NASA has successfully launched a probe the size of a small oven – the first step in attempting to return to the moon

NASA today launched a nanosatellite a little bigger than a microwave oven into space, as part of a historic mission to bring humans back to the moon.

The rocket carrying the tiny CAPSTONE module was successfully launched from Mahia Peninsula in eastern New Zealand.

“Let’s go!” NASA said in a statement shortly after launch, minutes before 7:00 am from Argentina, that it was described as “absolutely fantastic” by Bradley Smith, director of launch services.

The US space agency hopes that within four months CAPSTONE will be able to launch innovative activities “nearly straight halo orbits” around the moon.

With a weight similar to that of a suitcase, the satellite is testing an orbit for NASA’s “Gateway” space stationwhich will travel around the Moon and serve as a starting point for lunar exploration as it is the probe that will test the orbit in which a future Lunar Space Station would be

the orbit passes within 1,600 kilometers of the moon at the nearest point, before catapulting 70,000 kilometers at the furthest point. CAPSTONE would repeatedly draw a constant oval around the Moon as the spacecraft moves from the lunar North Pole to the Lunar South Pole.

“CAPSTONE will be precisely controlled and maintained and will greatly benefit from the near-stable physics of its near-rectilinear orbit. The burns will be programmed to give the ship an extra boost, as it naturally increases momentum; this requires far less fuel than a more circular orbit would require, “she said. Elwood Agasid, Deputy Director of NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program.

Scientists hope to use the attraction of the moon and earth to minimize fuel consumption.

As part of the same project, the United States is also planning send the first woman and the first black person on the moon.