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28-503: Photon is a satellite bus based on Rocket Lab 's Electron kick stage. It moves satellites into their appropriate orbits once boosted by rockets such as Electron. It is customizable for uses including LEO payload hosting, lunar flybys, and interplanetary missions. Photon uses chemical propulsion for orbit adjustments. It can use a variety of engines, such as the Curie and HyperCurie engines, as well as engines from third-party sources, such as

56-575: A laser-tunable mass spectrometer to the Venusian atmosphere . Photon is manufactured at Rocket Lab's factory in Huntington Beach, California . It can utilize a variety of engines, including those developed by Rocket Lab itself, such as the Curie and HyperCurie engines, as well as engines from third-party sources, such as the one powering the EscaPADE mission. Photon communicates on S-band . Depending on

84-700: A full spacecraft. The company aimed to broaden its portfolio and diversify its revenue streams. The company announced it was targeting lunar orbit as part of its services, enabled by a bi-propellant propulsion system. The development of Photon included working with potential customers, with significant interest from government agencies. The first few Photon satellites would be technology demonstrators before transitioning to operational launches for customers, which started with NASA's CAPSTONE cubesat in June 2022. Rocket Lab planned to launch Photon to Venus in December 2025, delivering

112-720: A long-duration standalone satellite. To demonstrate Photon's payload hosting capabilities, First Light had a low-resolution video camera. The second formal test, Photon Pathstone , was launched on 22 March 2021 on the 19th Electron mission "They Go Up So Fast". Like First Light, Pathstone first delivered customer satellites to orbit before transitioning into its own satellite operations. Pathstone operations were aimed at building flight heritage and focused on testing systems in preparation for launching NASA's CAPSTONE smallsat mission in June 2022. These tests included power and thermal management, attitude control via reaction wheels and communications systems. The first operational launch for Photon

140-698: A precise balance point in the gravities of Earth and the Moon that offers a stable trajectory. The main objective of the CAPSTONE mission is to verify the theoretical orbital stability simulations for the Gateway with an actual spacecraft. CAPSTONE is the first spacecraft to operate in an NRHO. The spacecraft is also testing a navigation system called Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS), which measures its position relative to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) without relying on ground stations. The orbiter

168-670: A series of burns of the Photon stage, the spacecraft reached a distance of about 1.5 million kilometers, where perturbations from the Sun became important. It then fell back towards the Earth, intercepting the Moon's orbit and finally entering NRHO around the Moon on 14 November 2022. Following a three-month trip to the Moon after launch, the CAPSTONE lunar satellite spent six months collecting data during this demonstration, flying within 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of

196-426: A specific mission. They are commonly used for geosynchronous satellites, particularly communications satellites , but are most commonly used in spacecraft which occupy low Earth orbit missions. Some satellite bus examples include: A bus typically consists of the following subsystems: CAPSTONE CAPSTONE ( Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment )

224-526: A trajectory towards the Moon. Currently, two Explorers are being built for the EscaPADE mission. Explorer can be launched on any rocket, depending on the mission profile. Lightning is designed for LEO constellations and is intended to operate for 12+ years in LEO. It boasts a 3 kW power delivery system and is suited for high-duty-cycle telecommunications and remote sensing. Lightning currently has no flight heritage, with

252-553: A value of US$ 9.95 million, according to NASA. Rocket Lab's new launch pad in Virginia, designated Launch Complex 2, was completed in 2019 and was hoped to be ready to support launches by 2021. The company said the new facility would principally support Electron missions with U.S. government payloads. However, certification of the Autonomous Flight Termination System (AFTS) took longer than anticipated, resulting in

280-455: Is a 12-unit CubeSat . The US$ 13.7 million contract was awarded to a private company called Advanced Space, Boulder, Colorado , on 13 September 2019 through a federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. Advanced Space handled overall project management and some of the spacecraft's key technologies, including its CAPS positioning navigation system, while Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems , Irvine, California , developed and built

308-466: Is a lunar orbiter that is testing and verifying the calculated orbital stability planned for the Lunar Gateway space station. The spacecraft is a 12-unit CubeSat that is also testing a navigation system that is measuring its position relative to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) without relying on ground stations. It was launched on 28 June 2022, arrived in lunar orbit on 14 November 2022, and

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336-574: Is an evolution of the Curie engine, which comes in a monopropellant version and a bipropellant version, while the HyperCurie is a hypergolic version. HyperCurie is electrically pumped . The inaugural Photon satellite was the Photon Pathfinder/First Light satellite ( COSPAR ID 2020-060A) described by Rocket Lab as its "first in-house designed and built Photon demonstration satellite". It

364-554: Is planned to be placed in a novel lunar orbit that had never been used until CAPSTONE, where it is expected to serve as a communications hub, science laboratory, short-term habitation module, and holding area for rovers and other robots. Gateway is slated to play a major role in NASA's Artemis program . Computer simulations indicated that this particular orbit—a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO)—offers long-term stability with low propellant requirements for orbital station-keeping, by using

392-682: The spacecraft bus , and Stellar Exploration, Inc developed its propulsion systems that used Hydrazine . NASA announced on 14 February 2020 that CAPSTONE would be launched aboard a Rocket Lab Electron booster from the company's new launch site at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Wallops Island , in Virginia . The launch was scheduled for October 2021 but was subsequently delayed and moved to launch from Mahia, LC-1 in New Zealand. The launch contract with Rocket Lab has

420-404: The Moon instead of a more conventional direct Hohmann transfer . While trajectories of this type take much longer to reach their destination (about four months in this case, compared to about three days using a traditional direct transfer) they significantly reduce the propulsion requirements, which can increase the delivered mass (about 10–15% more mass). After being ejected from Earth orbit by

448-443: The Moon. On 5 July 2022, NASA lost contact with the spacecraft shortly after separation from Photon and stated their intention to recover two-way communication with the spacecraft and continue the mission. On 6 July, mission operators re-established contact with the spacecraft. By 30 September, CAPSTONE was "power positive" and on a stable trajectory towards the Moon while the mission operators worked to regain orientation control of

476-456: The Moon. After completing all the mission requirements for NASA, Rocket Lab utilised its Photon spacecraft for a low-altitude lunar flyby. Due to the high amount of customization Photon can undergo, Rocket Lab decided to rebrand Photon and split it into different spacecraft: Explorer, Lightning, Pioneer, and Photon. Explorer is a high delta-V spacecraft designed for deep space missions. The first Explorer flew in 2022 and delivered CAPSTONE to

504-560: The Photon spacecraft served as a pathfinder. ( UTC ) 03:05:4 22:30 09:55 20:30 Confirmed upcoming missions for Photon and Photon variants. ( UTC ) The goal is to send a probe to around 48 km altitude where Venus' atmospheric conditions are closer to those found on Earth. Satellite bus Bus-derived satellites are less customized than specially-produced satellites, but have specific equipment added to meet customer requirements , for example with specialized sensors or transponders , in order to achieve

532-484: The capsule atop the bus grew crystals of the drug ritonavir . After growing the crystals and experiencing some regulatory hold-ups, the spacecraft returned to Earth and landed in Utah. Photon is the upgraded version of Rocket Lab's kick stage. It features power, propulsion, and communications systems for delivering payloads to LEO. The first Photon was launched in 2020, deploying a satellite for Capella Space . After deployment,

560-525: The first launch planned for 2025. Both the satellites (buses) for Globalstar and the Space Development Agency are based on the Lightning architecture. Pioneer is a highly specialized satellite bus designed to support payloads up to 120 kg for special missions, including re-entry and dynamic space operations. Pioneer first took flight in 2023, supporting a mission for Varda Space Industries where

588-514: The launch site being changed to Mahia. CAPSTONE launched on 28 June 2022. After separating from the second stage, the Rocket Lab's Photon kick stage lifted the orbital apogee into a lunar-transfer orbit over six days by firing the HyperCurie bipropellant engine at perigee six times followed by the trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn, after which the CAPSTONE spacecraft was deployed on its journey to

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616-592: The one powering the EscaPADE mission . Photon first launched in August 2020 on Rocket Lab's I Can't Believe It's Not Optical mission, where it served as a pathfinder. It has since flown three times. It flew the CAPSTONE mission. Photon communicates on the S-band . Depending on the orbital inclination (37° to Sun-synchronous orbit ), it is expected to have a payload capacity of 170 kg (370 lb). The interplanetary version

644-440: The orbital inclination (37° to Sun-synchronous orbit ), it is expected to have a maximum payload capacity of 170 kg (370 lb). The low Earth orbit version of Photon can take 130 kg (290 lb) to Sun-synchronous orbit . A modified version of Photon has bigger propellant tanks and the HyperCurie engine for interplanetary missions. The interplanetary version has a 40 kg (88 lb) payload capacity. HyperCurie

672-402: The spacecraft. The root cause of the problem was narrowed to a valve on a thruster that is probably partially open, which thus produces thrust whenever the propulsion system is pressurized. On 7 October, the team uploaded recovery commands, stopped the spin, and regained full 3-axis attitude control. It remained on track to insert into its targeted orbit. CAPSTONE used a ballistic transfer to

700-410: Was NASA's CAPSTONE smallsat mission. Qualification of the Photon kick stage for this mission was underway by December 2020. Photon delivered CAPSTONE on a trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn on 6th day from liftoff after performing 6 apogee raising burns at perigee within every 24 hours from liftoff, leading to TLI and a near-rectilinear halo orbit . After this the CAPSTONE was deployed in its journey to

728-513: Was launched aboard Electron rocket on 31 August 2020 on the 14th Electron mission "I Can't Believe It's Not Optical". First Light had a dual role in the mission: first as the final rocket stage delivering the customer satellite (Capella 2) and then as a standalone satellite undertaking its own orbital mission. The purpose of the First Light standalone mission was to demonstrate the new (as compared to "plain" kick stage) systems for operating in orbit as

756-469: Was scheduled to orbit for six months. On 18 May 2023, it completed its primary mission to orbit in the near-rectilinear halo orbit for six months, but will stay on this orbit, continuing to perform experiments during an enhanced mission phase. The Lunar Gateway is an in-development space station being planned by several national space agencies since at least 2018, including NASA , European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The Gateway

784-471: Was to have a 40 kg (88 lb) payload capacity. HyperCurie is an evolution of the Curie engine, which comes in monopropellant and bipropellant versions, while the HyperCurie is hypergolic and electrically pumped. In April 2019, Rocket Lab announced plans to create a new satellite bus , named Photon, to position small satellites into orbit. Its goal was to reduce complexity and development time, enabling technology demonstrations without developing

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