Launch Operator License Granted to Rocket Lab

The FAA has granted a Launch Operator License to Rocket Lab for Electron missions from Launch Complex-2 (LC-2) on Wallops Island, VA. This is a major step toward the first Electron launches from U.S. soil.

The company made the announcement in a series of Tweets Tuesday. The new FAA Launch Operator License allows for multiple launches from LC-2 for the next 5 years without needing a new launch-specific license for every mission.

The simplified licensing enables streamlined access to space for U.S. government small sats. Across our 3 launch pads, Rocket Lab can support up to 130 launch opportunities every year.

Among the first Electron missions from LC-2 will be a mission to the Moon for NASA in support of the agency’s Artemis program. The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) will orbit a microwave oven–sized CubeSat weighing just 55 pounds around the Moon which will serve as the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit.

The orbit, formally known as a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), is significantly elongated. Its location at a precise balance point in the gravities of Earth and the Moon, offers stability for long-term missions like Gateway and requires minimal energy to maintain. CAPSTONE’s orbit also establishes a location that is an ideal staging area for missions to the Moon and beyond. The orbit will bring CAPSTONE within 1,000 miles of one lunar pole on its near pass and 43,500 miles from the other pole at its peak every seven days, requiring less propulsion capability for spacecraft flying to and from the Moon’s surface than other circular orbits.

After a three-month journey to its target destination, CAPSTONE will orbit this area around the Moon for at least six months to understand the characteristics of the orbit. Specifically, it will validate the power and propulsion requirements for maintaining its orbit as predicted by NASA’s models, reducing logistical uncertainties. It will also demonstrate the reliability of innovative spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation solutions as well as communication capabilities with Earth. The NRHO provides the advantage of an unobstructed view of Earth in addition to coverage of the lunar South Pole.

To test these new navigation capabilities, CAPSTONE has a second dedicated payload flight computer and radio that will perform calculations to determine where the CubeSat is in its orbital path. Circling the Moon since 2009, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will serve as a reference point for CAPSTONE. The intention is for CAPSTONE to communicate directly with LRO and utilize the data obtained from this crosslink to measure how far it is from LRO and how fast the distance between the two changes, which in turn determines CAPSTONE’s position in space.

This peer-to-peer information will be used to evaluate CAPSTONE’s autonomous navigation software. If successful, this software, referred to as the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS), will allow future spacecraft to determine their location without having to rely exclusively on tracking from Earth. This capability could enable future technology demonstrations to perform on their own without support from the ground and allow ground-based antennas to prioritize valuable science data over more routine operational tracking.

CAPSTONE is scheduled to launch in early 2021 aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. It is expected to be the company’s first launch from Wallops with a NASA payload as well as the second spacecraft to launch to the Moon from Virginia (the first being NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer mission in 2013). With a highly ambitious schedule, CAPSTONE will demonstrate key commercial capabilities. NASA partners will test cutting-edge tools for mission planning and operations, paving the way and expanding opportunities for small and more affordable space and exploration missions to the Moon, Mars and other destinations throughout the solar system.

(Source: Rocket Lab Tweets and NASA. Images provided by Rocket Lab and NASA)