NASA is preparing for the CAPSTONE 02 mission, which is targeted for launch in 2027. The project aims to send two maneuverable probes into lunar orbit to investigate how spacecraft are influenced by the complex gravitational environment in cislunar space. This region is under the combined influence of both Earth’s gravity and the moon’s gravity, requiring spacecraft to navigate what are known as three-body orbits.
NASA Prepares CAPSTONE 02 Mission to Test Autonomous Three-Body Orbits
The mission contract was awarded to NASA, a company based in Colorado that also operated the original CAPSTONE mission. The contract is valued between $20 million and $60 million, with the spacecraft hardware built by Terran Orbital Systems, Inc., which is now a Lockheed Martin subsidiary. The twin spacecraft will each weigh approximately 400 kilograms, or about 882 pounds.
Advanced Formation Flying and Rendezvous Operations
Once the spacecraft reach space, they will follow a low energy transfer trajectory from Earth to beyond the moon before settling into a lunar orbit. Operating in close proximity to one another, the two probes will fly in formation and alternate jobs by switching between roles designated as “chaser” and “target.”
The mission will serve as an operational testbed to evaluate three different NASA-developed navigation software suites alongside the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS). These systems will utilize celestial navigation, optical sensors, data collected by ground-based telescopes, and an optical imaging payload provided by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This camera will assist with navigation during close approaches while also capturing imagery of the lunar surface.
Because Earth-to-Moon communication involves an approximate 2.4-second round-trip delay, automating routine navigation tasks is critical for deep-space operations. Sean Fuller, Moon Base CAPSTONE manager, emphasized the significance of the project in an agency statement: This mission represents an important step in the maturation of cislunar capabilities.
Fuller added that the project lays the foundation for lunar infrastructure and commercial services that support Artemis, Moon Base, and future missions to deep space.
Building Upon the Success of the First CAPSTONE Mission
The upcoming flight follows the original NASA demonstration, which stands for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment. The first mission launched in 2022 as a microwave-oven-sized CubeSat weighing 25 kilograms. It became the first U.S. commercial mission to the moon and the first spacecraft to operate in a near rectilinear halo orbit, a gravitationally stable orbit maintained by the nearly equal gravitational pulls of Earth and the moon.
Although initially designed for an 18-month duration, the first CAPSTONE spacecraft operated for four years before NASA officially concluded its mission in June 2026. Building on those lessons, CAPSTONE 02 is 16 times heavier than its predecessor, allowing for proper propulsion, advanced avionics, and more sophisticated relative navigation technologies designed for rendezvous and proximity operations.
Supporting Artemis Exploration and Deep Space Infrastructure
The technologies validated by CAPSTONE 02 are designed to reduce reliance on traditional space-to-ground data and support future crewed explorations. Transporting crews between cislunar orbit and the lunar surface depends heavily on precision navigation systems that cannot be fully recreated on Earth and therefore must be tested in space.
The mission directly supports the infrastructure required for NASA’s planned Space missions of lunar exploration, moon base construction, and the Gateway lunar space station. As cislunar space sees increased activity from commercial entities and future missions, autonomous inter-satellite coordination and automated docking capabilities will remain a prerequisite for sustained human presence beyond low Earth orbit.
Keep reading
