L’équipe de travail détermine la cause du problème de communication

L’équipe de mission identifie la cause des problèmes de communication CAPSTONE de la NASA

après, après lancez-le Le 28 juin, CAPSTONE a fait une orbite autour de la Terre connectée à l’étage photonique supérieur de Rocket Lab, qui s’est mis en place pour son voyage vers la Lune. Suivant édition réussie Le début de l’exploitation de l’engin spatial le 4 juillet, et pierre angulaire Vaisseau spatial expérimenté Problèmes de communication Tout en étant connecté au Deep Space Network (DSN). L’équipe de mission, dirigée par Advanced Space, a renoué avec CAPSTONE à 9 h 26 HAE (6 h 26 PT) le 6 juillet.

Maintenant, après un examen approfondi, les équipes ont identifié ce qui a conduit aux problèmes de communication CAPSTONE qui ont commencé le 4 juillet.

lors de la mise en service[{ » attribute= » »>NASA’s CAPSTONE spacecraft, the Deep Space Network team noted inconsistent ranging data. While investigating this issue, the spacecraft operations team attempted to retrieve diagnostic data on the spacecraft’s radio and sent an incorrectly formatted command that made the radio inoperable. The spacecraft fault detection system should have rebooted the radio immediately but did not because of a fault in the spacecraft flight software.

Eventually, CAPSTONE’s autonomous flight software system cleared the fault and brought the spacecraft back into communication with the ground, allowing the team to implement recovery procedures and begin commanding the spacecraft again.

While CAPSTONE was out of contact with Earth, the spacecraft autonomously maintained proper orientation to keep its antenna pointed towards Earth and allow the solar panels to keep the battery charged. CAPSTONE also used its thrusters to perform a standard maneuver to dump excess momentum from its reaction wheels, which are internal wheels that help the spacecraft rotate and point itself.

The mission operations team conducted CAPSTONE’s first trajectory correction maneuver at approximately 11:30 a.m. EDT (8:30 a.m. PDT) on July 7. Teams are currently reviewing the data to ensure the maneuver was successful. This maneuver is intended to more precisely target the spacecraft’s transfer orbit to the Moon.