NASA reveals details about James Webb Space Telescope’s first full-color images

It’s only a few days until NASA and its partners on the James Webb Space Telescope project reveal the first full-color images and spectroscopic data captured by the observatory. The agency has shed a little more light on what to expect by revealing the JWST’s initial list of cosmic targets.

One of them is the Carina Nebula, which is around 7,600 light years away. NASA says it’s one of the biggest and brightest nebulae in the sky and it includes stars that are several times larger than the Sun. Another nebula the telescope captured images from is the Southern Ring. That’s roughly 2,000 light years from Earth and is a planetary nebula — it’s an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star.

Closer to home is the gas planet WASP-96 b, which is almost 1,150 light years away and has around half the mass of Jupiter. NASA will provide a look at the planet’s light spectrum data. Much further from here is Stephan’s Quintet, which is around 290 million light years away in the Pegasus constellation. This is the first compact galaxy group that was discovered, all the way back in 1877. It comprises five galaxies, four of which “are locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters,” NASA said.

Also on Tuesday, NASA, the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency will reveal imagery for SMACS 0723. “Massive foreground galaxy clusters magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view into both the extremely distant and intrinsically faint galaxy populations,” NASA explained.

A committee of experts from NASA, ESA, CSA and the Space Telescope Science Institute spent five years determining the first targets for Webb’s instruments. The full-color images and spectroscopic data that JSWT captured will be revealed on July 12th at 10:30AM ET. You’ll be able to view them on NASA’s website.

This marks an important step for JWST as it marks the official beginning of the observatory’s general science operations. The aim is to provide us with more detailed images and information about the earliest stars and galaxies as well as potentially habitable exoplanets. After launch in December, it took several months for the JWST to reach its destination and prepare for full operation. We’re very close to finding out just what the observatory is capable of.

NASA reestablishes communications with its wayward CAPSTONE satellite

It’s been a wild few days for NASA’s CAPSTONE mission. Following the lunar satellite’s successful launch from Rocket Lab’s site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, ground control lost contact with the spacecraft shortly after it escaped Earth’s gravity well and separated from its Electron rocket carrier on Monday. But after nearly a full day in the dark, NASA announced on Wednesday that its engineers have managed to reopen a line to the 55-pound satellite.

While the situation was concerning, NASA had accounted for just such a possibility. “If needed, the mission has enough fuel to delay the initial post-separation trajectory correction maneuver for several days,” a NASA spokesperson told Space.com on Monday.

Dubbed, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE), this spacecraft had spent nearly a week orbiting the planet in order to build up enough momentum to sling it on a four-month, trans-lunar injection (TLI) route over to the moon. Once the CAPSTONE arrives on November 13th, it will follow the planned Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit of the forthcoming Lunar Gateway in order to verify the stability of the path. 

“Specifically, it will validate the power and propulsion requirements for maintaining its orbit as predicted by NASA’s models, reducing logistical uncertainties,” NASA described in an April blog post. “The orbit will bring CAPSTONE within 1,000 miles of one lunar pole on its near pass and 43,500 miles from the other pole at its peak every seven days, requiring less propulsion capability for spacecraft flying to and from the Moon’s surface than other circular orbits.”

The Gateway, once it launches in 2024, will act as a staging platform first for the larger Artemis mission and lunar colonization efforts, then forays further out into the solar system with an eye on eventually settling Mars. NASA plans to follow this launch with that of the Orion spacecraft — it’s launch window spanning August 23rd to September 6th — which will evaluate the impacts a trans-lunar trip might have on astronaut physiology.

NASA’s CAPSTONE satellite has gone dark

NASA has lost contact with CAPSTONE, a tiny satellite that left Earth’s orbit on July 4th. CAPSTONE is a cubesat weighing just 55 pounds, and it’s headed for the Moon as part of NASA’s plan to get humans back on the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years. 

The small satellite stopped communicating with engineers on July 4th shortly after deploying from an Electron rocket bus and exiting Earth’s orbit. A NASA spokesperson told Space.com that the team has solid trajectory information for CAPSTONE and handlers are attempting to re-establish contact with the cubesat. 

“If needed, the mission has enough fuel to delay the initial post-separation trajectory correction maneuver for several days,” the spokesperson told the site.

CAPSTONE spent six days building up speed in-orbit on a Rocket Lab Electron booster and finally deployed yesterday, on a path to the Moon. The plan is for CAPSTONE to enter a near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon on November 13th, serving as a test for NASA’s Artemis mission. With Artemis, NASA plans to install a space station called the Lunar Gateway in the Moon’s orbit, serving as a permanent floating base for lunar visitors, complete with living quarters and a laboratory.

NASA plans to kick off its Artemis 1 mission between August 23rd and September 6th with the deployment of an unmanned Orion module, which will orbit the Moon and provide data about how the trip might affect the human body. After that, four astronauts will take off for the lunar satellite. Finally, some time after 2025, NASA plans to put humans on the Moon again.

NASA’s CAPSTONE satellite breaks from Earth’s orbit and heads toward the Moon

NASA’s grand plan to take humans back to the Moon for the first time in over half a century has taken another step forward. The 55-pound CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) cubesat has broken free of Earth’s orbit and is on its way to the Moon.

Rocket Lab launched CAPSTONE on an Electron rocket from New Zealand last week. Following six days of orbit-raising burns to build up enough speed, the pathfinding satellite set out toward the Moon. It’s a relatively slow trip, though. CAPSTONE won’t reach the Moon until November.

NASA will try to put CAPSTONE in a Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit around the Moon, a feat that’s never been attempted before. The agency plans to use the same orbit for the Gateway space station, which will provide support for long-term lunar missions under the Artemis program. The outpost will have living quarters for astronauts and a lab. That mission won’t launch until at least 2024.

Meanwhile, it emerged last week that NASA has targeted a launch window of between August 23rd and September 6th for the Artemis 1 mission. It will send an uncrewed module around the Moon to assess how the journey might affect the human body. The agency ran a successful wet launch fueling test for Artemis 1 in June.

NASA targets late August to early September launch for Artemis 1 Moon mission

NASA has set an aggressive launch target for its Artemis 1 Moon mission following the successful June 20th “wet dress rehearsal” fueling test of the SLS rocket that will carry the flight to space. In an interview with Ars Technica, Jim Free, associate administrator with the agency’s Explorations Systems Development program, said this week NASA is working toward an August 23rd to September 6th launch window for Aretmis 1. “That’s the one we’re targeting,” Free told the outlet. “We’d be foolish not to target that right now. We made incredible progress last week.”

For those keeping track, NASA recently announced the earliest it could get Artemis 1 in space following a successful fueling test of the SLS was between July 26th and August 10th. Instead, NASA selected the second earliest launch window it had open to it.

Before the flight can get underway, technicians must complete final preparations on the SLS rocket, including replacing a seal that led to a hydrogen leak during its June 20th test. NASA began rolling the SLS back to the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where staff will work on the launch vehicle, on July 1st. “I don’t think we’re stretching ourselves to get there,” Free said. “We’re probably pushing ourselves a little bit, but we’re not going to do something stupid.”

Once Artemis 1 is finally underway, it will carry an unmanned Orion module on a trip around the Moon to study how the flight might affect the human body. Artemis II will later take four astronauts to the satellite ahead of a planned lunar landing sometime in the second half of the decade.

NASA takes a step towards putting humans back on the Moon with CAPSTONE launch

Rocket Lab has successfully launched NASA’s 55-pound CAPSTONE cubesat that will eventually orbit the Moon if all goes to plan. It’s a small but important step in NASA’s Artemis mission that aims to send humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972. 

The launch proceeded nominally according to NASA’s broadcast, reaching low-Earth orbit at about ‘T’ plus 10 minutes. An Electron launch is much like any other, except that it’s the first rocket to be electrically powered by batteries rather than a gas turbine. As such, there’s a phase called “battery ejection” which happens near the end of the launch cycle. 

Rocket Lab used an Electron rocket with a special addition called the Lunar Photon upper stage with enough power to send it into deep space. It’s one of the smallest rockets to attempt to launch a payload to lunar orbit, the company said. It launched from Rocket Lab’s site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, and is “the highest mass and the highest performance Electron has ever had to fly by quite some margin,” the company told TechCrunch earlier. 

CAPSTONE will orbit Earth for nine days to build up enough speed for a trans lunar injection (TLI) that will allow it to eventually orbit the Moon. The primary objective is to verify a type of highly elliptical lunar orbit called “near rectilinear halo” that’s planned for the Gateway space station. Gateway will eventually be delivered to lunar orbit by SpaceX with a science lab and living quarters for astronauts, along with ports for future spacecraft. 

Rocket Lab was supposed to launch CAPSTONE yesterday but delayed it until today “to perform final system checks,” NASA tweeted. Regardless of the launch date, it’s scheduled to arrive at the moon on November 13th. To see a replay of the livecast, check here. 

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