NASA Advances Artemis With 2-Spacecraft CAPSTONE 02 Mission Set for 2027
Updated
Updated · NASA · Jul 28
NASA Advances Artemis With 2-Spacecraft CAPSTONE 02 Mission Set for 2027
2 articles · Updated · NASA · Jul 28
Summary
Two 400-kilogram spacecraft will fly in lunar orbit in 2027 under NASA’s CAPSTONE 02 mission, testing rendezvous, proximity operations, autonomous navigation and cislunar communications for Artemis and Moon Base.
Those demonstrations are meant to show how astronauts could safely dock with lunar landers in cislunar space, using techniques NASA says cannot be fully replicated on Earth.
Advanced Space holds the contract, Terran Orbital is providing the twin satellites, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is supplying an optical imager for navigation tests and lunar imagery.
CAPSTONE 02 also serves as a testbed for three NASA navigation software suites and further develops the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System first proven on the original CAPSTONE mission.
The mission marks NASA’s shift from validating a near-rectilinear halo orbit to building scalable cislunar infrastructure and commercial services for future lunar and deep-space operations.