NASA’s tiny CAPSTONE probe still struggling en route to the moon | Space

The little CAPSTONE spacecraft is stable, but engineers haven’t yet regained full control as it flies towards the moon.

Engineers are still troubleshooting the glitches afflicting NASA’s tiny moon-bound CAPSTONE probe.

CAPSTONE entered safe mode after an engine burn on Sept. 8, and the mission team has been addressing the problem ever since.

The microwave oven-sized CAPSTONE is a pioneer in cubesat science, helping to expand the reach of these little spacecraft well beyond Earth orbit. The still-undiagnosed issues may demonstrate the challenge of operating smaller vehicles in the radiation-laden environment of deep space.

According to the CAPSTONE teams, the 55-pound (25 kilograms) spacecraft is in a stable condition at the moment, but engineers have not yet gained full control of it.

“The CAPSTONE mission team is continuing to work towards recovery of the spacecraft’s full three-axis control,” the Colorado company Advanced Space, which operates the spacecraft for NASA, wrote during its latest update (opens in new tab) on Sept. 30. (The three axes are yaw, pitch and roll, which are used in aerospace to define movements of objects in the air or in space.)

Teams are currently “collecting information from the spacecraft, running simulations and refining recovery plans,” added Advanced Space. NASA, in its own update (opens in new tab), echoed these procedures and emphasized the spacecraft is still flying toward the moon and “generating more power from its solar panels than the spacecraft systems are using."  …