part of the Artemis mission that NASA has already launched.
Source: Hiper Textual
