OrbitalHub

NASA dicit:

A microwave oven–sized CubeSat weighing just 55 pounds will serve as the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit as part of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE). As a pathfinder for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting outpost that is part of NASA’s Artemis program, CAPSTONE will help reduce risk for future spacecraft by validating innovative navigation technologies and verifying the dynamics of this halo-shaped 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.

Video credit: NASA’s Ames Research Center

NASA dicit:

The majestic spiral galaxy NGC 1300’s arms hold blue clusters of young stars, pink clouds of star formation, and dark lanes of dust.

To represent this image with sound, scientists assigned louder volume to brighter light. Light farther from the center is pitched higher as a counterclockwise radar scans across the galaxy. NGC 1300 resides nearly 70 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus.

Video credit: NASA Goddard

Sonification credits: SYSTEM Sounds (M. Russo, A. Santaguida)

NASA dicit:

Boeing’s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on May 19, 2022, for its Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Liftoff occurred at 6:54 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Video credit: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center