NASA is one step closer to establishing a long-term human presence on the moon after the agency successfully demonstrated autonomous navigation and resilient deep-space communications technologies in lunar orbit.
The Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) concluded NASA’s technology demonstrations last month after nearly four years of testing. According to NASA officials, CAPSTONE launched in June 2022 and became the first U.S. commercial mission at the Moon.
The microwave-sized spacecraft – owned and operated by Advanced Space – tested operations in three-body orbits around the Moon, using the combined gravity of the Earth and the Moon to reduce the fuel needed to maintain a stable lunar path.
It then received a 15-month mission extension to become a testbed for advanced communications, networking, autonomous navigation, and software-defined satellite technologies. This allowed NASA to evaluate new capabilities without launching a separate satellite.
According to officials, NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate used CAPSTONE’s existing hardware to host new software applications after launch, transforming the spacecraft into a flexible, cost-effective platform for technology demonstrations. NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation Division will use data collected during the mission to support future networking and navigation experiments.
“Operating multiple experiments simultaneously aboard the same spacecraft allows NASA to evaluate how these technologies perform together in a real lunar environment,” said Greg Stover, director of the Advanced Research and Technology Division within NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate. “Investments in autonomous operations and resilient communications infrastructure are essential to ensuring U.S. leadership as activity around the Moon continues to increase.”
During his second term, President Donald Trump has touted ambitious priorities for maintaining U.S. leadership in space. As part of that effort, NASA has adjusted its approach to the Artemis program to reduce technical risks while advancing the agency’s broader goals of sustained lunar exploration in the 2030s and future crewed missions to Mars in 2028.
NASA’s long-term lunar strategy centers on building the infrastructure needed to support extended exploration, including reliable communications, precision navigation, lunar orbit operations, power systems, and surface habitats. These capabilities are designed to enable astronauts to live and work on the moon for longer durations while testing technologies and systems that could support future missions to Mars.
Two experiments aboard CAPSTONE advanced technologies considered essential for future lunar missions: autonomous navigation and deep-space communications.
The autonomous Navigation, Guidance, and Control (autoNGC) software enables a spacecraft to determine its position, trajectory, and required maneuvers without waiting for instructions from ground controllers. Although portions of the software previously operated in Earth orbit, CAPSTONE marked the first test of autoNGC at the moon.
CAPSTONE also demonstrated delay/disruption tolerant networking (DTN), a communications architecture designed to operate despite the long delays and frequent signal interruptions encountered in deep space. Unlike traditional internet systems, DTN stores data onboard when communications are unavailable and automatically forwards it once a connection is restored.
CAPSTONE’s extended mission also demonstrated that software upgrades can transform an operational spacecraft into an affordable technology test platform, allowing new capabilities to be validated directly in the environment where they are expected to operate.