Since the Capstone probe launched in mid-June, NASA has been unable to catch a break. Recently, the agency reported the loss of communication with the spacecraft, which had already left Earth orbit. Fortunately, she was found shortly after, and everything seemed to be going well… At least until recent days.
NASA and Colorado Advanced Space have confirmed that Capstone entered safe mode since last September 8. What is Safe Mode? Well, it’s just a feature. allows the Capstone system to use only the most necessary features. This can also be found on computers, and allows you to quickly track down problems with your hardware.
What prompted the Capstone to go into safe mode? for now, it seems that the answer is still a mystery. The only thing NASA says is that “The mission operations team is in contact with the spacecraft and working on a solution with the help of the Deep Space Network.” The connection to the latter is how the probe can communicate with Earth.
Let’s remember that Capstone is one of the first steps in the Artemis Mission. Yes, the one that promises to take humans to the Moon, and which has also been plagued with problems in its recent launch attempts. Why does it seem so complicated to return to the Moon if we have already been there? There is a reason, and we tell you about it here.
What are the consequences of the problem experienced by the Capstone probe?
The anomaly that has put the Capstone in safe mode has not gone unnoticed. In fact, according to representatives of the Colorado Advanced Space company, which operates the mission, this failure “caused vehicle guidance rates to grow beyond capabilities of onboard reaction wheels to control and counter.
Capstone was trying to communicate with NASA for about 24 hours before any telemetry was retrieved. At that time, the ship was not in a stable configurationit had no positive power and would reboot periodically.
At this time, the ship has apparently changed its state, while the team continues to try to detect the problem. Now, the probe is known to contain positive energy. That is, your solar panels generate more energy than is consumed. In the meantime, the team works to improve the thermal situation of Capstone, and initiate a readjustment operation.
If the maneuver is successful, the vehicle will control its orientation again, orienting the solar panels towards the sun to fully charge the batteries from the energy used during the manoeuvre.
The ship will then orient to the ground and await further instructions. These recovery operations will continue to be evaluated in the coming days.
Colorado Advanced Space
Capstone is expected to reach its final destination this coming November 13. Once in lunar orbit, the probe will experiment with navigation and communication behaviors on our natural satellite. This procedure is a key part of the Artemis mission that NASA has already launched.