Comments on: Rocket Lab’s Photon completes course corrections, deploys CAPSTONE to Moon

By: David Telford

David Telford — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 22:02:40 +0000

Way cool!

By: sippin_bourbon

sippin_bourbon — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 21:44:18 +0000

So far, the best I can find is somewhere in excess of 200,000 km

By: sippin_bourbon

sippin_bourbon — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 20:43:53 +0000

Ken,

Neither is correct.

This might help. There is a non-scale diagram of the flight on page 8. We have reached step 5. But see step 6.
https://www.rocketlabusa.com/assets/Uploads/CAPSTONE-Press-Kit3.pdf

Whoever typed the NASA release, I believe, mis-spoke.
The release from the Photon happened well above 810 miles, however the 810,000 (or 1.3 million KM) comes from the apogee for the current trajectory.
It will hit that distance before falling back into Earth-Moon orbits, and using it’s own power, try to hit the near rectilinear halo orbit.

I will dig to see if I can find the actual altitude at the time of the release.

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 11:50:16 +0000

Should that “810,000” number be 810?

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 05:16:16 +0000

They used little puffs of thrust-trading power for time… puny rockets mean longer waits

By: Ray Van Dune

Ray Van Dune — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:38:35 +0000

An admirable achievement for a private consortium and a small satellite, but 5 months is a bit of a leisurely voyage to be sure.